System restore on dissimilar hardware

I definitely want to do a disc image restore, not a reinstall. The problem seems to be mainly that the drivers on the Windows Vista disc are way out of date. I've heard this term 'slipstreaming' for pre-loading the drivers. I guess that's what I need to know about. I suppose I could use the free version of Acronis.

I think Windows recovery actually gives you the chance to load drivers from a driver disc, so probably this is becoming a bit of a wild goose chase.

I probably should have done that before asking for help.
 
Last edited:
Relapse said:
I definitely want to do a disc image restore, not a reinstall. The problem seems to be mainly that the drivers on the Windows Vista disc are way out of date. I've heard this term 'slipstreaming' for pre-loading the drivers. I guess that's what I need to know about. I suppose I could use the free version of Acronis.

I think Windows recovery actually gives you the chance to load drivers from a driver disc, so probably this is becoming a bit of a wild goose chase.

I probably should have done that before asking for help.
Click to expand...

You need the full version of Acronis with optional extras unfortunately.

How different is the hardware, are we talking completely different processor?
 
It's certainly newer hardware. The discs are brand new, but the other components are maybe four years old. I guess it's the age of the OS that's the real problem though. As a thought experiment, I wonder what would happen if I upgraded the older machine to Windows 8 and then performed a back up and restore. Windows 8 would probably have all the drivers, and it's currently selling for around £40.
 
If it's new hardware then all the motherboard drivers probably need to be installed, I'd also remove all non-essential for booting peripherals. Is it at least the same type of processor ie intel->intel or has it changed?

I don't know if it's still the case with Windows 8 but previous versions required you to boot in to the OS before performing an in place upgrade. I rarely do this though so am open to correction.

Another stumbling block would be if you're running 32-bit Vista, in that case you can only upgrade to 32-bit Windows 8.

I also don't know if such a tactic would work but if you have the discs just make sure to back everything up first by taking a system image and then report back with the results.

The other thing you might be able to try is a repair install using the Vista disk but again, make sure you have an image backup before trying.
 
I've tried the repair install option on the Vista disk. The Windows 8 idea was just a thought experiment, though I recognise that 64bit would be out of the question.

I'm putting this on ice for now. I'll have to come back to it later. It's going to be a bit of trial and error at best when it does happen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom