Image backup from desktop to laptop?

[KlondikeGeoff]

My desktop runs Win XP SP3 Home, and my laptop SP SP3 Pro. Initially I set up the laptop with two partitions, the desktop with one.

Any program that will permit creating an image and migrating it from the desktop to the laptop, so both are identical?

Would Microsoft permit this even if it could be done?

[Shagnasty]

You are tech savvy for an old guy and I am that as a true compliment from someone that works in the field. You can’t just take a full image and move it from one to the other. The hardware and its drivers are very different as the main problem. There are licensing problems you will run into as well for various software. The partitions are another hurdle.

You need to back up a step and describe what you are trying to accomplish. You can move personal files from one to the other without many problems but we also need to know if this is a one-time thing or ongoing. There are various solutions you can use but they depend on what you really want to do.

[KlondikeGeoff]

@Shagnasty

You are tech savvy for an old guy and I am that as a true compliment from someone that works in the field. You can’t just take a full image and move it from one to the other. The hardware and its drivers are very different as the main problem. There are licensing problems you will run into as well for various software. The partitions are another hurdle.

You need to back up a step and describe what you are trying to accomplish. You can move personal files from one to the other without many problems but we also need to know if this is a one-time thing or ongoing. There are various solutions you can use but they depend on what you really want to do.

Thanks, Shagnasty (I think) for the compliment.

No, i use a program to sync weekly stuff from my desktop to the laptop, to keep it up-to-date, or sometimes just put modified files on a thumb drive and move them over.

I was hoping, but doubting, that I could just make the laptop identical to the desktop, but nothing essential. I was musing that if I backed up all my laptop drivers to my external USB drive, then migrated the entire mess over, I could perhaps then re-install the drivers. That, of course, would be to simple for Microsoft.

I was also musing about Norton Ghost and Acronis doing the job. Immediately I rejected Norton, as don’t want to touch any of their programs with the proverbial ten-foot pole. I do recall the days when they were great, and Disk Doctor was one of my favorite programs.

OK, I’ll forget the whole thing. Thanks anyway.

[Arnold_Winkelried]

@KlondikeGeoff

No, i use a program to sync weekly stuff from my desktop to the laptop, to keep it up-to-date, or sometimes just put modified files on a thumb drive and move them over.

To do this, would Offline Files help?
Use Offline Files When You’re off the Network (microsoft.com)

[Shagnasty]

@KlondikeGeoff

@Shagnasty

You are tech savvy for an old guy and I am that as a true compliment from someone that works in the field. You can’t just take a full image and move it from one to the other. The hardware and its drivers are very different as the main problem. There are licensing problems you will run into as well for various software. The partitions are another hurdle.

You need to back up a step and describe what you are trying to accomplish. You can move personal files from one to the other without many problems but we also need to know if this is a one-time thing or ongoing. There are various solutions you can use but they depend on what you really want to do.

Thanks, Shagnasty (I think) for the compliment.

No, i use a program to sync weekly stuff from my desktop to the laptop, to keep it up-to-date, or sometimes just put modified files on a thumb drive and move them over.

I was hoping, but doubting, that I could just make the laptop identical to the desktop, but nothing essential. I was musing that if I backed up all my laptop drivers to my external USB drive, then migrated the entire mess over, I could perhaps then re-install the drivers. That, of course, would be to simple for Microsoft.

I was also musing about Norton Ghost and Acronis doing the job. Immediately I rejected Norton, as don’t want to touch any of their programs with the proverbial ten-foot pole. I do recall the days when they were great, and Disk Doctor was one of my favorite programs.

OK, I’ll forget the whole thing. Thanks anyway.

You can’t make them identical but you can sync important files if you want. The problem is a lot harder than it sounds though. One computer would have to be the master and the other the slave otherwise you could overwrite updates from one to the other and that isn’t what most people want.

Flash drives are the best way to keep files in sync for most people. You can buy those at any electronics store and write to it instead of the hard drive then plug it in to the other computer when you want to access it from there. Keep backups of those files on your hard drive though because they can fail.