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Help needed importing cloned data from port hdd onto new pc

888 views 9 replies 3 participants last post by  Oddba11 
#1 ·
Hi thanks for having me, I will try to make this as clear as possible - our old pc died motherboard failure,
h-norman made a clone of this hdd onto a new portable whilst waiting a month to sort the issue.
After issues with the supplier we were refunded under aust consumer law, I picked up a new computer from another retailer.

the original had a 1tb hdd
the new has a 480gb Sdd main and 2 TB sata secondary drive

I believe the old drive has been cloned - looking at the portable hdd in file explorer it shows all the normal folders
ie. windows , programs, users etc ect.

now the new pc came with windows installed, I can get straight on and use it yay but I want to retrieve all my old info, pics docs, emails contact even the saves from online games so basically all I can get.

what is the best free method of doing this? is there a simple clone recovery program available or do I need to copy from portable and past into new drive?
any help will be great, after breaking my ankle and being unable to work for 5 months things are tight so paying an it guy isn't an option unfortunately

Cheers in advance for the assistance and hope that was clear
Stan
 
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#2 ·
so after reading more info today, I am unsure if the correct term is cloned, i think that would mean it was all compressed in a single file that could be re installed as such

I think the shop made an image of the drive (although they said they cloned it) wish I knew what program they used, I do know they manually removed the hdd from the old pc to "put the info" onto the new portable drive before sending the old pc back to the manufacturer.

I can clearly see each folder with all the sub folders etc in file explorer, some still need permisions to access etc and some are hidden, both which I can now work around. I can drag and drop (copy paste) these folders from the portable onto the main drive, but then I will end up filling the new ssd with duplicates of operating files etc that is not something I wish to do, but without knowing exactly which individual files I need to copy over im stuck.

Really hoping someone has a simple solution for me. My poor little brain is frazzled and I really need to sort this out asap, its been a month without a computer already.

Cheers
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the reply Texasbullet
is there an easy way to transfer all the needed info, like outlook emails, contacts, explorer/chrome favorites etc,
my wife had an online game she was playing for over 12 months so finding all the needed files so she doesn't have to start over its such a ****e fight when something dies like this. but atleast the info is there I just need to get it moved to the right spots.
 
#7 ·
NO LUCK :-(
so after chatting with tech support at acronis and macrium neither program can help me as they weren't used to make the original copy.

if any one has any other suggestions that would be fantastic, or even if anyone can give me the file path's or folders of things like emails/contacts etc so I can just copy those ones to get me started.

thanks
stan
 
#8 ·
So a clone is an exact copy of the original HDD. So all of your data is there, but you won't be able to simply retrieve most of it in the way that you want. And none of it can be automated in any way that I'm aware.

All of your actual files (ie: documents, music, pictures, etc.) you can simply (manually) copy from the clone drive to the corresponding folder on the new computer.

Any software that you want, will need to be installed onto the new computer. Most Windows based software can't simply be copied from one computer to another. Copying the software folder only moves that folder. It doesn't create all of the Windows registry entries needed for the software to actually work. That is done during installation. Also, all of the software files are always stored in the software folder. Having said that, you can often install the software onto the new computer and then copy the installation folder from the old HDD to the new computer and all of the config files and such will get replaced and retain all of your configuration settings (most of the time).

For email, you will need to install the same version of Outlook and you should simply be able to copy the (pst) file from the clone drive to the same location on the new computer ( C:\Users\ \AppData\Local\MicrosoftOutlook ).

The game stuff will vary based on the game and where the files are stored. If it's a game that you have to log into, then there may not be anything that you need to do at all. Otherwise, if it has a folder on the clone drive, I'd start with the software process outlined above (ie: install and then copy/replace).
 
#9 ·
Hi Oddba11
Thanks for taking the time to explain so clearly. That's what I thought, just hoped for an easy solution, Guess today I start the task of getting everything back in order.

on a positive at least I have a new pc with a ssd and can set the drives up so the majority of crap is stored on the secondary folder.

File explorer here I come haha

Cheers all
 
#10 ·
I would recommend keeping the "clone" drive untouched for at least a couple of weeks to a month in case you come across something that you forgot.

And also a correction, it shouldn't need to be the same version of Outlook. And most email programs should be able to import a pst file.
 
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