Easiest way to clone or transfer to a new computer

spapakons · Thursday at 7:17 AM

You are probably right, but I am old school and keep many data in C: and I think many others too. Of course I copy many of them in a backup disk, but I don't delete them all after copying. I want to be handy and not having to connect my backup disk too often. Bad practice, I know, but who said us experts are perfect?

Flipmode · Thursday at 8:02 AM

Guys, what's with all the complicated answers?

Off the cuff I can say Paragon is excellent and restores to dissimilar hardware. HDM includes everything, otherwise you can get specific B&R or DC s/w. In fact they are the keywords you need to be searching for - either dissimilar hardware recovery / dissimilar hardware restore / dissimilar hardware drive copy....
If I were you, I would be doing your own research, testing s/w, discussing your needs and requirements with developers, instead of getting incomplete or random recommendations on forums.

Many of the software suites that do what you want offer the ability to have your non-standard drivers included in the backup and recovery USB. This is crucial to avoid wasting hours on blue screens etc. Didn't realise you could load drivers onto a foreign system through Strelec's BCD tools!?

spapakons makes some good points. You may have to reset / clear / disable secure boot too.
Something that has not been mentioned is ensuring you are aware
- your disk structure - Basic, Dynamic, GPT, etc. Many pro's but also con's - ensure you're fully prepared and check backup S/W licence & compatibility!
- and to backup any Bitlocker keys - "just in case rubbish happens" policy...
- use s/w like Driver Magician to backup the current drivers (first change settings to backup style - 3 options) and include on boot / recovery media. Some suites also call 'bare metal' recovery.

SOFTWARE BRAIN DRUMP (IN NO PARTICUALR ORDER)

Acronis used to be great but 'meh' these days. Trouble justifying licencing due to removal of features, crippling of s/w and subscription theme. Heavy on resources. Pre-boot UI.
Terabyte Drive Image - very simple and straight forward, use with TBOSDTS script. Very good features. Light weight. Pre-boot UI. Budget feel.
Paragon HDM or Backup & Recovery or Drive Copy - excellent set and forget with great features and functionality. 10/10 pre-boot OS UI.
Euaseus... Euseus Backup (however you spell it) - good functionality but not straight-forward UI.
Macrium Reflect - great set of functionality behind overly complicated UI. 10/10 pre-boot OS UI option for drivers (menu far from obvious pre-boot even exists). $$$ Subscription.
MiniTool Shadowmaker - have Universal Restore - budget option but very comprehensive toolset. Has improved over the years. Pre boot UI. $3/m licence for 2 PCs!
AOMEI Backupper or Free edition or Centralised Cyber Backup - includes disk cloning. I have used it to clone both the system only and cloning the disk.
Veeam Agent or Backup & Replication - an amazing suite 10/10. Really brilliant. Just make sure you follow wizard to put the drivers on the recovery media. Far better than Acronis after their most recent updates just prior to Covid. Great GUI.
etc etc etc

Look for apps that offer "clone" or "dissimilar hardware" or "bare metal" restore features

Can always just start fresh and use software like CloneApp or Laplink to migrate just specific things.
Cheers!

spapakons · Thursday at 8:11 AM

Flipmode said:
Guys, what's with all the complicated answers?

Off the cuff I can say Paragon is excellent and restores to dissimilar hardware. HDM includes everything, otherwise you can get specific B&R or DC s/w. In fact they are the keywords you need to be searching for - either dissimilar hardware recovery / dissimilar hardware restore / dissimilar hardware drive copy....
If I were you, I would be doing your own research, testing s/w, discussing your needs and requirements with developers, instead of getting incomplete or random recommendations on forums.

Many of the software suites that do what you want offer the ability to have your non-standard drivers included in the backup and recovery USB. This is crucial to avoid wasting hours on blue screens etc. Didn't realise you could load drivers onto a foreign system through Strelec's BCD tools!?
spapakons makes some good points. You may have to reset / clear / disable secure boot too.
Something that has not been mentioned is ensuring you are aware
- your disk structure - Basic, Dynamic, GPT, etc. Many pro's but also con's - ensure you're fully prepared and check backup S/W licence & compatibility!
- and to backup any Bitlocker keys - "just in case rubbish happens" policy...
- use s/w like Driver Magician to backup the current drivers (first change settings to backup style - 3 options) and include on boot / recovery media. Some suites also call 'bare metal' recovery.

Acronis used to be great but 'meh' these days. Trouble justifying licencing due to removal of features, crippling of s/w and subscription theme. Heavy on resources. Pre-boot UI.

Terabyte Drive Image - very simple and straight forward, use with TBOSDTS script. Very good features. Light weight. Pre-boot UI. Budget feel.

Paragon HDM or Backup & Recovery or Drive Copy - excellent set and forget with great features and functionality. 10/10 pre-boot OS UI.

Euaseus... Euseus Backup (however you spell it) - good functionality but not straight-forward UI.

Macrium Reflect - great set of functionality behind overly complicated UI. 10/10 pre-boot OS UI w/ scanning for drivers to automate process (but far from obvious pre-boot even exists). $$$ Subscription.

MiniTool Shadowmaker - have Universal Restore - budget option but very comprehensive toolset. Has improved over the years. Pre boot UI. $3/m licence for 2 PCs!

AOMEI Backupper or Free edition or Centralised Cyber Backup - includes disk cloning. I have used it to clone both the system only and cloning the disk.

Veeam Agent or Backup & Replication - an amazing suite 10/10. Really brilliant. Just make sure you follow wizard to put the drivers on the recovery media. Far better than Acronis after their most recent updates just prior to Covid. Great GUI.

etc etc etc

Look for apps that offer "clone" or "dissimilar hardware" or "bare metal" restore features

Can always just start fresh and use software like CloneApp or Laplink to migrate just specific things.
Cheers!

Most of these are included in Sergei Strelec WinPE. Download that and use anyone you like. Also NVMe disks, as far as I know, boot only in UEFI mode (GPT). If your old installation is Legacy BIOS (aka CSM, MBR), you may have to convert it to GPT, let's hope not, since I haven't done it myself, but there are tutorials in this forum. Since you can access the disk in Strelec, it is a good idea to extract any driver files in Windows\System32 folder or use the dedicated tool to install them in the target drive.

1974darrenh · Thursday at 9:10 AM

spapakons said:
I am not sure if you can install the storage drivers from Safe mode or WinPE (Windows live USB). In the first case, after 3-4 times it fails to load Windows you see loading the Troubleshooting screen. After trying to automatically repair Windows fails, select Troubleshoot and then Advanced startup options. It will restart and present you a list of options. Select 4 Safe mode or 5 Safe mode with networking if you need internet access. If it loads in Safe mode try to uninstall old drivers and install the storage controller drivers.

If it cannot start in Safe mode, download Sergei Strelec WinPE. This is a live Windows system with a lot of tools. One of them is to install drivers on another Windows system. Use that to install the storage drivers before trying to load Windows again. Download the ISO and use Rufus to create a bootable USB flash drive.

WinPE 10-8 Sergei Strelec English » Sergei Strelec

Bootable disk Windows 11 and 10 PE - for maintenance of computers, hard disks and partitions, backup and restore disks and partitions, computer diagnostics, data recovery, Windows installation. WinPE x64 version only

sergeistrelec.name

Plan B: Install the storage drivers on the old laptop before cloning the disk, as suggested in my previous post.

Play C: If everything else doesn't work, clean install Windows 11 on the new laptop and connect the disk to copy your data.

PS: Check the UEFI firmware (aka BIOS) in the new laptop for storage configuration. Try changing it to something more compatible such as AHCI. This might let you load Windows without a BSOD. If it does, uninstall all old drivers and install all new. You can leave it as it is, or you can try switching back to the previous configuration to improve performance. However the difference should be too small to notice.

I have Strelec on my usb so will give that a go

.

The BIOS on the HP has no options for AHCI. I assume because it only has an NVME slot?

1974darrenh · Thursday at 9:11 AM

1974darrenh said:
I have Strelec on my usb so will give that a go .

The BIOS on the HP has no options for AHCI. I assume because it only has an NVME slot?

Sorry forgot to say, Safe mode option comes up as expected but when you press it, it comes up with INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE again.

spapakons · Thursday at 9:17 AM

Try installing the storage controller drivers with Strelec.

Flipmode · Thursday at 1:07 PM

1974darrenh said:
Sorry forgot to say, Safe mode option comes up as expected but when you press it, it comes up with INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE again.

Try using some software that will load these drivers for you automatically.
Example: Veeam Agent. It's free!
It allows for backup and restore to dissimilar hardware - and all the features you need. Plus no dodgy 3rd party boot CD's with pirated or unlicenced software, which is required for loading drivers. Strelec is okay as just freeware from memory, but just be careful - pro versions are required for some S/W to clone or use dissimilar / bare metal restore.
Good luck

1974darrenh · Thursday at 1:45 PM

This is becoming the nightmare from hell!!

I'm trying to download the veeam agent but it won't accept my email because im not a business.

Strelec is working but I don't know where to get the storage controller drivers from and how to put them on the new laptop using Strelec.

This is what my bios looks like. As you can see, it recognises the NVMe.

Flipmode · Thursday at 2:00 PM

Download Veeam Backup & Replication Community Edition: 13,000 MB

https://download5.veeam.com/VBR/v12/VeeamBackup&Replication_12.3.1.1139_20250331.iso

Download Veeam Agent: 160 MB

https://download5.veeam.com/VAW/v6/VeeamAgentWindows_6.3.1.1074.zip

Good luck Dazza! Cheers mate!

LOL I see someone edited my post from "just in case sh!t happens" >> "just in case rubbish happens"

1974darrenh said:
This is becoming the nightmare from hell!!

I'm trying to download the veeam agent but it won't accept my email because im not a business.

Strelec is working but I don't know where to get the storage controller drivers from and how to put them on the new laptop using Strelec.

This is what my bios looks like. As you can see, it recognises the NVMe.

Flipmode · Thursday at 2:06 PM

1974darrenh said:
This is becoming the nightmare from hell!!

Strelec is working but I don't know where to get the storage controller drivers from and how to put them on the new laptop using Strelec.

This is what my bios looks like. As you can see, it recognises the NVMe.

Turn on "Virtualisation Technology". Required for Windows Sandbox, VMware, etc. Important.
You can also change "Boot Order" so USB flash is first, then HDD is second. This will be skipped if the USB inserted does not have a boot sector.

Everything looks fine. I prefer the automatic S/W detecting and loading drivers for you, then loading your own should the destination computer have specific network or storage controller. If the hardware is 3-4 years old and it's a PC (as you mentioned) then you shouldn't need any additional drivers.

For Strelec way, You need to download the drivers from the motherboard website (preferably) and not obsess over having the latest version. You are more likely to have issues rather than use the older versions from H/W vendor website.
If it is an EXE, use 7Zip to extract to a separate folder. If it is a .zip file extract to a folder. Then you can traverse folders to find .inf files and view in Notepad++ to determine which are the correct ones for destination OS. Again, this is not really convenient, nor straight forward or best-practice.

I don't recommend taking people's advice as "gospel" from forums (is why I shared several options that I know work) and instead query w/ the developers directly. Too much bias from members whom often do things a complicated and long-winded way, or unaware of easier ways to do things.
Cheers!

1974darrenh · Thursday at 3:04 PM

Flipmode said:
Download Veeam Backup & Replication Community Edition: 13,000 MB

https://download5.veeam.com/VBR/v12/VeeamBackup&Replication_12.3.1.1139_20250331.iso

Download Veeam Agent: 160 MB

https://download5.veeam.com/VAW/v6/VeeamAgentWindows_6.3.1.1074.zip

Good luck Dazza! Cheers mate!

LOL I see someone edited my post from "just in case sh!t happens" >> "just in case rubbish happens"

So this Veeam...is this to do another clone or to fix the existing clone?

Will I have to pay for it to do what I need it to do?

Scott · Thursday at 4:08 PM

1974darrenh said:
This is what my bios looks like. As you can see, it recognizes the NVMe.

You're right, it sees the NVMe. But your system is set to RAID mode. VMD=Volume Management device, the new terminology for RAID.

I've been searching for ways to get your Advanced menu to show up in your BIOS. I found this:

If you can manage to get the Advance menu to show up, somewhere in there should be an
option to disable the VMD controller, essentially setting the computer to AHCI mode.

1974darrenh · Thursday at 4:22 PM

Scott said:
You're right, it sees the NVMe. But your system is set to RAID mode. VMD=Volume Management device, the new terminology for RAID.

View attachment 136725

I've been searching for ways to get your Advanced menu to show up in your BIOS. I found this:

View attachment 136727

If you can manage to get the Advance menu to show up, somewhere in there should be an
option to disable the VMD controller, essentially setting the computer to AHCI mode.

I got really excited seeing this post but just tried these 2 ways and bios is the same

FDretired · Thursday at 4:28 PM

I have not read the whole thread but am relating my experience.

I have a custom built desktop with windows11 professional

Did this 2 years ago

I purchased a used Lenovo Thinkpad t480 with windows 11 professional

I made a Macrium Image of my desktop to external SSD.

I then restored the image to the Laptop.

The Lenovo booted in windows 11 and installed all the important drivers and was activated

I had to do some cleaning up of programs that I did not need. I later downloaded some drivers from Lenovo for the laptop

The laptop is only used during vacation.

Scott · Thursday at 4:52 PM

1974darrenh said:
I got really excited seeing this post but just tried these 2 ways and bios is the same

Well dang. There's gotta be a way to disable the VMD controller.

My ASUS board makes it easy...

1974darrenh · Thursday at 5:24 PM

Scott said:
Well dang. There's gotta be a way to disable the VMD controller.

My ASUS board makes it easy...

View attachment 136738

I'm doing this on a laptop but I don't know if that makes a difference.

There has got to be a simple way of offering getting an exact copy of my old laptop and putting it on my new laptop

spapakons · Thursday at 5:27 PM

I found the manual of your laptop, but doesn't have a reference to the BIOS settings! Please post screenshots of the BIOS screens, we might see something you miss. There is a possibility that the storage controller has a separate configuration screen that appears after the BIOS just before Windows load. Much like RAID controllers or SATA/M.2 ports on a discreet card. The usual key combination to access the configuration screen is CTRL+S or similar. You can see a relevant message for 1-2 seconds before Windows load. In that case you won't find anything in BIOS because it appears separately.

PS: If you only see the HP logo at boot, press TAB or ESC to see the booting text. There should be the option to load the separate screen, if any. Also I have seen in some motherboards that the configuration screen is disabled by default and you must enable it from BIOS before you can use it to change the storage controller settings.

1974darrenh · Thursday at 6:56 PM

Bios screen

hsehestedt · Thursday at 7:21 PM

Forgive me if I have missed something here. I waded through this thread but still feel like I might be missing something.

If you are not able to disable the Intel RST in the BIOS on that HP, why not simply load the driver at boot time?

Step 1: Download the driver here:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/hp-laptop-pc-14-d2000/model/2100648340?sku=3Z7M4EA

Step 2: Extract the contents of that driver into a folder and drop that folder onto your Windows installation disk.

Step 3: Install during Windows setup if you doing a clean install. To do so, simply boot your Windows installation media and at the following screen point it to the EXTRACTED contents of the driver you downloaded in step 1.

Alternative Method

Follow steps 1 and 2 above.

3) Create a folder on the root of your Windows installation media. It MUST be named "$WinPeDriver$" although uppercase / lowercase do not matter. Drop the EXTRACTED contents of the driver in that folder.

NOTE: Subfolders inside $WinPeDriver$ are okay. So, if you have multiple drivers you can place each inside a separate subfolder. Here is an example of what my $WinPeDriver$ folder looks like (only folders are shown, I'm not showing all files):

That is all. Windows setup will automatically grab this driver(s).

Again, my apologies if I've missed something. Feel free to scold me if desired

cheaterslick · Thursday at 7:29 PM

cereberus said:
You can create a customised install.wim of old pc using dism and then inject HP drivers. Done it many times.

Thanks for mentioning that. I didn't think it was just so easy as a simple clone.

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