Looking For Free Universal Restore

[abferm]

Hello, While working with a previous employer I used Acronis' universal restore feature to restore Windows backups to dissimilar software. I have been searching for something to do it for free and keep striking out. I did find a couple forums mentioning that an old free version of EasUS had that feature, but I cant seem to find it. Does anyone here know of a free software to do this?

[_m3x_]

What version of windows are you using?

Don't know if this would help but if your running windows 7, there's a build in feature in the backup and restore to create a System Image

you can also use imagex to capture windows images this is more more image deployment but i might work

or you can try DriveImage XML

Edited June 4, 2012 by _m3x_

[Mr-Protocol]

http://clonezilla.org/

Makes a backup image you can restore later on. Did this for a client's computer and used a USB hard drive. Took about 30 minutes to push back the image to the computer. Was a huge time saver.

[abferm]

The problem is I want to be able to restore to dissimilar hardware. And I would want a solution that would work with XP - 7. EasUS and Acronis both have a Universal Restore feature that strips the drivers out of a Windows backup during the restore process and will load in the Microsoft generic drivers as if you had done a fresh install. I am now working at a different computer repair shop and the owner wont pay for these programs so I'm looking for a free/open source alternative. I have used Clonezilla before(I currently just boot with a Ubuntu disk and use dd), but I don't think it has the universal restore feature.

[Mr-Protocol]

The problem is I want to be able to restore to dissimilar hardware. And I would want a solution that would work with XP - 7. EasUS and Acronis both have a Universal Restore feature that strips the drivers out of a Windows backup during the restore process and will load in the Microsoft generic drivers as if you had done a fresh install. I am now working at a different computer repair shop and the owner wont pay for these programs so I'm looking for a free/open source alternative. I have used Clonezilla before(I currently just boot with a Ubuntu disk and use dd), but I don't think it has the universal restore feature.

Ahhh, yeah I see what you are wanting now. Keep in mind that may violate licensing doing that if you are just a PC repair shop. In corp environments it works well because you have a corporate limit back to a key server, so it doesn't matter.

Give this a read and see if it will fit your needs.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/135077-windows-7-installation-transfer-new-computer.html

[abferm]

That looks like it might work, but part of what we would use it for is replacing bad motherboards so we would not be able to boot the machine to do this. I finally did find a trial version of EaseUS that will make the WinPE disk that has Universal Restore, but it would be nice if there was an open source method or a way to use sysprep without booting.

[_m3x_]

That looks like it might work, but part of what we would use it for is replacing bad motherboards so we would not be able to boot the machine to do this. I finally did find a trial version of EaseUS that will make the WinPE disk that has Universal Restore, but it would be nice if there was an open source method or a way to use sysprep without booting.

Like i Said use Windows AIK create a windowsPE use sysprep->OOBE to strip out Hardware ID and yer set...

[abferm]

Like i Said use Windows AIK create a windowsPE use sysprep->OOBE to strip out Hardware ID and yer set...

Would that work for XP?

[_m3x_]

Would that work for XP?

Not sure but it think it does.. Windows Imaging

[singh763173]

Yes, you can use sysprep with xp as well as 7 :)