Clone a hard drive to different hardware

[hmig89]

I do agree that having old drivers is a pain, I would also advise to do a fresh OS install with new drivers and then restore the apps and documents.

 

[brandonkick]

Maybe not every install takes days, but you can not guarantee a business it won't in their given situation.

First not everyone has a 90 Mbps connection. & what data did you have to restore for the customer? and what network shares had to be setup? and how many network printers did you install? network scanners? local usb printers? and what 3rd party products did they need? Office? Remote support software? Accounting software? Databases? Email? Java? PDF? Flash? and what backup system did you implement in that 4 hours so the new computer could be continuously backed up onsite every 15 minutes? What about offsite backup going forward? What user accounts & permissions, were all those correct?

I am not knocking a fresh install or it's valid reasons. But I can not promise my customers I can have them up and running and all of this working without issues in a business critical environment where if computer illiterate employee has even the smallest issue they are at a standstill. This was not a planned out new PC install. It was a on the spot disaster recovery situation.

My point is, that updates aside, my restore would have taken less then an hour total. There was only a tiny bit of personal data to restore. When I reinstall an OS on any machine I install the "basics" which are:

All Windows Updates
Antivirus / AntiMalware
CCleaner
Java
Flash Player
Adobe Reader
WinRar
VLC

With a decent solution for windows updates (building them into your install disk) the whole process shouldn't take but an hour, even on older hardware.

Then restoring the rest of the data and configuration? Maybe a few hours more, but like I said I feel it would be well worth the time spent.

So yes, it would have taken more time in your situation there is no doubt of that. In all but the most complicated situations, I feel that a proper reinstall is best.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Maybe not every install takes days, but you can not guarantee a business it won't in their given situation.

First not everyone has a 90 Mbps connection. & what data did you have to restore for the customer? and what network shares had to be setup? and how many network printers did you install? network scanners? local usb printers? and what 3rd party products did they need? Office? Remote support software? Accounting software? Databases? Email? Java? PDF? Flash? and

To be honest....for "business clients"..these are the easiest to bang out in a hurry.
Versus home users.

A business...you usually have all the necessary software on the server...client/workstation setup for LOB apps, databases are already there, user account, printer shares, WSUS for updates, GPOs for other installs 'n web player updates...BAM BAM BAM it's done before I can blink 38 times.

 

[alluseridsrejected]

To be honest....for "business clients"..these are the easiest to bang out in a hurry.
Versus home users.

A business...you usually have all the necessary software on the server...client/workstation setup for LOB apps, databases are already there, user account, printer shares, WSUS for updates, GPOs for other installs 'n web player updates...BAM BAM BAM it's done before I can blink 38 times

Are ALL of your business customers in a domain AD setup? The smallest customer I have with with a sbs server/domain setup has 7 workstations. This one only has 4 workstations and is in a workgroup. They are probably going to let me put in a server towards the end of the year.

 

[DocGreen]

What? Where did I even insinuate such a thing? Yes it is A decent but FAR from perfect solution and the one I use. But that is just over the top.

Out of that whole post, this is what you zero in on??

Allow me to correct myself. Just because you use ShadowProtect doesn't mean anyone else should.




Better?

 

[alluseridsrejected]

Out of that whole post, this is what you zero in on??

Allow me to correct myself. Just because you use ShadowProtect doesn't mean anyone else should.




Better?

You are absolutely correct, there are other statements you made in this thread I really should have zeroed in on as well like this totally uncalled for and unsubstantiated one:

Really... the more I think about it... you shouldn't have had to do this at all. If the problem is her license wouldn't allow installation on more than one PC, either way you do it you're still violating that license.

Really, no matter which way I went I am violating the terms of her license?