Cloning a Vista Machine 1

[AaronBeau]

I currently purchased a new hard drive for my laptop and I want to clone my Vista install. I have a lot of programs and settings so I would prefer not deal with a fresh install.

What I Tried:
- Used HDClone 3.62 to clone my original drive
- Booted to Vista DVD and Repaired the new disk
- Booted to Vista DVD again and ran Startup Repair
- Tried to start Windows...explorer won't come up and my drive letters are reversed.

Does anyone know how to properly clone a Vista machine?
Thank you for your help.


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Beau71 - MCSA

http://www.veritablelife.com

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[BadBigBen]

Use Acronis or Paragon imaging software...

hassle free and works every time...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[linney]

Did any drive copying software come with your new hard drive or is it available on the manufacturer's site?

 

[AaronBeau]

Which Acronis version do you use. I am looking at Acronis True Image Home 2009 and True Image Echo Workstation?

----------------------------
Beau71 - MCSA

http://www.veritablelife.com

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[linney]

If your looking at buying something have a look at these sites too.

Terabyte Unlimited

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/prodgrid.html

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-windows.htm

Acronis True Image 10 Home

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

Have you had a look around the Acronis forums at Wilders?

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/

 

[BadBigBen]

Privately I use Paragon and the SystemRescueCD (Live Linux CD)...

at work I use mainly Acronis True Image Echo Server (company thing)...

Terabyte, as per Linney's suggestion, should work equally well, just like the Acronis and Paragon... it's basically a matter of choice and budget...

works just as good, not as easy to use, but can't beat the price...

SystemRescueCd

http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[linney]

Of course if you have Vista Ultimate or Business, then that has "Complete PC Backup" which is already installed and therefor free to use.

 

[AaronBeau]

I appreciate everyone's help with this. I decided to go with Paragon Hard Disk Manager (ended up costing $50). Once I installed the software, all I had to do was go to the "Maintenance" button and run the "Hard Disk Migration" and did a full drive migration using the "Partition Raw Copy" option.

After that ran, I just plugged in the new hard drive and it WORKED!!

Once again thank you for all your suggestions and help, I ended up choosing Paragon because they were more willing to talk to me pre-sale and guarantee that their product work.

----------------------------
Beau71 - MCSA

http://www.veritablelife.com

----------------------------

 

[BadBigBen]

Aaron, thanks for the feedback, and I am glad you found a product that you are comfortable with...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.