Can I image machine a to a new drive machine b?

Ok, this 'brilliant' idea I just had to save time and aggravation can't be possible--but I have to ask.

I have OEM Win10 + apps/data on my recent Lenovo P50.

I've installed a third party BIOS on my old Lenovo T61 (to run SATA II), replaced the cooling fan and will install a replacement SSD.

The P50 is twice the drive size as the T61's pending SSD 'but' the installed data on the P50 is less than the physical size of the T61.

If I restore (Reflect free current version) an image of the P50 to a clean T61 SSD would I get a properly functional Win10 identical to the information on the P50?

Yes, the T61 has Win7 activated long ago that was an update from the longer ago OEM Vista.

Not activating kills my idea.

I'll just go ahead and do the previously downloaded Win10 iso and forget the bright idea.

Mark

markg2 said:

If I restore (Reflect free current version) an image of the P50 to a clean T61 SSD would I get a properly functional Win10 identical to the information on the P50?

Main problem is T61 is BIOS and P50 is UEFI so no it wouldn't work. The T61 would not boot.

What Windows (if any) is or was on the T61?

markg2 said:

Yes, the T61 has Win7 activated long ago that was an update from the longer ago OEM Vista.

You should be able to activate 10 with your 7 key still. The free upgrade has finished but it still seems to be working - at least it worked for me on Lenovo X201 I bought a couple of months ago.

Just make sure you install 10 Pro if you had 7 Pro or Ultimate, else install 10 Home.

Yes, it can be done. The adjustment from UEFI to BIOS (or BIOS to UEFI) is relatively easy. To get activation you would first upgrade the existing Windows 7 to Windows 10 to gain a digital license for Windows 10 saved on Microsoft Activation Servers. (Assuming all the OS's are the same version, IE: Home, Pro, Single Language or "N").

A mismatched SATA controller mode is more of a problem then UEFI vs. BIOS. SATA controller modes are basically IDE, AHCI, and RAID. But that is also fairly easily fixed, you just have to boot into safe mode and uninstall the old SATA controller entry, then reboot normally to load the new SATA controller driver for the new mode.

Thanks for the heads up on matching the version--I had forgotten about that. The T61 unfortunately has home premium (which I just checked) so I will not be able to match the professional version of the P50 (just to keep things tidy).

I'm currently doing the media creation tool upgrade and will choose a clean install. I had first attempted to flash the Middleton BIOS but it failed due to remnants of Bitlocker somewhere. After the clean upgrade to 10 I'll have accomplished two goals: getting my 10 validated so I can then install the new SSD and getting rid of Bitlocker so the new BIOS (that supports SATA II and better supports the dual core chipset of this machine) will flash.

You are over my head discussing a mismatched SATA controller. Can you tell from what I've described here if that applies to me?

markg2 said:

You are over my head discussing a mismatched SATA controller. Can you tell from what I've described here if that applies to me?

If you are doing a clean install you don't need to worry about it.

If you were copying P50 to T61 (which you definitely can't now as one is home and one is pro) then it may have applied if the disk modes were different between the two machines.

Best of luck :)

markg2 said:

I'm currently doing the media creation tool upgrade and will choose a clean install.

Hopefully you mean you are currently doing an upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and then you will follow that with a clean install. You have to do the upgrade first to get the digital license, then you can do a separate clean install after that. Before the clean install, you want the SATA controller mode in BIOS set to AHCI. If it is not AHCI now, just leave it through the upgrade and change it before the clean install.

You can just enter the 7 key can you not?

That worked for me a couple of months ago and is what tutorial says

you can enter the product key from Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 used to activate the prior Windows version on the same device to activate Windows 10 by going to Settings > Update & security > Activation and selecting Change Product Key. If you do a clean install of Windows 10 by booting off the media, you can also enter the product key from prior Windows versions on qualifying devices during setup.

Activate Windows 10 Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

I misstated. Yes, I'm doing the upgrade from 7 to 10 on the existing mechanical drive before I do the clean install to SSD.

Thanks for the heads up. I will confirm the mode setting after the upgrade and before the clean install.