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Harddrive cloning problems
Nov. 12th, 2016 05:51 pmMy personal laptop is old and has problems. Not with the actual computer part of it; with the power and big cracks in the case. As in, big chips of plastic case come off every so often, and while the power cord itself works fine the place it plugs into only works intermittently. If you can find the exact right place, and not jiggle the laptop or the cord at all and hold the whole thing perfectly still, it charges fine. But it's really annoying.
So I was going to replace it. It's Windows 7, and I use Windows 8 and10 at work. They're both faster, but 7 is SO MUCH EASIER to use on a laptop. (8 and 10 assume that a tablet is your primary way to use the OS, or at least a touchscreen laptop.) So I wanted to keep it, since it's still being updated. I bought a refurbished Windows 7 laptop online, tried it out, it worked fine. I was getting ready to load all my programs and transfer my files (a huge bother), when a techie friend said "hey, it's so much easier and quicker to clone it, why don't you do that instead?"
Okay, great. Fine. I read some articles online so I know what I'm doing, download a cloning software and clone my old hard drive onto my new one ... and it won't boot up. Try it again, same thing. Now, at this point, I would like to just go back to how I started and manually transfer programs and files, but I don't think that's possible because it's been formatted a couple of times--doesn't that wipe out the OS? So I download another cloning software and try that one. Same problem, except now at least I can get it to run System Repair. Which says there's a problem I can't fix. But the System Image Recovery options are also available now, and I go there. Yes, I can use the backup of the original laptop I made before trying to clone anything (I am no fool). But! In order to do that, I need a system repair disk or a Windows installation disc, neither of which I have. It will make one for me, all I have to do is put in a blank disc! ... which I don't have. Nothing in town is open on Sundays, and I'm not driving an hour to the nearest city where I know there will be a store open that would sell blank cds, it can wait until Monday. At least my original laptop is okay.
So I was going to replace it. It's Windows 7, and I use Windows 8 and10 at work. They're both faster, but 7 is SO MUCH EASIER to use on a laptop. (8 and 10 assume that a tablet is your primary way to use the OS, or at least a touchscreen laptop.) So I wanted to keep it, since it's still being updated. I bought a refurbished Windows 7 laptop online, tried it out, it worked fine. I was getting ready to load all my programs and transfer my files (a huge bother), when a techie friend said "hey, it's so much easier and quicker to clone it, why don't you do that instead?"
Okay, great. Fine. I read some articles online so I know what I'm doing, download a cloning software and clone my old hard drive onto my new one ... and it won't boot up. Try it again, same thing. Now, at this point, I would like to just go back to how I started and manually transfer programs and files, but I don't think that's possible because it's been formatted a couple of times--doesn't that wipe out the OS? So I download another cloning software and try that one. Same problem, except now at least I can get it to run System Repair. Which says there's a problem I can't fix. But the System Image Recovery options are also available now, and I go there. Yes, I can use the backup of the original laptop I made before trying to clone anything (I am no fool). But! In order to do that, I need a system repair disk or a Windows installation disc, neither of which I have. It will make one for me, all I have to do is put in a blank disc! ... which I don't have. Nothing in town is open on Sundays, and I'm not driving an hour to the nearest city where I know there will be a store open that would sell blank cds, it can wait until Monday. At least my original laptop is okay.
