How to backup/sysprep for new mobo & CPU & maybe OS

Tambourineman

New Member
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I got a 2 beep POST (parity) error and thought my old RAM/mobo dies (it was PSU instead). I bought a new mobo, CPU & RAM as the old PC was 7+ yo and had a Q6600 and DDR2 on Win 7.

So now I have a Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK, an i5 4690 & DDR3 and a new PSU and it will be on Win8.1

I never kept data (and to the extent possible, programs) on my boot partition and imaged my boot partition using BootIt BareMetal but all that did not help to boot to Windows with new hardware, and even with a clean Win 7 or 8.1 install, I will have to reinstall all my programs, plus I will lose a number that were free one day activation shareware programs.

So I want to look ahead to the day when my current hardware dies and I replace it with new and possibly upgrade to a new OS and try to avoid this situation if possible. I am only switching from Win 7 to 8.1 because if I am going to have to go the trouble to reinstall everything I might as well (and Start8 works great).

I don't think recovery, PE, or sysprep disks will do what I need. Possibly the only thing that would do it is a program that would track and save registry and driver changes as a program is installed or updated and once reinstalled in a new clean or updated OS, could selectively install a program and selectively uninstall old drivers by chipset or controller, or whatever (assuming the registry for any new OS is basically the same as 8.1).

Is there a backup or program that will allow booting with new hardware and preserving program installations and activations?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY - self built
    CPU
    i5 4690
    Motherboard
    GIGABYTE|GA-Z97X-UD3H-B
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    palit GTX460
    Browser
    Pale Moon
    Antivirus
    bitdefender
Driver Magician might be an aid to reinstalling using the same motherboard and chipset, but if I were doing that I probably would not need it as I think a repair or repair install would work if I were simply replacing like for like as the drivers would be the same.

In my case I thought my old mobo or its RAM died although now it may have been the PSU. If it were the PSU I could have taken the new mobo out and reinstalled the old with a working PSU and possibly removed all the mobo and chips set drivers, the reinstalled the new mobo and CPU (and RAM) and tried a repair or repair install and hope that Win 7 would look for the drivers for the new mobo and CPU. I don't know if it does that.

But if your old mobo dies and you have not thought to do a save without the drivers installed then you are SOL.

I think Windows will install generic drivers for new graphics, but not for mobo controllers and chipsets. If Driver Magician did not boot from DOS and somehow could be instructed to install drivers for a new mobo and CPU that would survive the system partition formatting done during installation it might work.

But the missing piece for preserving applications previously installed would be a program to save the relevant portions of the registry and hope that the registry structure for a new OS is the same (doubtful) as the old. If I can avoid it I do not install programs to my boot partition (some programs require installation in the boot partition) so if I could restore the their registry entries I would not have to reinstall them as they would not get wiped when a windows installation formats the boot system partition. This would be particularly helpful for the shareware programs I got from those one day free install/activations for shareware I got from SharewareOnSale.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY - self built
    CPU
    i5 4690
    Motherboard
    GIGABYTE|GA-Z97X-UD3H-B
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    palit GTX460
    Browser
    Pale Moon
    Antivirus
    bitdefender
Any updates?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
    PSU
    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
    Case
    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
    Cooling
    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
    Keyboard
    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
    Mouse
    Corsair M65 wired
    Internet Speed
    85MBps DSL
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports
You can use this tool to save all your drivers, registry settings, updates, patches...anything...into a Windows OS Installation file/image. It allows you to create an image file (ISO), or access an image file (like a future OS iso), so you can copy all your current system's drivers, registry settings, updates, etc., you can add or remove more than 80 component packages (like Windows Media Player, Calculator, etc.) so they will or will not be installed, you can automate the install (it will create an answer file for you), create a boot disk/USB, it will even go online and download the free official ISO's for all Windows operating systems from Microsoft (all MS OS ISO's are free 30-day trials now) - it basically allows you to completely customize an install disk/image with everything on your current computer, or however you want.

Find it here, it's free open source:

Win Toolkit 1.4.47.2 Free Download - FreewareFiles.com - Desktop Category
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8 Pro
Thanks, this one looks like it has real possibilities to do what I want.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY - self built
    CPU
    i5 4690
    Motherboard
    GIGABYTE|GA-Z97X-UD3H-B
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    palit GTX460
    Browser
    Pale Moon
    Antivirus
    bitdefender
I hope so. I stumbled across the software last night, and was intrigued enough to download it and give it a shot, as it seems like it would really come in handy at work (I am a network administrator), then I remembered this post and thought it would be very close to what you were looking for.

It seems like an awesome little piece of software, and the number of features it offers I have never seen compiled into one package - even allowing you to mount the install image and change registry settings! The fact that it's free doesn't hurt either. Here are some screenshots from their webpage if you haven't checked it out yet:

dsbj.png

cbck.png

q80n.png

bkdx.png

2ps5.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8 Pro
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