Recovering to a new computer system

bbayley · Feb 25, 2010

Hi..I currently do a complete PC backup with Vista Ultimate 32 bit to an external hard drive. I am buying a new computer with an Intel® Core™ i7-920 Processor and Intel® DX58 Chipset. I believe this is a 64 bit system. Two questions... First of all, can I restore my 32 bit files to it? and secondly, my new computer has a larger hard drive. Is the larger hard drive a problem when restoring? Thanks!!

pauliewalnuts · Feb 25, 2010

Yes, you may restore 32-bit personal files to the new system with few problems. Some third-party 64-bit apps like MATLAB might bring your personal files back looking a little strange but the information will be unchanged; the data presentation will just change.

However, you need permission in your new operating system to access the data from your old computer. Vista will not allow backup data from another computer or account that's stored on a hard drive to be accessed by another computer or account "freely" from that drive without a password.

Set up an admin user name on the host computer (the one connected to the hard drive where your backup will be)

Set up a password for the admin user on the host computer

Use this as the user name/password for all your other vista computers you are going to be backing up to the host computer's hard drive.

Apparently, people say that if you forget this step and Vista asks you for the login and password for your backed-up dated, the following works:
Username: Everyone
Password: admin

But this hole might be closed in Service Pack 2 or in a hot fix... I don't recommend relying on this.

bbayley · Feb 26, 2010

Thanks for the info...very helpful. I have named the admin on my current host computer, but have not set a password. I should have been more specific when I first submitted...here's what I was planning on doing..tell me if this will work. My Complete PC Backup is on an external hard drive which I will connect to the new PC when I get it. My new computer is coming without an operating system installed. I was going to put a barebones Vista Ultimate install on it with my original Vista Ultimate install disc (no service packs, updates, etc.) so that the System Recovery Options Menu on my Vista installation disc can find an operating system to repair. I've used it before and it works great when restoring the complete drive image to the same computer. My one concern is that my current hard drive is 250 GB and my new PC will have a 500 GB hard drive (I haven't finalized the order yet). Does the Complere PC Backup image files contain information about drive size that may screw things up...like size of the partition?..or should I be safe and order a 250 GB drive? Let me know what you think..you seem to know your stuff.. Thanks

pauliewalnuts · Feb 26, 2010

Oh. That's a good question. Yes, the system compares the size of its new home drive to its old home drive but, no, you should be safe. MS system image restores refuse to work when the new partition is smaller; when it is the same size or larger you shouldn't have a problem.

Go for it and report back with your result!

bbayley · Feb 27, 2010

Thanks for all your help. I will let you know

Recovering to a new computer system

bbayley

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pauliewalnuts

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bbayley

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pauliewalnuts

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My Computer

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bbayley

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My Computer

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