[polaris6]

I am trying to clone a HDD on a Dell 5150 laptop on to a HDD for installation on a Dell D600 laptop. I am doing this with xxClone and a SATA-to-USB cable.
Cloning is not an issue (or it seems not to be). After the cloning, I reinstalled the cloned HDD in to the D600 laptop and boot from the OEM Reinstallation CD (for XP Home Edition. When finished, I get the BSOD with the 'fltmgr.sys.....' error.
I have tried the Recovery Console chkdsk/f and /r. I have wiped the to-be-cloned HDD clean before I cloned the Dell 5150 HDD..no joy.

Is it not possible to do what I want to do? Yes, I know, it would be 'swifter' to fresh reinstall and reinstall all the programs affter moving all the data files. But I have a special reason for wanting to be successful doing it the way I proposed.

Thanks

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Your original hdd was installed with its specific hardware and specs so when you clone it and try to run it on another laptop which as different hardware and specvs you will for certain get errors.

To the best of my knowledge (Better experts may have a solution) you will have to fresh install XP on your new laptop and copy your personal files to it.

[Alzeimer]

Your original hdd was installed with its specific hardware and specs so when you clone it and try to run it on another laptop which as different hardware and specvs you will for certain get errors.

To the best of my knowledge (Better experts may have a solution) you will have to fresh install XP on your new laptop and copy your personal files to it.

[polaris6]

Thank you.

But I was under the impression that when you do a Repair install from the OEM CD, the old system spec are replaced with the current system specs.

[Alzeimer]

OEM versions are licensed to one specific motherboard, so unless it is not an OEM but if a full retail version of XP then you can do a switch you will just have to reactivate your XP.

If the two laptops have the same motherboard and chipset then you can use the same OEM cd.

[polaris6]

It happens to be the version supplied by Dell with the computer.

[Jahape4]

When the Windows OS is installed, a hardware abstract list is created and makes it almost impossible to clone the operating system to new hardware.

However there are tools you can buy to allow you to clone your OS to a computer with different hardware.

Please reference this article describing the situation you're dealing with and how it actually works: http://kb.acronis.com/content/2149

I personally have bought and used this company's backup tool with the universal restore option that allows you to clone to different hardware. I highly recommend supporting them and their products.

Hope this helps, but I'm not sure if there are any open source or free tools that do the same thing if that's what you were looking for.

[Jahape4]

Correction...Hardware Abstract *Layer

[Jahape4]

Aha, it appears as if there is a free backup program that'll do a universal restore by the company Easus.

Please note, however, I have not used this tool before and it does appear to take some extra work to get it burned to a bootable CD. Once you get it all configured, it then should allow you to make a clone and actually have a universal restore option available when restoring to the other computer.

Please keep in mind though, that this is software is free for home users/use only.

You can find the Easus ToDo Backup Free 4.5 Here...

Lastly, here is an blog article giving an overview on the free version, including the restoring to dissimilar hardware (note this is a review on v4.0 but should basically be the same). It also explains some of it's limitations due to it being the free home version.

Again I have not personally used this, but hopefully it does what you need and allows you to clone your HDD to your other computer.

Kind regards...

[polaris6]

I purchased Acronis True Image 2010 Home Edition. back in 2010. I tried that and it didn't work. However, it appears that I didn't have all the bells and whistles I needed.

What do I need to be able to use what I have to get done what I need to do?

Also, I tried Eaus ToDO 4.5 and I couldn't get past the first instruction page. It started to clone the HD but after a few seconds I got a message that I needed to partition the HD to handle the temporary storage of files (which I don't understand)

[Jahape4]

I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to you. It appears that the newest and latest available 'free' release no longer offers the universal restore function as I personally just downloaded and tried to use it. They have a trial for download, but it does not include the built-in WinPE bootable CD creator that's needed to complete the task.

While I mentioned in my previous post that the blog article references an older version, it actually appears that they have removed this functionality from all newer releases since it was published.

I see from EaseUS's website that you can get the paid version of the software (which includes the universal restore option) for only around $35.

I know you asked if there was any option to do the backup/restore to different hardware with what you currently have...but due to the fact EaseUS has removed this feature from their free version (which again I appologize for not knowing before actually downloading/installing and posting my previous reply) I'm out of options for the moment on how to accomplish this.

I'll try to see if there is any other way. Otherwise you may want just want to consider asking Acronis what the add-on price would be for getting their universal restore feature added to what you already own vs. getting a copy of EaseUS Workstation for $35.

Kind regards...

[polaris6]

I don't mind paying the $35 if that will do the job with Acronis. Is that all I need is the Universal restore option?

[Jahape4]

Yep, that is all that you would need. I originally had purchased their True Image Echo software with the Universal Restore option already bundled in. Basically upon installing and activating the Universal Restore option, the True Image Echo software then gave me an option to create a bootable disk allowing me to create an 'image' of my system with the universal restore option already built in.

My first advice is to talk with Acronis customer support to let them know what version you have (as their current version is newer than yours) and find out exactly what you need to purchase, so that it'll be upgrade compatible with the version you have. You can always explain your situation and that you own an older version of their software, but you need to clone your current computer's hard drive to a different computer's hard drive, but just do not have the universal restore option...They should be able to let you know what exactly you need.

Once they have figured this out and you have gotten what's needed. you can move onto the following...

Please keep in mind that you will technically need three hard drives to complete this process, should you go with Acronis universal restore (same with if you would decide to purchase EaseUS's paid version). Once you have activated and installed the add-on, you will need to create a bootable CD that includes the universal restore option (With Acronis, upon booting your original computer to this CD it'll give you a menu asking if you want to boot with the Universal Restore feature loaded or not, which you will want choose to do). Next you will choose that you are wanting to do a partition/disk backup. ***Please note, that at this point, you will want to have an external hard drive hooked up to this computer, that is able to hold the 'backup image'*** (Keep in mind that if, for example, your original hard drive is 40GB in size, you'll need another hard drive (to save the image to) that has at least 25-30GB free, depending on the compression method you choose.) You will then select the external drive as your destination drive. Once the image is created on this external drive, you'll boot up the other computer with the same bootable CD, and have this external drive attached to it. Once it boots up, you're going to again choose the option of loading Acronis with the Universal Restore option. This will then allow you to choose the option to restore the disk/partition you just backed up and select the image file from the external drive. While going through the prompts you will at some point be asked if you want to use the universal restore function or not. Here you will select 'yes' and proceed with the restore wizard.

After going through all this, it should then restore the original image to the new computer and reset the Hardware Abstract Layer. The computer will finally reboot and after starting up/logging on you'll just have to go through the process of specifying the drivers needing to be installed on the new computer that are not identified.

This should be all that's needed to properly clone the old system's hard drive onto the new system, keeping everything the identical.

Please keep me updated if you have any questions or if any issues arise with this, and I'll gladly help out.

Lastly, I again just want to stress the fact that you should contact Acronis sales/customer support to explain what version you have and what is needed/how much it would cost to add or upgrade to the Universal Restore option that's needed. I don't want to see you just randomly purchase an option for the universal restore upgrade only to find out that isn't compatible with what you currently own for some reason.

Kind regards and keep me posted...

[polaris6]

Thank you...That's a 'mouthful'.

time to 'retire for the day'

Thanks again.

I will be back with some questions later in the week.

[Jahape4]

Heh, yeah my apologies for the lengthy response. Just trying to be as thorough as possible to help with your situation and give you as much personal experience as I can.

Please take your time and let me know if there is anything I can do to help or assist you further with anything.

Kind regards...

[polaris6]

I just talked with Acronis (in India, I think).

Here's the bottom line...my 2010 is 'outdated'. I would have to buy the 2012 Home Ed upgrade ($30), plus the Plus Pack (which has the Universal Restore feature (($30).

The Universal Restore feature will do what I want, but...

...as you mentioned earlier, I will have to install the necessary/required drivers.
That was one of the questions I had for you. Where do I find those drivers? I have the Dell OEM CD's but they apparently don't have the drivers to d/l. Where/how does one get those drivers, and why are they not part of the computer documentatiion when it arrives?

I cannot go out on the internet to get these drives because the network drivers are not yet installed, although I have a WiFi card.

Why does this have to be so complicated? Is there a business reason why these things are so inaccessible?

I have to teach a Seamanship class tonight. I will be back around 10 PM.

Thanks for 'listening'.