Hi Ozbargainer
I am not a computer expert. I need help and suggestion
I have an old laptop (Win 7) in my office that contains Practix (medical software with registered user licence).
It was installed by computer technician (with the network setting to connect to server).
I am planning to buy a new laptop and I need to clone the hard drive for the new laptop (so that the setting configuration
remains the same).
Can some one please advise me on how to do it?
Thank you
Given that your new computer and old computer does not have the same specs, you won't be able to just clone your old computer and have it work on your new computer because the windows drivers will be different.
If you still have the installation discs for your software, you will need to install the software on your new computer and then use Windows Easy Transfer to transfer the software settings from your old computer to your new computer.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-au/windows/transfer-files-se…
However, after a quick Google search, IMHO, you will unlikely be able to transfer all the settings without IT support. It looks like you will need to map network drives(mostly likely for form templates) and create ODBC connections in order for Practix to function properly on your new computer.
I think it is best you find a knowledgeable IT person to help you out.
Good luck.
Can you transfer the license? Some software have a utility that can do that.
You can't clone the drive and then expect the OS to work on dissimilar hardware. It'll only work when the drive is put back into the same system.
That's not true, I've done that when I moved my AMD APU based HTPC's HDD to my normal i5 based PC for testing. The system will completely freak out installing generic drivers everywhere, but it 'works'. Win 7 to Win7 btw.
That's on a desktop though. Drivers for desktop machines are much easier to find, and you can even install generic ones from the OEM website and it'll work fine with no BSOD issues.
On a laptop, compatible drivers are will be harder to source and will not support an older operating system. If he buys a 2015 era laptop it won't have Win 7 drivers, for instance.
Use AOMEI Backupper to clone your hard drive. I know it works well because i have cloned several hard drives. i think you would need to buy a sata to usb adaptor to conenct the new hard drive. Once connected clone it and insert into new laptop.
Your drivers will not be installed though. So you need to go to the manufacturers website and download them and install them.
Note: In some cases this does not work as the original pc has something which prevents the os working on different laptops, but generally it works most of the time.
If you plan on changing PC hardware, best to not clone. Although in many cases you won't have problems, there could be issues popping up with permissions and inaccessible drives etc.
You may have problems getting your windows to run. Cloning is normally from a HDD on the same PC to another HDD on the same PC. There is a CD key for the version of windows you have, embedded inside the BIOS/MoBo, which doesn't get transferred to your new PC. There may be problems with keys not matching the windows you are running etc.
Always clone from a smaller HDD to larger. Doesn't matter if you only used 50gb in your 250gb HDD, always clone to a 250 or above drive.
Lots of programs to help you automate it and guide you through step by step. Paragon is one.
Depending on how good the software is, it may not regardless of cloning the drive.