Restored Image of One Surface to Another

[Ruffles]

FYI -

I got my replacement surface last night. I started it up and confirmed the fans worked the way the should. Next, I started Macruim Reflect on my old tablet and made one last image of all the partitions. I deactivated Reflect on my old tablet and installed it on the new one and made a backup of its factory image. Then, I booted to the Reflect USB recovery drive and tried to restore the image from my old tablet to the new one.

I first tried to restore just the C drive partition. I noticed the partition sizes from the image file and new surface hard drive were a little bit different but Reflect didn't complain and performed the restore. When finished, it was stuck booting to the UEFI Bios screen.

Next, I tried restoring all the partitions from the image file. This time, it booted to a blue screen (just a blue screen, not the BSOD) that said it was checking devices and performing updates. After it finished, it completed booting and all was well. So far, the only programs that noticed the hardware change are Office 2013. It said it was already activated so I called the number and entered the codes and received a new product key. Windows itself shows that it's activated.

Anyhow, I just thought I'd let people know that transferring an image between devices seems to work.

 

[machistmo]

Yep yep it works, its just a couple of more hoops to jump through than I would prefer. That and the fact that every firmware update issued caused me to have to reimage or factory reset. Safegaurding the tablet became what felt like a full time job. In other news I can post again after reverting to ...... wait for it.... IE 9. I have a Windows 7 64 bit running IE 9 and that is the only one of 3 flavors of IE 9,10, or 11 that works for me. I also have a Windows 8.1 ThinkPad Tablet 2 that will not allow me to post in IE 11 Metro or Desktop using the software keyboard. It is just further proof that none of this stuff is really 'ready' for prime-time. Its not ready for the enterprise and the huddled masses are all around Apple or Android campfires these days. Anyway, glad to hear yours is up and running again. Microsoft, after first sending me to a store that didn't exist anymore, then did finally complete the return of my Surface Pro in full after having my deivce in their posession for about 2 months. Slow but steady and the response and outcome I wanted. I am ready for them to release something this time or next that I can really get next to and use in the real world.

 

[gabe406]

I will have my Surface Pro replaced this week. I too used Macrium to image my entire drive including all partitions. So when I get my replacement Surface Pro I should be able to restore the image and have it work?

Thanks

 

[Ruffles]

I will have my Surface Pro replaced this week. I too used Macrium to image my entire drive including all partitions. So when I get my replacement Surface Pro I should be able to restore the image and have it work?

Thanks

Yup. Should work fine.

 

[gabe406]

Excellent, thanks. I will update this once it's done.

 

[enolamyecart]

I also did this successfully. One thing to note, make sure the OS's match. If you backed up from 8.1, make sure you update the new device to 8.1 before restoring the image. The guy at the MS store had the same problem and had to exchange another new unit for me in the store. They offered to keep overnight. I opted to take it home and did it myself.

 

[Dim-Ize]

Glad this worked for you, Ruffles et all. I linked to Macruim Reflect after reading your post. Seems like there is a free version. I'm interested in making a disaster recovery backup of my system and have turned on Files History and used System Image Backup to put a copy on an external HDD. Is Macruim Reflect a better method? I would love to make everything backed up dynamically in the cloud wit the free SkyDrive account but haven't figured it out. Will pursue the forums for tips on that. I think I need to take some precautions...

 

[gabe406]

Update: Received my refurbished SP1 replacement and restored the image from right before I shipped my original one. The results were not. The first major item I had to resolve was to activate Windows. The OS did not recognize the original hardware and I had to make the call. It was an automated call and only took 5 minutes. Next up were some firmware updates, and a couple of 3rd party Metro apps that needed repair. I noticed some of the wireless adapters were duplicated because they show 2 at the end of the descriptions. Macrium itself required the key be reauthorized, but I think that was it for now. Overall everything else is working good and most of the apps I tested are working ok. For a half hour of work I have returned the unit to its original working condition. Which is nice because it took, over 5 hours to configure originally. I think this works great!

 

[UMPC_Guy]

Update: Received my refurbished SP1 replacement and restored the image from right before I shipped my original one. The results were not. The first major item I had to resolve was to activate Windows. The OS did not recognize the original hardware and I had to make the call. It was an automated call and only took 5 minutes. Next up were some firmware updates, and a couple of 3rd party Metro apps that needed repair. I noticed some of the wireless adapters were duplicated because they show 2 at the end of the descriptions. Macrium itself required the key be reauthorized, but I think that was it for now. Overall everything else is working good and most of the apps I tested are working ok. For a half hour of work I have returned the unit to its original working condition. Which is nice because it took, over 5 hours to configure originally. I think this works great!

Hi,

Has anyone tried restoring an SP1 disk image to an SP2 of different storage capacity? I did this using Macrium Reflect for the C: drive image and all seemed well. I did get the Windows Activation message, but also had an issue with System Recovery (the SP2 had a problem finding the Recovery partition post-restore). I re-installed Windows via Recovery USB from my SP1, but was wary at that point (display scaling issue), so I returned it to the Store and got a replacement unit. The MS Store folks told me that the unit showed it had Windows 8 installed not 8.1 and couldn't recover it.

I'd like to use Macrium to restore all my apps to the SP2 but don't want to get burned again. Should a file based restore work?

Thanks,

 

[Ifty Hussain]

Hi,



To allow a Microsoft Surface System image to be restored, you need to boot from a Windows 8 or 8.1 DVD (whatever operating system is installed) and then select Troubleshoot, Advanced Options, System Image Recovery, Windows 8.1 (For my Surface 3 Pro). Go to this link to find out how to boot from usb device (i.e. external dvd drive)

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en...ers/boot-surface-pro-from-usb-recovery-device





Then once the message appears saying "Cant find system image" disconnect the external DVD drive usb and plug in the external HDD (which has the system image) and then after a few times of selecting retry, it will then start a scan for the system image. Select it and click as you would and go through the steps, i.e. Next, Next, Finish and there you go the system image restore will begin at the end it may error saying "system image did not Restore" ignore this and click continue to Windows 8.1 and vola windows will boot.