05-08-2010, 11:31 AM

Hi,

I am planning on getting a Mac in a few weeks time as I am going to sell my old windows 7 PC and then install Windows 7 again on my mac via bootcamp.

Obviously when i get my mac i can easily transfer all my files onto it but I would loose all my programs. My question is if I was to create an image file of the hard drive on my windows PC could i then use that and Restore it on my Mac, obviously in a separate partition?

I have already found a program that i believe will be able to restore my Windows image file in that separate partition, which is winclone:

Winclone

I just wanted to know if it would actually work.

I will also be using Macrium Reflect to make the image file:

Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

Also I am planning to get a macbook pro 13"

Thanks for any help in advance!

05-08-2010, 11:58 AM

WinClone can not be installed in Windows, it's OS X only. And, it must be installed before it can create an image. Even if you installed it on your new MBP, how would you create an image of your Win 7 machine?

I doubt Macrium Reflect would work. Reflect copies or clones the entire contents of the Windows partition including boot sector information. You would not be able to restore that image to your MBP (assuming you created a Windows partition and installed Windows using Boot Camp) because the hardware and most importantly, boot sector is different.

(Mac machines do not use a BIOS to handle booting, they use EFI.)

Also, a bit of info regarding your copy of Win 7. If it's a pre-installed copy by an OEM (Dell, Sony, HP, etc) it can not be moved to another computer. That would violate the MS EULA. However, if it's a MS boxed copy that you bought and installed, then yes, it can be moved and reactivated on your new MBP.

Regards.

05-08-2010, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by chscag

WinClone can not be installed in Windows, it's OS X only. And, it must be installed before it can create an image. Even if you installed it on your new MBP, how would you create an image of your Win 7 machine?

I doubt Macrium Reflect would work. Reflect copies or clones the entire contents of the Windows partition including boot sector information. You would not be able to restore that image to your MBP (assuming you created a Windows partition and installed Windows using Boot Camp) because the hardware and most importantly, boot sector is different.

(Mac machines do not use a BIOS to handle booting, they use EFI.)

Also, a bit of info regarding your copy of Win 7. If it's a pre-installed copy by an OEM (Dell, Sony, HP, etc) it can not be moved to another computer. That would violate the MS EULA. However, if it's a MS boxed copy that you bought and installed, then yes, it can be moved and reactivated on your new MBP.

Regards.

Yes My Windows 7 copy is a boxed Microsoft copy, and i don't suppose there is any software that would just image the bits that i need, or is there any other way i could transfer the programs easily to my MBP? as I have quite a lot of them!

Thanks for your help.

05-08-2010, 02:41 PM

Programs for windows (ending in .com or .exe) won't run on OSX. You would need to create either a bootable partition using BootCamp, or run a virtual PC using something like parallels or VMWare.

05-08-2010, 04:34 PM

Yes My Windows 7 copy is a boxed Microsoft copy, and i don't suppose there is any software that would just image the bits that i need, or is there any other way i could transfer the programs easily to my MBP? as I have quite a lot of them!

You really can't transfer Windows programs anyway. The reason is that Windows 7 like previous versions of Windows uses a registry to store program information. Copying does not work. You'll need to reinstall all your Windows programs once you have Windows setup on your new Mac.

And as jakerich pointed out in his reply to you, Windows can be installed on your Mac using Boot Camp or by virtual software. (Parallels, Fusion, VirtualBox)

I had the same mind set as you when I decided to purchase a Mac. But I quickly found out that I was better off buying the OS X program equivalent to the Windows one (if it existed) rather than stick with the Windows version.

Even though I have Windows 7 installed on my machine via a Boot Camp partition, I have very few Windows programs that I continue to use. Everything else is OS X. The one thing that Windows seems to excel at it is playing games. And even that is beginning to shift to OS X.

Regards.