Thinkpads Forum

I have a Lenovo T61 with Windows Ultimate, and I just bought a T500 with the same operating system. Is there a way I can clone my old C-drive onto my new, so I don't have to reinstall everything?''

hgintis wrote:I have a Lenovo T61 with Windows Ultimate, and I just bought a T500 with the same operating system. Is there a way I can clone my old C-drive onto my new, so I don't have to reinstall everything?''

No. Almost everything in the new T500 is different than in T61 (chipset, graphic card, etc.).
Use of a clone of the first system on the second computer is a disaster.

Absolutely, it might be a little pricey tho. What you need is Acronis True Image with Universal Restore.

I just moved my T61 drive with Vista SP1 to a T400, no issues. I did uninstall all T61 drivers and software, installed the new AHCI driver, downloaded all the T400 drivers and software and put the drive in the T400. I then installed the chipset driver first, then all the other drivers and software and so far it works just fine. It was Vista Enterprise (KMS activation) though, not sure how you get through Vista activation with the other editions.

If you want to copy the drive first you can use imagex (comes with Windows AIK and is free). You may need to repair the BCD after clning the drive which can be done via WinRE or the Vista DVD.

DirkM wrote:I just moved my T61 drive with Vista SP1 to a T400, no issues. I did uninstall all T61 drivers and software, installed the new AHCI driver, downloaded all the T400 drivers and software and put the drive in the T400. I then installed the chipset driver first, then all the other drivers and software and so far it works just fine. It was Vista Enterprise (KMS activation) though, not sure how you get through Vista activation with the other editions.

If you want to copy the drive first you can use imagex (comes with Windows AIK and is free). You may need to repair the BCD after clning the drive which can be done via WinRE or the Vista DVD.

Some people live with transplanted pig's heart if don't have other choice and want to survive. And yes, it works (moreless).
Installing the new system is not a big work to do, and it's nothing good to move the system to completely different machine.

Well, the initial question was whether or not it is possible and the answer is yes, it is possible.

While it only takes about an hour to load my standard image with Office and the other stuff (or the Lenovo recovery image), it takes about 3 more hours to install the remaining software and set everything up perfectly. If done right and if the machine is well working before the move, there is no reason why it would run worse after the move.

DirkM wrote:Well, the initial question was whether or not it is possible and the answer is yes, it is possible.

While it only takes about an hour to load my standard image with Office and the other stuff (or the Lenovo recovery image), it takes about 3 more hours to install the remaining software and set everything up perfectly. If done right and if the machine is well working before the move, there is no reason why it would run worse after the move.

Of course it is possible to move, but the system won't work perfectly like before. There's always plenty of trashes in the registry, in dll's, other files, etc. which don't go away in the uninstall process. It influences on the system's speed and stability.
My opinion is - it's better to install fresh copy of the system and make for example a ghost image to avoid time consuming reinstalls in the future.

Glad to hear it's do-able in Vista. Years ago, I did it in XP from a P3 Gateway, to a A64 custom build without incident. I just uninstalled the CPU and chipset drivers before pulling the drive. Soooo many said it couldn't be done, and it went smoothly.

Radioguy wrote:Glad to hear it's do-able in Vista. Years ago, I did it in XP from a P3 Gateway, to a A64 custom build without incident. I just uninstalled the CPU and chipset drivers before pulling the drive. Soooo many said it couldn't be done, and it went smoothly.

Yep, I've been working on XP Pro moved from one computer to some other one (completely different configurations). I can't say it was stable and efficient but if you're satisfied with something like that - it's your will
I just don't understand saving a bit of time on the installation of a system on a new computer that we usually buy to work faster.

WojtekJ wrote:Yep, I've been working on XP Pro moved from one computer to some other one (completely different configurations). I can't say it was stable and efficient but if you're satisfied with something like that - it's your will
I just don't understand saving a bit of time on the installation of a system on a new computer that we usually buy to work faster.

The drive was a 7200RPM, so there was no downside to the switch to a faster system. I just had so many apps installed, I would be looking at a week-long re-installation of everything had I done a clean install. It was pretty stable for me until I decided to upgrade it to Vista, and still so.

does Windows Easy Transfer move programs, or only settings?