Tips for transferring to new PC?

Discussion in 'PC' started by lordradish, Oct 27, 2018.

  1. lordradish

    lordradish Ultrasonic

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    The laptop has been worked to death, and it's gonna be time for a new computer. I've been through this many times, but this last PC has the most music stuff I've ever had, and likely the most programs. I know what a hassle it is.... any suggestions to make this less painless? Over the years, a few plugins get installed in different places, etc, anyone know any software that makes this less of an issue? Or am I just gonna have to go through everything and reinstall?

    Thanks.
     
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  3. SmokerNzt

    SmokerNzt Rock Star

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    I think you can remove the laptop hdd then connect it to normal pc
    I never try it , but I sure you can do it !

    and if not then what a problem just install all your plugin back to the new pc
     
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  4. oldskoolproductions

    oldskoolproductions Producer

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    You can pull the hard drive out of your laptop and drop it into another computer, but you will have driver issues.
    It's pretty basic. If your computer is running windows 10 then just run an update and it will find the correct drivers for you.
    If not..... then your on your own find the correct drivers for your system hardware.

    Cheers.
     
  5. vaiman

    vaiman Platinum Record

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    Just use this time to slim down on all the excessive programs and plugins. You'll feel much better, trust me

    And no, there is no easy way basically. Using the old drive is not advisable.
    You can use the Windows Migration tool. But personally I would just bite the bullet and do it properly. Happy installing :)
     
  6. DJK

    DJK Rock Star

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  7. wasgedn

    wasgedn Banned

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    for sure, put notebook hdd in pc...on win 7 you dont need driver to change hdd...wtf

    samsung has another valuable hdd dublicator app....
     
  8. Daskeladden

    Daskeladden Rock Star

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    clone you're hard drive. If you only have one hard disk buy a Samsung SSD EVO and use their software migration to clone you're drive. You can only clone you're C hard drive with this software so if you have other hard drives clone it with EasyUs. Then put the new hard disk in the new pc (and keep the old as back up.) Then install all the new drivers for motherboard (update bios), graphic card and so on the new disc. Do regular clones of you're system as backups
     
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2018
  9. Xupito

    Xupito Audiosexual

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  10. korte1975

    korte1975 Guest

    windows 7 x64 sp1 can't run studio one 4.1, ableton is broken on it :-( reaper is fine
     
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  11. 5teezo

    5teezo Audiosexual

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    I'm not a fan of cloning the system HDD when moving to a completely new system (different components, different drivers etc).

    • First off alI, if you have legit plugins, I would de-activate all registered plugins on the old system to not lose activation slots (iLok etc) – People often forget about this and just format their drives without doing that which leaves your activations on a unaccessible location!
    • Then I would put a new/different HDD for the new PC and put the old one aside (or put it in a USB3 Case to be accessible later)
    • Next, I'd do a clean install on the new Disk, let Windows Update do its thing, install Driver Booster to download and install/update all missing drivers to get a stable base system to build upon. Driver booster saves a lot of time when updating drivers.
    • Then I'd download the latest versions of plugins and Software I really use and omit all the plugins that I haven't used in ages. As said before, that slimming down process really boots productivity.
    • Install DAW
    • Scan Locations for Sounds on other HDDs
    • Create Music on your updated PC and be Happy again.
    PS: In order to slim down your plugins folder and software to only the essentials, you should create stems of old projects and re-import them into your sessions so you really can open them on your new system without error messages about missing plugins.
     
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  12. Daskeladden

    Daskeladden Rock Star

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    I really don't understand this argument. Moving to a "new" system only means that some of the hardware is different and needs other drivers. It is no difference when you change you're graphic card or motherboard. Windows was created for this purpose. That being said the most important thing is to find out which audio interface that has the best drivers for windows, and if it works well with you're hardware (motherboard, graphic card, ram, cpu and so on.
     
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2018
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  13. SAiNT

    SAiNT Creator Staff Member phonometrograph

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    tried it a long time ago, didn't helped me that much, but it's still better than doing everything by yourself.
     
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  14. SineWave

    SineWave Audiosexual

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    I had to reinstall W7 on my laptop recently due to some issues with updating the TC driver and non-updated W7. Just don't ask... :rolleyes: I install audio os on my personal computers like once every 5 years. XP I have is 9 years old, still working perfectly due to not fiddling with it, just working with audio and stuff that's been installed years ago, and it works with the RME driver extremely well. I find installing audio os the most dreadful and time wasting and consuming shit in the world. :sad:

    Anyway, after cursing TC and Microsoft with their shitty and useless, non working updates, every shitty deity people believe in, and their parents and family, setting the neighbour's house on fire, shooting 20 people on a public square with a machine gun, drinking numerous bottles of wine, and consuming a kilo of spliffus vulgaris, I decided it's time to update the bloody fucking W7 on my laptop. :rofl:

    After quite a bit of pondering about all the options, here's how I did it in the least painful way for me. It took me whole afternoon, as opposed to at least a week or so. :wink:
    Before erasing the good old *nicely working* os [TC... stuff it! :mad:], I first TARed [the fastest] Program Files, Program Files [x86], ProgramData, and My Documents folders onto a backup HD with 7-ZIP. Then I opened Regedit and exported HKLM/Software and HKCU/Software trees. That's all you need from the old registry. Even better is to export only the registry keys that you need into separate .reg files. Like HKLM/Software/Native Instruments, for example.

    For the OS I used last TeamOS W7x64 Ultimate. I'm still in the process of optimising it, but the VSTs and VSTis are all already working. :hurray: :bangbang: :yippee: :yeehaw: All I needed to do is extract the VSTi and VSTs back from TARs, extract ProgramData and My Documents folders back, only those which are used by these plugins, of course.

    You will have to re-register some plugins and install various VC++ redistrifuckables before being able to make music again, though. Maybe you can find the registration in the registry files you backed-up beforehand. HKLM Software registry tree is the most important. Open it in Notepad, search for say "Native Instruments" and you'll find the NI registry keys. Copy them into a new file, save as NI.reg [for example] and merge it into the new OS' registry. You can do the same with every other missing registration, sample library path etc. that was in the old registry. That's the most time-consuming part of it all, but it really only takes a couple of hours, depending on what plugins you use. Many of them don't use registry at all, thankfully.

    And that's it. :wink:

    Cheers!

    P.S. To backup the drivers, I used DoubleDriver
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2018
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  15. wasgedn

    wasgedn Banned

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    very easy..is in most cases
     
  16. wasgedn

    wasgedn Banned

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  17. OMG, I'd rather off myself than climb that Everest of a hassle. The next computer I get I will pare it down to the bone for the prosperity of my mental health and overall wellbeing. The insanity of my pack rat collection of instruments and plugins keeps my muse at bay, and if (ahhh, only if...) I had a mostly fresh slate in both my computer and studio proper from the get-go would have a catalog that would rival in sheer volume Dylan, The Beatles and The Grateful Dead combined...but then again, maybe not. :guru:
     
  18. TheMountain

    TheMountain Member

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    My 2c, Forgive me if someone has mentioned a similar process. I do 'bare metal recovery" with my servers to dissimilar hardware with the following method:

    Beginning with easuse todo backup, boot with the created recovery usb and make a system backup. Obviously this must be done before the machine shits itself so i do this fairly regularly. I believe it can be done in the running OS but I am a little anal about the process as this way for me has been flawless every time.

    On the Target machine: boot with the usb and choose the bare metal system restore option, I usually have the source image on an external drive for my home systems but at work I use network storage. once the image has been restored the PC should boot to the OS with all your programs and settings intact. From there something like winzip driver tool can scan and install the drivers for the new hardware and you should be golden! I can be up and running from a dead domain controller in less than an hour. Zero downtime too by having a p2v ready to boot at a moments notice.

    I have upgraded to better hardware on all my studio machines using the same method and haven't had to reinstall OS or software in a long time.

    Possible caveats may be if some software is tied to a NIC mac address, I have had success spoofing the address on the target system (assuming you know the old NIC mac address) and often you need to download the NIC drivers first and manually install before using a driver updater tool.
    For this reason I often use a pci network card instead of the onboard just so I can transplant the card into the new system and not bother with all that hassle. I have never had any issues with legit software that needs to phone home to function, and all my dongle software just runs.
     
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  19. suefreeman

    suefreeman Producer

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    To be confirmed but this is my knowledge :
    Warning : You can't move C: Drive (OS) to another PC if you got a OEM licence.

    Not even shure if you can do that since Win7.

    And it was an hassel with win XP.
    Had to create a bootable disk with a program combining your "original install disk" and custom tools to repair everything (registry especially), unless you had time to do these before hardware failure and/or copying the disk):
    1.uninstall every HDD drivers
    2.install a generic HDD driver 3.
    3.Shut down the PC
    4.Copy OLD HDD to new HDD
    5.Boot with new PC
    6.Update everything.

    I would defenetly go with fresh install and leave the old computer there as a backup.
    You always need a second computer (for access to internet and do jobs that uses ressources that dont need to be done on the main computer.
     
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  20. lovebeats

    lovebeats Ultrasonic

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    i think its always better to make a new install, but i know it takes time, if u have time then install ur pc new, when not u can install ur hd in ur new pc, but have to install new driver because of the other hardware there are a lot of programs, i have used in past acronis true imgage to clone the old hd tio new one and driver booster, that install ur driver automatically

    but i prefer to export my music projects, samples etc seperate on a external hard drive, because i dont like images because it takes hours till its done, and a windows platform is everyday changing with update etc, no time todo images every day
     
  21. Andrew

    Andrew AudioSEX Maestro Staff Member

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    I'm curious, what version of TeamOS' W7 package do you use? From the looks of it, they haven't removed many features.
     
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