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I bought an Asus X202E laptop and installed Ubuntu on it and then completely formatted it which deleted everything including the recovery partition. So i could not restore it. Then I installed Windows 8.1 update 1 complete raw and now I am not having those original Asus programs and drivers (I downloaded some but i am not satisfied).

My friend bought a new Asus X202E the same model. So I am planning to migrate his hard disk to an external hard disk then install it on my hard disk. By which i might get the same experience of a new asus X202E. Is it possible and if yes please tell me how? Will my friend's laptop be harmed?

thank you!

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  • You might get away with cloning his drive to yours and then setting the Windows serial to the one from your new Windows install. Or might not. If you clone without changing serials then MS will eventually detect the duplicate and shut down one (or both) of the systems. May 17, 2014 at 12:15
  • I like the 'Widows 8.1' typo ;-) Let's hope nobody fixes it.
    – Jan Doggen
    May 19, 2014 at 19:45
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    @DanielRHicks OEMs actually use the same license key on all their machines. Activation is done by checking the BIOS for a cryptographic key that verifies the OEM license used matches the hardware.
    – nhinkle
    May 19, 2014 at 21:56
  • All of ASUS programs are on ASUS's website. Yes; What you want is possible but why not just tell us which programs your missing. I guarantee you there are on ASUS website
    – Ramhound
    May 20, 2014 at 2:27

5 Answers 5

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Yes, it is possible and there is no worries in this case because both hardware are identical.

Just use a disk cloning app that supports full disk cloning (that includes boot partition), like the apps listed above:

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Macrium Reflect (FREE): http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

Macrium Refrect Screenshot

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Paragon Backup & Recovery (FREE): http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/

Paragon Backup & Recovery FREE Edition

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Honorable mentions:

Clonezilla (FREE): http://clonezilla.org/

EaseUS Partition Master (FREE): http://www.partition-tool.com/download.htm

DriveImage XML (FREE): http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

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If it is an identical laptop (including ALL of the hardware) cloning the disk will work. However, once you go online with the cloned computer, both of you will get a message that your Windows version may not be genuine and your friend will have to call a number to re-validate his copy.

Two computers cannot use the same key. You would have to activate using a valid key that no other computer is using. Even though you have identical machines, the id's on the components are different and Windows will detect that.

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You want to "clone" his drive, not migrate. Itll only read his drive, not change anything for him, and then you can write it to your drive. Something like clonzilla or Norton Ghost will be able to do a task like this no problem.

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  • so i will have an exact same laptop just like his with the same genuine windows 8?
    – Astro Jes
    May 17, 2014 at 11:08
  • and his laptop will be just as it was?
    – Astro Jes
    May 17, 2014 at 11:19
  • also will there be any problem in booting from an different laptop (but same model) ?
    – Astro Jes
    May 17, 2014 at 11:19
  • Make sure that you do not try to install a full working disk on the intermediate external HD. You just want a byte-by-byte image file on that disk, from which you can then restore to the other laptop. Otherwise you could accidentally convert software (settings) and that is not what you want. And you will have to reregister Win8 on the new machine, so you need a valid separate license for that.
    – Jan Doggen
    May 19, 2014 at 19:49
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For Windows if you want to go from one hardware configuration to another, you'd either need Shadow Protect or Acronis. I have not been able to find a free program that can do this as well as those two.

Shadow Protect is better then Acronis at this in my experience.

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As others have mentioned, you should simply clone the drive to your laptop. As long as no components have changed in the intervening time, it will work. Before going online you should follow the instructions in this link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2750773.

Short form: On the start screen, search for slui 3. This will let you add your product key that Asus provided with your laptop when you bought it new. Or another valid license key. Then you have to activate it. Then you should be good.

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