Installing and configuring an operating system is much more difficult and time-consuming than creating an image and transferring it to another computer. If you need to transfer the OS along with all programs (the reason may be, for example, buying a new device), do not panic - this is done quite simply. Carefully read the recommendations below and choose the best way to “relocate” Windows. All the files and utilities you need will be in place, you will no longer waste a lot of time and nerves on reinstalling the OS. Installing an SSD drive will also not be difficult.

System image. Transfer Windows 7 without installing utilities

Perhaps the easiest and fastest option. The system has a backup tool - go to the Start menu, select “All Programs”, then “Maintenance” and “Backup and Restore”. Next, you need to create an OS recovery disk and create an image. We perform the following actions:

1. To create an image, you need to specify the path where the archive of all data will be created: select a disk, optical or external HDD. By the way, you can create an image and store it online, but more on that later. Choose a disk with enough space to carry out this process; it is better if it is a logical or external disk. Archiving.

1. After the process is completed, we boot another device, insert our copy media and boot the system.
2. Click on “OS Restore” and specify the media with the image.

1. The action is completed, reboot the device.

Note! In order for the system to boot, you need to set the BIOS settings to boot from the hard drive.

In principle, the method is quite simple and does not require installing any utilities. However, the archive is not created so quickly and there is no way to compress it. There are more effective programs.

Creating an OS clone. Paragon Drive Copy

The next method of transferring Windows is through a backup application or using virtualization. You will be able to run the operating system without installing.

To clone the disk of an old PC, you need to download and install the application. This program will easily help you migrate your operating system from one device to another. The utility is quite functional and has many options for creating an image and storing data.

So, to transfer the OS using this utility, you need to perform a number of steps:

1. Click “Backup disk or partition”.
2. Mark the disk for cloning.
3. Check the “Change archiving settings” checkbox.
4. Next, select the “No compression” option.
5. The settings should indicate the possibility of direct access to sectors of the partition.

Archiving the data. Create a new section

Now that we have created the image, we transfer it to the new device. It often happens that the computer has an outdated operating system (for example, Windows XP), but the user wants to install a modern OS there. In this case, you need to make a new partition in an existing system and select it in the system bootloaders.

What needs to be done for this?

1. Install the application on the new device.
2. The program will present disk partitions in additional archiving options. If the required area is available (the size of the partition being created should not be less than the archive with Windows XP), we create a new partition.
3. After completing the partition creation process, click on it with the mouse in the “Backup & Recovery” utility and restore the logical disk. Following the instructions of the application, we complete the settings and copy a copy to the new operating system.

Windows image in a virtual environment. Live SkyDrive app

If you have a good network connection speed, you can store a backup copy of the operating system in virtual storage. The advantage of this method is that you will not only migrate the system from one device to another, but also easily restore any data in the event of a failure. In addition, if you own a laptop, this method will allow you to recover all files if the device is lost. If your laptop is stolen, you will not lose important documents and programs, but will be able to restore everything to another device. However, do not forget about security when placing the image in virtual storage.

The first thing you should pay attention to is the availability of free space. If you want to place a small disk, you can use a free resource - Windows Live SkyDrive. The volume of information can be up to 25 GB.

The tool allows you to create 3 types of folders that are stored on the network:

Folders that are accessible only to the creator

Folders for which the creator can create a list of people to access,

Open folders available to everyone.

This utility opens the following possibilities:

• Possibility to store data up to 25 GB. Access can be done from any device, even a mobile phone. A simple interface makes it easy to upload information to the server.
• File storage is free. Today, many of these services allow you to store files online for free, but some may require a fee to add functionality.
• The ability to create a folder of your own structure and store any files. You can create direct links to folders.

How to securely encrypt information?

Some services provide the ability to encrypt data online. But it’s still better to be careful once again and perform this action on your computer, eliminating the possibility of infecting files.

To encrypt information, follow these steps:

1. Install the TrueCrypt utility.
2. Click "Create Volume".
3. Select the encryption strength; it is advisable not to encrypt too much, otherwise the download and upload speed may change. The best option is medium power.
4. Move the data to a ready-made container, mount it and enter the password. Perform encryption following the utility prompts.

We transfer the operating system to a new device (the OS are the same)

The most typical option is when you need to transfer the OS to another device with a similar system. In this case, migration is quickly carried out by creating a backup protocol using the Ocster Backup utility.

“My Documents” and other standard folders do not differ in versions of Windows, this simplifies the task - you only need to designate the required copy in the program and complete the installation following the prompts.

Note! The “Use default access permissions” function must be activated, otherwise the new operating system will not receive rights to access files.

We transfer the operating system to a new device (Windows OS are different)

The free Windows Easy Transfer program allows you to transfer the system and all settings to a different version of Windows. Don't forget about the features of certain systems. For example, profile information is saved in different folders.

The program has a fairly simple interface and functionality. There are also several limitations: the utility will not allow migration if the localization of the system on the devices is different; difficulties may arise with migrating the OS if one of them is 64-bit and the other is 32-bit.

Seven already has this utility, so you can easily and simply perform the transfer using the wizard's prompts.

Transferring the OS to an SSD drive

How to transfer Windows from IDE or SATA to SSD?

Information on hard drives is usually stored on tracks that are divided into sectors. SSD is distinguished by the absence of such a breakdown. When you install the seven on a drive, it independently determines the characteristics of the drive's memory. However, when importing a copy of an old device, the disk will slow down the speed by half, the reason for this is the safety of the copy according to the same sectors of the breakdown.

Utility for transferring OS to SSD

There are quite a few programs, let’s consider one of the most popular and functional. This is Drive Copy 11 Professional produced by the Paragon brand. This utility allows you to transfer an image to disk. What is the advantage of this program?

Solid-state disks perform their functions perfectly, operating almost silently, but the price for larger volumes is quite significant, and smaller disks often do not fit all the necessary information. So the main point of the utility’s functioning is the exclusion of everything unnecessary. Thus, you don’t have to spend a lot of money on a larger disk, but simply exclude with the program what is completely unnecessary.

Problems that arise when using a 3TB disk

When buying a disk with a capacity of more than 2.2 TB, many often encounter a problem: the operating system does not want to use the entire disk capacity - it simply does not see it. The reason is simple - the standard MBR markup does not allow this action. However, there is a way out of the situation and it is simple - again use the Drive Copy 11 Professional utility we already know, it will provide the opportunity to read the entire free volume of the hard drive.

Thus, migrating the operating system is quite simple. All you have to do is install the required utility and use the tips in this article.

Sandbox

steel, mink, beef, paper September 15, 2013 at 08:58 pm

A universal way to transfer Windows 7 to a new platform

Task

Describe the fastest and most universal way to transfer installed Windows to any hardware platform.

Limits of applicability

OS Windows 7. Theoretically, Windows 8, Server 2008, 2008 R2. 64-bit OSes can only be ported to 64-bit platforms.

Description of the task

A larger number of users prefer to transfer the OS disk/image rather than reinstall and lose all settings. The process is not trivial. If the update is minor, then there are no problems. If the motherboard is being updated, then it all depends on the parameters: the difference in platforms, the relevance of the OS release, the release date of the equipment. The worst option is to switch from amd to intel (or from intel to amd), where the target platform was released later than the OS distribution (and does not have entries about the corresponding drivers in the installation settings). In this case, with almost any transfer method, error 0x0000007B is guaranteed when starting the OS on a new machine. This method allows you to avoid this mistake. The Internet is full of questions and useless recipes. Here they are:

• Using the sysprep utility is useless and greatly delays the process.
• Using third-party utilities (Acronis True Image, etc...) takes a long time and does not guarantee results.
• Use the botrec and bootsect utilities - in general, the problem is not in finding boot sectors.

• Make sure that the same AHCI modes are set in the BIOS settings on the source and target systems
  Controller Mode: Compatible, AHCI Mode: Disabled, SATA Native Mode: Disable
  or
  Controller Mode: Enhanced, AHCI Mode: Enabled, SATA Native Mode: Enabled
• Make sure that Standard AHCI controller is installed in the system settings
  Start - Control Panel - System - Device Manager - IDE/ATAPI Controllers

Proper implementation of transfer

Requirements:

1. Windows distribution similar to the one installed
2. A storage medium suitable for temporary installation of Windows on it

Process

1. Connect the temporary storage medium to the new platform and perform the initial installation of Windows on it.
2. Export the registry hive HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase to a file
3. Import a file with a registry hive on an old machine
4. Reinstall Windows hard drive from old to new machine

Explanation:

The main problem when running Windows on a new platform is the inability of Windows to identify the correct drivers for the hardware components of the new platform. Normally, the OS then looks up the hardware IDs and installs the appropriate standard driver. If, for many reasons, the OS does not have information on drivers corresponding to the current hardware identifiers, it continues to use the old drivers. By importing a registry key with the appropriate identifiers, we force the system to “recognize” our equipment and connect the appropriate driver (or a standard one, if the driver is not found)

Additionally:

• You can install a new Windows on the same hard drive (just in a different directory than the distribution you are moving), export the registry hive to a file, boot the disk on the previous machine, and import data into the registry from the file
• You can carry out the entire operation directly on the new platform if you use ERD Commander (aka Microsoft DART)
• There is a corresponding DART for each version of Windows. Here's a good one. You can easily google the link to the DART distribution
• If, for some reason, it is impossible to transfer the data file from the registry to your hard drive, then there is a way to embed it directly into boot.wim DART. To do this, you should use GImageX

reference Information

The functionality of the method was tested when transferring Windows 7 Ultimate SP1, when transferring from nForce+AMD Athlon64x2 to Intel B75 + Celeron G1610. Below are links to materials used in preparing the article:

Purchasing a new SSD or HDD does not necessarily have to result in installing Windows from scratch. Windows with all its settings and installed software can be transferred to a new hard drive, if the old one is still connected to the computer, using special software. This process is called operating system migration. It involves cloning the system partition (drive C and boot sector) to another hard drive. Such operations can be carried out by the Acronis True Image program, various software assemblies from Paragon, including the Paragon Migrate OS to SSD utility specially designed only for these purposes, as well as products from the developer AOMEI. But while products from Acronis and Paragon can only be used on a paid basis, software from AOMEI is available completely free of charge.

The ability to transfer Windows to another hard drive is available in two AOMEI products - AOMEI Backupper Professional backup software and AOMEI Partition Assistant disk manager. You can use the Windows migration function in AOMEI Backupper Professional for free only for a month, until the full-featured trial version expires. But with the help of the free Standard edition of the AOMEI Partition Assistant disk manager, you can constantly transfer Windows from one hard drive to another. But not only this point makes AOMEI Partition Assistant a profitable solution for transferring Windows to another hard drive. This program is, in fact, a single tool both for migrating the operating system and for allocating space on the new hard drive for the specific needs of the user. Today we’ll look at how to use AOMEI Partition Assistant to transfer Windows to another empty hard drive.

1. Specifics of the operation: required reading

The Windows migration method described below does not preserve the partition structure and data of the target hard drive (the one to which the operating system will be transferred). Therefore, this method is only suitable for cases when nothing should be saved on the target SSD or HDD. For example, if you purchase a new device with unallocated space. Or when connecting a used device whose data is not valuable. AOMEI Partition Assistant can transfer Windows to a separate system partition of the target hard drive while preserving the structure of the latter and data stored on other partitions. In this case, the migration method will be different from the one below. If there is important data on the target hard drive, you cannot use the instructions below.

2. Download and run the program

AOMEI Partition Assistant can be downloaded from the official website of the creators. In the list of program editions, you can select the free Standard one. Its capabilities will be enough to transfer Windows to another hard drive and create partitions on it (if necessary).

After launching the program, in the center of the window we will see a picture of all connected disks and their partitions - in a tabular format at the top and in a visual format at the bottom. If the target SSD or HDD is new, its space will be unallocated as shown in the screenshot.

In this case, remember its serial number - Disk 1, Disk 2, etc. - and immediately proceed to paragraph 4 of the article.

3. Removing partitions on the target hard drive with existing partitions

Before starting the Windows migration operation, the target hard drives with existing partitions must be rid of partitions by deleting them. The operation to remove partitions requires special care. If several hard drives with a similar partition structure are connected to your computer, their properties window will help you figure out which of them is the target one to which you want to transfer Windows. To find out which hard drive is displayed as Disk 1, Disk 2, etc., click on it (on the block of the entire disk, as shown in the screenshot), call up the context menu and select “Properties”.

In the properties window, in the first column we will see the brand and model of the hard drive.

We make sure that the desired hard drive is selected, and delete its partitions one by one. On each partition, call the context menu and select “Delete partition”.

For each partition, we confirm the deletion without changing the preset “Quickly delete partition” option.

When the entire target hard drive is displayed as unallocated space, click the button at the top of the “Apply” program window.

We once again confirm the decision to delete the partitions.

Upon completion of the operation, click “Ok”.

4. Transfer (migrate) Windows to another hard drive

Well, disk space is not allocated on the target SSD or HDD, now we can proceed directly to the process of transferring Windows to it, which is located on the source hard drive and is currently running. In the AOMEI Partition Assistant window, click the “Wizard” menu and select “Transfer OS SSD or HDD”.

Then click on the target disk with unallocated space. Click “Next”.

In the next window, you configure the size of the future system partition on the target disk. AOMEI Partition Assistant by default sets the C drive and Windows boot sector to the same sizes as the original hard drive. If the target disk is not a 60 GB SSD, but a medium with a lot of space, we can adjust the system partition slider to 70-100 GB. This is the optimal size today for Windows 7, 8.1 and 10. The remaining space of the target disk will later be allocated to non-system partitions for data storage. Click “Next”.

The wizard’s work is completed – click “Finish”.

Returning to the main program window, click the “Apply” button at the top.

Then we will see another dialog box warning that the operation will be carried out in pre-boot mode. We save the files open on the computer, close other active programs and click “Yes” in the AOMEI Partition Assistant window.

The computer will reboot, and on the screen we will observe the progress of the Windows transfer operation.

5. Check the target hard drive

Once the operation is complete, the system will boot from the original hard drive. You need to restart the computer again in order to configure the BIOS to boot from the target hard drive and check the functionality of the transferred Windows.

For cases where Windows is transferred to a single system partition on an SSD, the process is complete.

6. Create non-system partitions on the target hard drive

AOMEI Partition Assistant has also moved to the target hard drive along with Windows. Having booted the computer from the target disk, we can use the program to create non-system partitions. Click on the unallocated space after partition C, call up the context menu (or use the “Partition” program menu) and select “Create partition”.

In the window that appears, by dragging the slider on the visual block, we select all the available space or only part of it for the section to be created. Click "Ok".

If the disk space is divided into several partitions, we perform this operation the required number of times. Once the partitions are formed, we apply the planned operations.

We confirm their launch.

Click "Ok".

Disk partitioning is complete.

Have a great day!

In case of replacing or purchasing a new computer or laptop, when replacing the motherboard on the computer, you will have to either install the system from scratch or use the method of transferring all data and installed programs using a utility Sysprep. This is a built-in utility from Microsoft that helps the user prepare your system for transfer to new hardware without rearranging the operating system.

On startup sysprep Your operating system clears all information about installed , and unique information about the installed OS is also reset. The main thing that interests users in this method is that all data and installed programs will remain untouched. That is, you don’t have to make a backup and install all the software on your computer again. Microsoft warns that in addition to information about drivers and devices, information about the activation of your Windows will be lost, so you will have to activate your licensed Winodos 7 either by phone or via the Internet (with the exception of the OEM version). The OEM version binds activation to the hardware, so it can only be done over the phone.

We are starting to prepare our OS for the transfer.
To do this, run the (already installed) utility sysprep on the computer using the command (in the command line as an administrator, enter the line (Start - Run - cmd)):

%windir%\system32\sysprep\sysprep

A utility settings window should open with the following items and settings:

In point System cleaning action choose Go to the system welcome window (OOBE) and put a tick Preparation using.
In the parameter shutdown select an item Shutdown. You can also choose to reboot the system if you want to remove an image of this system by booting from a DVD or flash drive.
Do not boot after the Sysprep procedure on the same computer, as you will have to perform this procedure again before transferring to a new PC.

Click OK and wait until the system is restored to its initial form. After the process is completed, the computer will turn off. Now you can change the motherboard on your computer, or transfer it to a new computer.

When the Windows 7 operating system starts, it will install and detect devices.

The system may reboot (this is normal), and at the end of the installation you will need to select a language and configure regional settings.

Enter the date, standard settings, automatic system update mode, etc. step by step.
At the end of the installation, log in as the user Test, end the session and you can log in under the account you have always worked under. All that remains is to install new drivers and work normally on the computer.

Transferring Windows 7 with installed programs is not such a complicated procedure, which is carried out using the Sysprep utility much faster than a complete installation from scratch. But there are also some nuances in this method. Microsoft does not guarantee 100% operation of this method when transferring, for example, different chipsets, for example from Intel to AMD or vice versa. But in practice, there were cases where the system rose and worked without failures. If you are transferring with similar models and chipsets, then most likely there should be no problems or conflicts.

class="eliadunit">

How to do it correctly Windows 7 transfer from an old hard drive to a new one? The fact is that I purchased a hard drive with a capacity of 1 TB, and my old one is only 120 GB, Windows 7 is installed on it on the system partition (C:), with all the programs I need, which I installed for many days. The system works well and I have no desire to reinstall it. I talked to repairmen, the answer is the same, it’s easier to reinstall, is that true? Vitaly.

Windows 7 Transfer

I will show you how to do everything very simply using the Acronis boot disk, which can be done in the program itself in 5 minutes. Vitaly has one hard drive on his computer, on it there is a system partition (C:), with Windows 7 installed, but even if there were several more local drives, for example with your data, we could also implement Windows 7 transfer to a new hard drive, with all additional volumes, using the method below.

You should also know that after the operation has been completed, Windows 7 will ask you to re-activate it. I have used the described method many times and always successfully, but just in case, create a recovery disk, you may need it, it can be written to a simple CD in two minutes, if you don’t know how, read: Creating a system recovery disk, you don’t need to create it if you have You have an installation disk with Windows 7, read the article to the end and you will understand everything.
To make it easier for you to understand what's going on Wi transferndows 7 to another disk, I’ll show everything to my computer, I specifically left two hard drives in my system unit, one 120 GB and Windows 7 installed on it, the other a blank hard drive 500 GB, and if we discard marketing, then 465 GB.
You need to start with, my dears, whether you can connect your new hard drive to your system unit yourself. To help you, our article How to connect a second hard drive to a computer. If you have successfully completed this, read on. We turn on the computer, the new hard drive is successfully detected in the system, it’s easier here, you need to create a simple volume and assign a drive letter to it, let’s do that.
Start->Computer, right-click on it and open Control, Further Managementdisk drive, right-click on the 465 GB unallocated space and select Create simple volume.

The Create Simple Volume Wizard window opens.

Select the drive letter.

In this window we do not change anything, the file system is NTFS and the quick formatting checkbox is checked.

We go to the Computer window and see our second hard drive as a New Volume (F:),

now everything is ready for Windows 7 transfer from an old 120 GB drive to a new one.
Well, now let’s reboot, the computer should boot from the bootable media, if you have difficulty changing the boot priority in the BIOS, read.
Main program window Tools and Utilities->Disk cloning

Auto

By default the program should be selected Disc 1 to 120 GB, click next.

Target Disc 2, to which we will transfer Windows 7, volume 465 GB, further.

Completion And Get started.

Operation Clone disk took 15 minutes and completed successfully. Turn off the computer and remove the old 120 GB hard drive, leaving the new 464 GB one. We turn on the computer and see what happens. Windows 7 started successfully