Cloning drives and Authorisations

[Kamikaze]

Hello evryone

I've just cloned my Hard drive to an SSD (EVO). I put the laptop out f action about a year plus, as I had multiple OS, driver, and hardware issues. Windows was stuck in an update loop, and sometimes wouldn't load. As a result many of my passwords have hanged over the course, So I'm having to reenter passwords.  I'm concerned about software with a restricted number of authorized machines, and the authorization getting stuck on an old hard drive.

iTunes account said it needed authorization, but I may have de-athourised that before shutting it down a year back, just to be sage (Something I'd do, but can't recall doing it)

XLN needed authorization, but Windows update alone causes that.

Cakewalk was in demo mode, but I was having issues with the BandLab installer back then (latest installer installed without a hitch)

I guess my question is this. If an drive is cloned, and at the time, the software was authorized, should all these authorizations work on the cloned drive?  Or do some suppliers use the hard drive itself in identifying the machine.

[Brian Walton]

11 minutes ago, Kamikaze said:

Hello evryone

I've just cloned my Hard drive to an SSD (EVO). I put the laptop out f action about a year plus, as I had multiple OS, driver, and hardware issues. Windows was stuck in an update loop, and sometimes wouldn't load. As a result many of my passwords have hanged over the course, So I'm having to reenter passwords.  I'm concerned about software with a restricted number of authorized machines, and the authorization getting stuck on an old hard drive.

iTunes account said it needed authorization, but I may have de-athourised that before shutting it down a year back, just to be sage (Something I'd do, but can't recall doing it)

XLN needed authorization, but Windows update alone causes that.

Cakewalk was in demo mode, but I was having issues with the BandLab installer back then (latest installer installed without a hitch)

I guess my question is this. If an drive is cloned, and at the time, the software was authorized, should all these authorizations work on the cloned drive?  Or do some suppliers use the hard drive itself in identifying the machine.

It varies, but you can expect quite a few to no longer be authorized.

It is a pain, but for those with limited authorizations I'd suggest de-authorizing before you swap.  

 

Some will work just fine without that process if you are putting it back in the exact same machine.  

[msmcleod]

It really depends on how the software detects the machine.

I quite regularly clone/restore drives, and most seem to work fine, but others seem to think something is different.

Depending on your cloning software, the drive partition id's should be cloned as well. This should be enough for most software.

You could go a stage further and edit the serial number of the cloned drive so it matches the one you've copied... assuming of course, you've got software that lets you do that.  However, you may find you can't have both drives plugged in at the same time if you do that though (i.e. you'll need to clone your original to a drive image, remove the drive, attach the other drive then restore the image).

These aren't the only things companies use however - some may use aspects of your CPU, your network adapter MAC address, the size & number of your fixed disks, and any number of random combinations. 

As long as its going back to the same physical machine, for the most part you should be ok... but there will no doubt be exceptions.

[Kamikaze]

I've used the Samsung cloning software, as it's a Samsung SSD I've moved too.  I had a nightmare getting it to be recognized for some reason, across 3 different laptops. Wasn't showing as a drive at all when installed in in a caddy via USB. I thought I'd been conned as these SSD are so light I thought I had an empty  SSD box. Cash on Delivery is pretty standard here, so I could check as much as I could on the doorstep before paying. Kicking myself for buying online, and cash on delivery meant the only proof was on their system. In the end I took it in to a shop as said 'If you can poove it's fake I'll buy one from you instead. Guy was great, it wasn't hoping in the directory's, but in the devises, so He ran some software and it started to show. Even after cloning the Samsung Magician software said it was an EVO 860, but that it wasn't supported. despite numerous tips online, it was a full windows Update using the Windows Installer App I had to download to fix my windows, that it fixed Samsung Magician. Sorry this was a long winded way of explain why I'm hesitant to mess with the SSDs serial number. But thanks for the suggestion.