hard drive - Are there any issues with cloning a Windows installation?

07
2014-07
  • yyyyuuu444

    I'm sure cloning isn't the Microsoft approved method, but will it actually give issues in the real world? Sysprepped images take additional time to set up and deploy (Setup is configuring your computer for first use....). The documentation on sysprep states how it genericises certain attributes of the installation which cloning doesn't do. In a domain environment I'm sure cloning causes a trust issue with the machine that was cloned, but once you rejoin the domain under your new name everything is fine.

    I've deployed cloned machines before and had no apparent issues with them. Just wondering if this is "bad" or not

    • Answers
  • LPChip

    I would recommend against it.

    Here's why: Different pc's can have different hardware. Even if you buy an HP machine with type xxxxx, and you buy the same HP with the same type a half year later, chances are that the hardware in the pc is not exactly the same as the one you bought before.

    Cloning will work obviously but the pc will have additional hardware installed during first boot, so effectively you are polluting the system.

    Furthermore, cloning will make an exact copy of the machine, including serial number and pc name. Only if you have a volume licenced serial with such windows version is it allowed to do this, otherwise its illegal and may cause windows to suddenly stop on a windows update because the serial in use is not accepted.

    You are far better off making a windows install cd/dvd that is preconfigured with what you want to be installed, which settings should be on and additional programs that needs to be installed. And this may actually be quicker than deploying an image.

    Cloning should only be done if you are going to replace a HDD and that HDD will end up in the same machine.


    • Related Question

    Copy all installed programs & files in a hard disk (which has 32 bit Windows 7) and clone/transfer it to another computer which has 64 bit Windows 7
  • galacticninja

    I recently got a new PC which has a 64-bit Windows 7 installed. The current PC that I am using has a 32-bit Windows 7 installed.

    I would like to know if there is a software that can copy all my installed programs and files in the hard disk with the 32-bit Windows 7 PC and transfer it to the newer PC's hard disk which has a 64 bit version of Windows 7. This is essentially like "cloning" a hard disk but I would like to use a 64-bit OS in the target drive, instead of also copying the 32-bit OS of the source drive.

    I would like to do this so I can avoid reinstalling and reconfiguring my installed programs and files again on the new PC. If possible, I would like the new PC to work as it was in my previous PC, with the installed programs, configuration and files intact except that the OS is now 64-bit and the hard disk has a larger capacity. I have heard of programs that can clone a hard disk, but my concern is that the 32-bit Windows 7 OS will also be cloned to the new 64-bit PC.

    If it is not possible to transfer my installed programs and settings like the way I described, are there software that can make it easier to migrate my installed programs, their configurations and my files from a 32-bit Windows 7 PC to a 64-bit Windows 7 PC?

    Details:
    I have a SATA to USB connector/adapter to copy files in the current hard disk to the newer one.
    The two PCs are connected through LAN, so I can also transfer files through LAN.
    Both PCs only have one hard disk.


    • Related Answers
  • Brian

    No, this is not possible. You can't move the registry from the one computer to another, so your applications would not work correctly.

    Instead, install your applications on your new 64-bit system, and use the Windows Easy Transfer to move your data and application settings to your new machine. Easy Transfer is based on USMT, which is a powerfull migration tool big companies use to migrate people to new computers.