Transition from desktop to laptop

[Featureless]

This is way above my paygrade, I wouldn't even attempt it. I'll check into hiring a local IT person. It is disappointing though about the Acronis backup. I thought it could do a bare metal startup on a new machine. Was using Shadow Protect before, which claims that ability, but it was too complicated for me.

I'm self employed, one man office. The desktop is my business machine, it's got several versions of QuickBooks, multiple years of tax prep software, amortization software, and the usual MS Office apps plus Thunderbird for email and some other cloud accounting stuff on it.

What I'm trying to accomplish is to transition to the laptop and use docking stations for both the office and home in order to have a standard size monitor, keyboard and mouse in each location.

I also like the idea that everything on the machine will be with me rather than left at the office in case of a break in.

[sonofeugene]

Make sure you're doing comprehensive backups of everything.

Actually, another important question is, do you have a current backup of everything? If not, do that first in case the transfer goes bad and you loose everything. Always, always backup.

[Featureless]

I do full backups every few days and incrementals in between on to an external ssd.

[Featureless]

This guy says it can be done. He's using Paragon software.

[freespool]

I use Acronis to backup the entire SSD. It has been my understanding that if my desktop were stolen or destroyed all I needed to do was restore that backup on a new machine. That's not the way it works?

If your new machine is exactly the same as your old, you can do that. There is a ton of stuff in the operating system that has to match the specific hardware pieces inside of the new machine, and that is best done during installation unless the new and old machine are pretty much an exact match inside. Otherwise the risks of missing something important being set up correctly, are just not worth the slight time savings.

To make this kind of thing easier, it's best to partition the main hard drive to have one partition for the operating system, and another for all your personal files. That includes databases that your email client, tax software, or financial software creates, which are often by default stored on the main OS partition - any software that stores your "creations" or work-in-progress needs to have its default options/preferences changes so that storage location is moved to your "data partition". That way you can just back up your data partition, without all the space needed to back up the OS, which is a pointless exercise if done that way (there are good reasons and ways to back up the OS, but that should be done separate from your personal files). That also facilitates refreshing or repairing the operating system if it gets corrupted, or you want to change to a different one, without having to go hunting on the OS partition for all your personal stuff before you over-write everything. If you don't do it that way, for sure you will remember that important working file that you forgot to grab, only after it is too late because your OS went down or got wiped for some other reason.

[HecklerNKoch]

Give it a shot.

Clone your desktop hard drive onto your laptop's hard drive.
[Source: Desktop drive] [Target: Laptop drive]


(I am guessing there is nothing needed on the laptop drive?) as any data on there (the laptop drive) will be wiped out in the process:

you are cloning the entirety of the source drive [your desktop hard drive and all its hidden partitions] onto the source destination in a 1:1 copy [the laptop hard drive], unconcerned about disk size differences.

'Device Manager' and see to it that there are no yellow exclamation marks.



Test out the laptop. Open your important applications. See if they run properly. Reboot your laptop a few times and re-open the applications do confirm if everything is working as it should.