cloning 32bit hard drive for new 64 bit hard drive

my 32 bit laptop motherboard fried and i just bought a 64 bit desktop computer to replace it.

2 laptop hard drives: 120 gb each

my new desktop has (1) 500 gb hard drive.

I want to clone the 2 laptop hard drives and then transfer them onto the the desktop hard drive.

would it be better to go buy a second drive to put into the desktop and then transfer the cloned info from each drive to it's own drive?

my laptop had windows 7 ultimate, the new computer has windows vista right now, but I'll be upgrading it to 7 ultimate before any cloning takes place. SHould i upgrade or do a complete fresh install of windows 7?

Is there anything special i need to do so that the old data from the laptop will work properly on the new computer?

for example, will i need to keep the same administrative username and password from the old computer on the new computer?

will the programs and software that i was running on the 32bit laptop work on the this 64 bit desktop?

thanks for any help

 

I'm confused by what you mean by "cloning". In my mind, this is the process of taking an entire drive, and making a file out of its contents, so that it can be put onto another drive, with EVERYTHING intact, including OS, applications, and data.

I hate to be the pessimist, but I doubt this would work.

The first problem is that the operating system on your laptop is almost surely an OEM copy, which cannot be legitimately transferred to another computer.

The second problem is that the operating system is highly configured for your hardware, and a direct transfer from one computer to another would almost certainly break the installation.

However, if you are speaking strictly about your data, then we are in a much better place. In fact, I would not be surprised if you could directly connect your laptop hard drives into your new desktop, take ownership of the files, and then transfer what is needed to your new drives.

My recommendation is this: build your desktop to your liking (I highly recommend partitioning the drive to isolate data from the operating system. Also, moving your document folders to the non-system drive makes it easy to use from a human perspective), install the laptop drives, take ownership of the files on it, transfer the necessary data, and if you require help with transferring operating system or program settings, post back with specifics.

Hope this helps.

 

Hi Mada,

You're correct in your 2nd idea of transferring the data. I have questions about what you have mentioned. I think it's mostly that I'm not familiar with the language.

Here are my questions:

1. What do you mean by take ownership?

2. Will creating a new OS username (ex. user2) affect the ability to open/operate programs that were on the older laptop drive if the OS username on the older drive was different (ex. user1)

If i partition the OS from the data, won't that cause problems in trying to open programs from the old drives once they are moved to the new drives? WOuldn't they be located in different locations on the drive causing the programs to not open and work properly? Or am i misunderstanding something.

I've never created a partition before so i think that's what has me confused. Not sure how to do that on the new computer that i have bought from the store.

In the meantime, I'll go read up on it and maybe I'll find the answers to my own questions.

thanks for clearing this up for me.

 

Because of Windows' file system security, the user accounts on your new computer will not have permissions to the files on your old computer, even if you create a useraccount with the same name on the new computer as one on the old one that DOES have permissions.

An administrator on the new computer can override this by "taking ownership" of the files. Here's a link with instructions:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753659.aspx

This should not be a problem. We may (or may not, depending on the program) be able to preserve your application settings from the old machine, but the user accounts and programs will be installed fresh. They won't transfer directly from the old computer.

The programs will be installed alongside the operating system. You should not have problems accessing them. The data (speaking of your own here, pics, music, videos, etc), however, will effectively be on another drive, and so long as the program is configured to know this, it will cause no problems. Many programs store data (not the applications themselves) in the Documents folders, and this is why I recommend moving them when you do have your partition set up. These should automatically configure themselves for your setup.

A partition is a way of dividing a single physical hard drive into multiple logical drives. If you have multiple physical drives in your laptop, this may not seem too unfamiliar. You might have a C: and a D: drive, for example.

Setting up a partition is best done during a fresh install of Windows (although there are other means). When you are selecting the drive to install Windows to, there should be options on how to configure the drive. I usually recommend a small portion (while still allowing enough room for the OS and programs) for the system drive, and the remainder for data. With Vista/Win7, I would say 75GB is ample space for even an avid gamer. (The OS takes 4-6 gigs, but modern game files can take up to 10+ gigs each, in extreme cases).

I'm sure if you are researching now, you'll come across the answers you need, but feel free to post back if you need anything clarified.

 

Mada,

i'm studying up on "taking ownership". If the files on the old drives were being run on windows 7, will i stll need to take ownership if they are being put onto a windows 7 machine?

i ask this because i'm seeing alot of articles talking about having to take ownership if coming from vista...but not from windows 7 to windows 7

 

I had almost this exact need, and in fact am [as I type this] going through it again for the second time - this time with better confidence. I tried every backup/ghosting/imaging thing I could find for free, and one that was not. none worked in a way that allowed the new drive with the freshly-restored image to just boot without drama - except PARAGON. Paragon owns this space IMHO. I bow. it was shocking to observe after all the trauma I went through with the others - one in particular i was just determined to force to work due to a friend [IT guy] telling me it was hands-down the only package he would use. well, guess again. Anyway, paragon is right, makes the right assumptions, you do need however to read their tutorial, especially the "restore" side. it is sensitive to which bus you're hanging the drive on. It would not restore from a usb-connected drive.... err... rather it would attempt a restore but would fail to validate. was not a problem for me. I stored the image using usb connect drive, then moved the drive to the inside on SATA bus 1, hanging the new drive on SATA bus ZERO. BAM! done. booted, activated, validated, updated. but if you try to direct a bootable restore to bus 1 or usb or something, good luck.

as to ownership.... files stashed, password protetected, on separate physical drive mapped for Win XP Pro. Win7 64 bit ultimate overpowered it. I can't even recall what the test was, but I could not put those files visible on the workgroup, so had to barge in... it never asked for a password! kinda scary huh? Also, what a tip this is: go to craigslist... seriously... and POST an ad of something... anything. then click to add a photo. browse to the drive you think is protected and inaccessible, select a file, hit the enter key. I got a prompt that asked permission, I did the Greenlight, and the thing changed permissions on every single file on the hard drive! it took a long time. I was sorta gasping

 

First off, "you gonna suffer" so you might as well make the best of it. I tried a few ways to do what you want and went with a USB drive enclosure for the old HD and a fresh install of Win7 64 bit.
Set up Win7 like you want and then deal with the old HD. Changing your OS will probably make running some of your old programs impossible so don't expect 100% of your old stuff to work. At least with this method your data is secure.
The good news is you will be up to date and fully supported.

 

'tis good advice