Some time ago I installed Windows 7 Enterprise on a Dell, and activated it by calling the "activate online" number Now I want to move this installed version to a new HDD (same Dell). I remeber that was possible in Windows XP by backing up one small file, reinstalling XP, and moving this "backed up" file to the new installed XP. My question is.. Can this also been done with Windows 7 Enterprise, and if so what needs to be done?
PAYMYRENT has a utility that backs up activations status. Another option would be to use disk imaging software to back up your system then restore to a new drive, then you won't have to reinstall all of your apps.
I did this on my machine: cloned the whole disk where windows 7 was to a new one, then used the new clone copy, all went ok except the System Restore, in some way it had identification on first disk that windows reports now system restore is off, with an error 0x8007007b, had to disable, delete and enable system restore setting to make it work again, but i lost all old snapshots...
I would simply make a TrueImage of the existing C: partiton and restore the backup to a partition on the new drive. After that, when you boot, it will be exactly as it was before. Tip: The new partition can even be larger than the backed-up partition as the extra space will simply be appended. Great way of migrating an existing OS to a partition with more space.
Acronis is the way to go. Either Clone the drive to the new one or Restore the backup image you make with it to the new Drive. Make sure, if you do the restore method, to restore the Partition and the Track 0. If you only restore the partition the PC will not boot. The Track 0 Contains the Boot info. You will see both listed when you are ask what image you want to restore. You can restore any partition to any drive, no matter the size. I do this all the time. If you use the Acronis Recovery Boot CD, You can do this with any OS.
Windows backup can do image based backups now. I don't know if the client side versions support bare metal but I know Server 2008 R2 does. Alternatively you can make a windows pe 3.0 disk (this will give you multithreaded robocopy support which is better than unstoppable copier) then use diskpart to create a partition on the new drive and make it active next you want to use the robocopy /mir /mt:128 <source> <destination> * If you are looking for a quick easy free imaging utility and don't want to use the windows built in one there is a free one out there called PING. Though ImageX and a windowsPE image can do that same if you just create your partition first.
backup a system image and create a sytem recovery disk in windows 7. install new hard drive insert system recovery disk, restore from saved image. all done. I've just done this when instaling a new 500G hard drive.
Cloning Hard Drives Acronis TrueImage is definitely the way to go. You can either install it on your system, then clone the drive, or you can create a boot CD and run it from the CD. By booting from the Acronis TrueImage CD you don't have to install the software and you can easily image hard drives on any computer. And..... it's very quick. XebeX
I used Acronis solution to do it, and as i already said, i found myself with System Restore not functioning, has anybody tried System Restore after the migration ??
Yeah, I know so little about installing Vista because I hate it so much... But, marking it "active" is good enough to get XP to boot on it. My attempt at doing this was because XP had decided to mark "D:\" as active with my XP on "C:\". So, I did need to edit the boot.ini file as well. Stupid ass MS engineers never figured anyone would install XP and Linux on the same physical drive I guess... (if anyone's having a hard time with this one, think for one second where would my boot.ini and ntldr.com be if drive D:\ was active - and why would that make me furious if I planned to reformat that partition? Anyway...
Where can I find the PAYMYRENT utility. I have searched but couldn't find it. Can you point me to it. Thanks BrainWave
the only way you can get that ultilty is through pm lol just for the moment its still being developed so thats why anyways ill get you a dl link