Back up and recovery onto a different laptop

liketoknow

I have got two laptops. I want to put some things from one onto the other one,including some programs which I no longer have the discs for. If I do a back up from the laptop I want to copy from, onto the other, would I be able to back up the programs I want, then run recovery on the receiving one to get the programs on? It wouldn't matter if the recovery wiped out anything that was already on the receiving one as what is on there is also on the one I want to copy from so I could just get them back.

Neil_Jones

Unfortunately not because copying programs is not that simple, you can't just copy a bunch of files from one computer to another and expect it to work.

And the copying of the backup between the two laptops probably won't work either unless the hardware is 100% exactly the same.

liketoknow

Oh dear, I was hoping to use the receiving laptop as an external drive for the other one as well

liketoknow

ie, back up laptop one onto laptop two and vice versa

liketoknow

Is there not any way of getting the programs on it then?

grumpycrab

liketoknow wrote: »

I have got two laptops.

If the same then make a disk image copy. If different then manually copy+installs or use a tool to do it eg.
https://www.easeus.com/pc-transfer/index.html
https://ppc.laplink.com/specialpages/uk-unbranded-pcmover/

liketoknow

Thanks, I was wondering if I could copy the programs and install but didn;t know if I needed anything else

liketoknow

Would there be a problem installing it though if it is licensed to the other laptop?

that

think Acronis can do it, but make sure it is the universal restore edition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbe8yTOaVGg

that

There is another way, possibly better, providing that the application is not extremely resource hungry, or does not use strange hardware an interface cards. This is to virtualise your PC.

Once virtualised, it will run on any medium to decent spec pc or laptop, is just a few files that is copied. There are a few popular virtualisation platforms Hyper-v (needs a paid for version of windows), vmWare (paid for product, but do offer a free limited version), VirtualBox (totally free), and there are others, ans somr that will allow an Apple to emulate a windows box.

https://www.joe0.com/2017/09/27/how-to-convert-physical-windows-computer-to-virtualbox-virtual-machine/
https://www.online-tech-tips.com/free-software-downloads/convert-pc-into-virtual-machine/
Also fairly sure Acronis can convert them over too

liketoknow

Sorted now thank you all !!