Repair Win7 install on new system

[dawks]

Had the hardware on a Windows 7 install fail.

Bought a new computer, and tried booting the old hardrive (which still works fine) in the new system, but it BSOD's on boot, obviously because the new hardware is significantly different (Core i5 quad-core vs old dual core Pentium).

Popped in Win7 disk and tried a restore, but says the versions are incompatible. Even though they are the same on the hardrive and DVD.

Any suggestions on how to get it working? I can't do a Windows Easy-Transfer because you need to be able to boot to the old OS to prep it.

I'm going to try imaging the drive then doing an in-place install.. hopefully it works..?

 

[corkyg]

For such a change in hardware, you usually will have to do a complete reinstall on the boot drive. Your best bet is probably a new boot drive, then add your old drive as a secondary so you can access saved data.

 

[Saithegeek]

Boot with a PE disc. Copy everything in your USER folder to external/backup drive. Wipe and reload Win7. Reinstall software.

 

[dawks]

For such a change in hardware, you usually will have to do a complete reinstall on the boot drive. Your best bet is probably a new boot drive, then add your old drive as a secondary so you can access saved data.

Yea, we need two programs that we no longer have access to the key/activation info. Shame to have to spend $500 for maybe 20minutes of use.

Plus reconfiguring the computer for 3 user with specific prefs will be a PITA.

Would be nice if there was a better way.

 

[corkyg]

You should be able to recover the activation keys for those programs by using Belarc Advisor (free download and use.) A new HDD is less than $85.

Configure the system for the biggest, baddest user and retrain the other two.

 

[Binky]

Would be nice if there was a better way.

There are better ways but it sounds like you didn't do your homework before booting with the old drive. You can still possibly make it work if you didn't screw up the existing installation. Can you boot the old system still? Several imaging programs have the option to "restore to dissimilar hardware." There are also things you can do to prepare the old HD for transfer before shutting it down.

 

[JackMDS]

Get Acronis Home 2011 Plus.

Put the old drive on a computer (no USB, directly on SATA or IDE).

Boot from the Acronis CD and backup the old drive through the network (or a secondary external drive, for backup storage USB will work too).

Install every thing then restore the backup as Dissimilar hardware to the new drive.

http://kb.acronis.com/content/13671

 

[Maverick6969]

Get Acronis Home 2011 Plus.

....
Install every thing then restore the backup as Dissimilar hardware to the new drive.

They finally added a feature that is worthy of an upgrade. Nice.

I've been using various versions of ATI since 2006. I bought the 2010 version about a year ago. While I like the 2010 version very much, i thought it was rehash of the previous versions. Now that I know the 2011 version has this new feature, I will plan on upgrading when I can.

 

[Maverick6969]

Plus reconfiguring the computer for 3 user with specific prefs will be a PITA.

Would be nice if there was a better way.

No there really isn't. Stop cutting corners and taking the lazy man's approach. Not everything in life is going to "easy peazy" done just the way you like it. Don't believe the crap Burger King is trying to sell you because not every burger will be done to your perfection.

I strongly recommend the clean install as been recommended. Just do it and get it over with. Or if you really insist on sticking with the old approach, atleast shell out a little bit of money and buy Acronis True Image 2011. You could probably find it on New Egg (insert favorite retailer of choice) for $45-$50.

Looks like ATI Home Plus Pack is the only edition for home users with that feature built-in.

 

[spikespiegal]

The killer with the hardware migration BSOD is the IDE / SATA / SCSI interface driver being different - not so much the hardware. I had ways around this with Win2K and XP, most notoriously using a PCI SATA card to boot from, and then moving it to the new machine and then polishing up old devices. Worked about 85% of the time although XP activation levels would sometimes FUBAR it. Also had to remove NVidia and ATI drivers and software and chipset utilities before hand. The rest was gravy. Even pulled some 2003 servers from Intel platforms to AMD this way.

Haven't tried this win Win 7 because increasingly my time is in virtual environments and it's not relevant.

Still, I feel we need better tools to migrate from dissimiliar hardware because given the robustness of current OS's they frequently outlive their hardware. My current Photoshop rig is in dire need of an upgrade, but due to the expense of existing software and configuration I just can't migrate to another machine without some pain and additional expense. I'd say 70% of the IT or multimedia professionals I work with aren't migrating their platforms simply because of re-installation issues, not hardware or OS costs.

Microsoft wants it both ways on this, and that's to throw their hands up when it comes to any kind of universal boot environment compliance saying' hardware isn't their problem' and yet dictating OEM installation rules. Migrating should not be this big an issue given that 95% of hardware autodetects anyways and the remaining 5% that affect the boot environment can/should be modified ahead of time. Obviously the Acronis product has figured this out.

 

[dawks]

There are better ways but it sounds like you didn't do your homework before booting with the old drive. You can still possibly make it work if you didn't screw up the existing installation. Can you boot the old system still? Several imaging programs have the option to "restore to dissimilar hardware." There are also things you can do to prepare the old HD for transfer before shutting it down.

I didnt screw up the installation you tool, its basically untouched, other than the fact that I imaged everything out to another drive before trying anything else. And no, how could I boot the old system if the hardware failed? Would I have this problem if the old system could boot?

No there really isn't. Stop cutting corners and taking the lazy man's approach. Not everything in life is going to "easy peazy" done just the way you like it. Don't believe the crap Burger King is trying to sell you because not every burger will be done to your perfection.

I strongly recommend the clean install as been recommended. Just do it and get it over with. Or if you really insist on sticking with the old approach, atleast shell out a little bit of money and buy Acronis True Image 2011. You could probably find it on New Egg (insert favorite retailer of choice) for $45-$50.

There should be a way to do an in place reinstall which works for people with other issues. It tried to do one from the disc, but it says I need to start the process from in a booted Windows. I had the system highly tweaked for 3 users who are very anal about things. We also have two expensive programs that require not only a key, but activation as well. These were related to a business the users are no longer involved with but might need access to for about 15-20 minutes in the next year for tax purposes.

And yes, I will go the traditional way and rebuild the system by hand. It would have been nice to simply update the HAL so the old install could boot long enough so I could run the Migration Wizard and restore the data and settings to the new system. Save me a ton of time, and complaints.

To those that actually tried to help, thanks.

corkyg, I figured we could get the install keys, but the programs need to be activated to work. Thats the kicker, since we dont have the info anymore.

 

[Binky]

I didnt screw up the installation you tool

Snarky much? My comment said IF you didn't screw it up. The only thing accusatory in my comment is that you didn't do your homework. You're still proving this to be true.

Google the text I put in quotes. Buy True Image with the addon. Make an image. Use it to restore to the new system. You can finish all of this in under an hour if you're lucky.