Bruinator Share Posted November 28, 2018 Hi Guys, I was wondering if it would be possible to to connect my laptop to my desktop via USB cable and doing a a full system image? If yes, could i restore the image as well by usb cable? I would be using acronis true image 2019 to do this. thx Link to post Share on other sites
Nick H. Supervisor Share Posted November 28, 2018 No. As far as I know, Just connecting your laptop to the computer by USB doesn't turn it in to an external harddrive. If it were me I would probably have a Live USB key of Ubuntu - or another system that can run Acronis - and then install the software and send the backup of the main drive to an external HDD. That way the HDD that I'm trying to copy isn't being used at the same time. EDIT: Rewritten slightly for clarification. That's what I get for answering while at work. Link to post Share on other sites
Bruinator Author Share Posted November 28, 2018 Or by an ethernet cable? Link to post Share on other sites
+warwagon Subscriber² Share Posted November 28, 2018 57 minutes ago, Nick H. said: No. As far as I know, Just connecting your laptop to the computer by USB doesn't turn it in to an external harddrive. If it were me I would probably have a Live USB key of Ubuntu - or another system that can run Acronis - and then install the software and send the backup of the main drive to an external HDD. That way the HDD that I'm trying to copy isn't being used at the same time. EDIT: Rewritten slightly for clarification. That's what I get for answering while at work. I don't think so either, then again, how do those computer transfer cables work that transfers everything from one computer to the other? Link to post Share on other sites
Nick H. Supervisor Share Posted November 28, 2018 24 minutes ago, Bruinator said: Or by an ethernet cable? You would want a crossover cable, not an ethernet cable. But with the exception of crimping one way back when I was at University I've not used one and so I'm not sure I would be able to tell you what to do. I'm sure there are plenty of tutorials out there though. Link to post Share on other sites
sc302 Veteran Share Posted November 28, 2018 You can back up your computer through the network to a share on the other computer. You don't need to have a cable directly connected to the other computer (it would utilize the same method if you did). If one of the two computers has a gigabit ethernet card, there is a very high chance that it will auto cross over (haven't seen one that doesn't) 1 Share Link to post Share on other sites
Bruinator Author Share Posted November 28, 2018 ok then is this possible, i will image my laptop on to a new external hard rive. Then transfer that image onto my desktop and then installing my new ssd into my laptop and transferring it to my old internal drive from my laptop and restoring the info on old hdd to new ssd in laptop? Hope this makes sense. thx Link to post Share on other sites
Brandon H Supervisor Share Posted November 28, 2018 you're just swapping the current HD for a new SSD am I understanding that correctly? there are transfer kits for that; they come with a SATA to USB cord and a boot disk to clone the internal drive to the new one; then you just swap out the drives and go on your way https://www.amazon.com/Apricorn-Notebook-Upgrade-Connection-ASW-USB3-25/dp/B005C983NA/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1543422133&sr=8-10&keywords=hard+drive+transfer+cable+kit ^this is what I used for a recent SSD swap on my computer; works great and is affordable Link to post Share on other sites
Bruinator Author Share Posted November 28, 2018 Just now, Brandon H said: you're just swapping the current HD for a new SSD am I understanding that correctly? there are transfer kits for that; they come with a SATA to USB cord and a boot disk to clone the internal drive to the new one; then you just swap out the drives and go on your way https://www.amazon.com/Apricorn-Notebook-Upgrade-Connection-ASW-USB3-25/dp/B005C983NA/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1543422133&sr=8-10&keywords=hard+drive+transfer+cable+kit ^this is what I used for a recent SSD swap on my computer; works great and is affordable Cool. I see how to do it now. Thx Brandon and others who have helped me. Link to post Share on other sites
goretsky Supervisor Share Posted November 28, 2018 Hello, A little background on USB file and settings transfers: Many years ago, there was a technology called Easy Link (also known as Easy-Link, DualLink, etc.) which consisted of a special cable with male USB 2.0 Type-A connectors at both ends that allowed you to transfer user's profiles (programs' settings and data) between two computers. The cable had a "small box" or dongle in the center or one end of the cable, since USB cables by themselves are "dumb" and meant to connect a computer (the host) to a peripheral (the device), instead of directly from computer-to-computer. The electronics in the dongle provided a specialized hub so that the connection actually went from computer ↔ device ↔ computer. These cables were used with software provided by the cable vendor or Microsoft Windows' File and Settings Transfer Wizard (in Windows 9x and XP) or Windows Easy Transfer (in Windows 7 and 8.0) to migrate from a computer running an older version of Windows to a newer one. The EasyLink/EasyTransfer cables and software did not transfer programs from one computer to another, but there are (or at least were) third-party programs from companies such as Aloha Bob Software, Easeus, LapLink and Mirinsoft which did provide this functionality. It should be noted, though, that these application-moving types of programs did not always transfer everything correctly 100% of the time, so you still might end up having to install a few programs, configure ones that transferred but are missing their settings, and so forth. This technology really came into being to allow people to migrate from Windows 98 to Windows XP, but it was also used to allow migrating between computers running the same operating system (i.e., upgrading to a faster computer). Today, it has been largely supplanted by settings and features in Windows server managed networks which allow IT staff to perform migrations for their users. For consumers, recent incarnations of Windows allow modern programs (also known as UWP, UWA or even Metro apps), their settings, and your data to be stored in OneDrive, so that when you log in to a new computer, your information is transferred via "the cloud" to the new system. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky Link to post Share on other sites
Bruinator Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 (edited) Yes, I did. Installed ssd and did restore and everything worked great. Thx for all your help guys. Link to post Share on other sites
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