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On my current machine, I have two drives, both of which are in use. I made a backup using the builtin win 10 backup tool on an external drive. Can this backup be restored on a new machine running win 10 but that has only one drive?

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    Restoring an Image Backup from One Computer to Another - Ask Leo!. Possible but there is a fair chance it wont work.
    – DavidPostill
    Nov 17, 2019 at 14:54
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    I'm not really one for product recommendations, but this is one instance in which Acronis's Backup with "Universal Restore" earns its money. It can backup one machine, then restore to totally dissimilar hardware; the new machine loads up correct drivers at first boot. It, of course, is not a freeware solution & I'm not going to post as an answer. Your Windows license would have to be sorted out via MS, of course, as a separate issue.
    – Tetsujin
    Nov 17, 2019 at 15:07
  • Thanks @all. It seems like there's no way around creating partitions and moving them to the new device manually.
    – Sebi
    Nov 17, 2019 at 16:54
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    Simply copying the primary partition with drivers for the hardware of one machine to a box with different hardware will not work, as @DavidPostill states. You can, of course, copy data and some executables, though many require Registry entries which are not portable for similar reasons. Nov 17, 2019 at 19:57
  • Almost every week there's a question similar to this... Windows natively supports this via sysprep and dism... imaging occurs via dism and sysprep is used to remove PC-specific SIDs, uninstall machine-specific drivers, etc.
    – JW0914
    Nov 25, 2019 at 6:54

1 Answer 1

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You can use Universal Restore feature of AOMEI Backupper. You may use KYHI's Rescue Media for that.

Keep In Mind :

  • You will need to make a 'System Image Backup' with 'Backupper' only. Apart from the OS/ System, you may also want to migrate other partitions to the new machine's disk. You will need to include those partitions in the System Image.

  • You are having only one drive on the new machine which is already having an OS & a few other partitions. So, you will be heading to a multiboot on the same disk & that will need some extra steps.

  • AOMEI will format the target disk before hand. So, we will make a full disk image of the new machine's disk first of all. It is needed for precaution & extra steps.

Steps :

  1. Make the system image of the source disk with Backupper.

  2. Make a full image of the destination/ target disk.

  3. Complete the 'Universal Restore' & check whether you are able to boot into the new machine.

After a successful migration, Create new partitions to restore the previously existing partitions from the full disk image. Make new partitions for the required partitions & save / copy them individually, satisfying the order requirements such as order for UEFI / GPT in Win 10. The previously installed OS will not work by just copying its partition from the disk image. You may need to use EasyBCD, EasyUEFI, etc to add its boot entry.

Please share Disk Management snaps for case specific instructions!

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  • EasyBCD can add "Windows Boot Entry" on UEFI (GPT ) as well! Click 'OK' & proceed ahead on prompt. Dec 13, 2019 at 10:52
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    This method is guaranteed to result in issues on the 2nd machine... please see sysprep. Windows is not meant, nor supports, to simply be hotswapped to different machines and it will result in OS instabilty by doing so, whether or not the user immediately notices it or not.
    – JW0914
    Dec 13, 2019 at 14:40
  • 1. sysprep : a good one! 2. Universal Restore feature is being widely used by the likes of Acronis & others. 3. Its worth exploring especially with Win 10 which is so full of drivers. Dec 14, 2019 at 6:37
  • If it was as simple as what you suggest, Microsoft would be offering the same for SCCM and MDT to businesses and universities, where millions of machines must have the same image deployed to them. It would be helpful to research what's attempting to be spoken to, as it's not just about peripheral drivers. Windows does not support, nor has ever supported, being hot-swapped from machine to machine and doing so will likely result in instability, whether or not the user immediately notices it, and it will definitely result in licensing issues, both for Windows and third party software.
    – JW0914
    Dec 15, 2019 at 13:09
  • it will definitely result in licensing issues, both for Windows and third party software : It is already mentioned in the AOMEI Guide. Please go thoroughly by the guide for other things as well. Dec 15, 2019 at 13:11

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