How do I clone my Ableton laptop? Will things work if I do?

[mrdelurk]

I got to the point in my Ableton life, where everything works as I want, I need no new updates, features, zip. It's perfect, rock solid, I know where everything's at, know all the bug workarounds, and can pull of editing magic that would make a Hollywood pro pale out. Sheer Nirvana. I am running Ableton suite 8.3.4. build 2012 August, 32-bit on an i7 Win7 ASUS laptop that is approximately 10 years old.

My only hangup is. what happens if this old laptop fries itself one day. Try to recreate all this on a new one? My VST folder is 40GB, 52,000 files My Ableton folder (library, etc.) is 97GB My Sounds folder is 145GB. This is just stuff on the internal drive. If I had to reinstall all this from scratch, I think I'd just take up gardening instead. I don't have that kind of energy. Probably the whole universe doesn't.

I know backup programs. Used Acronis with a tape drive before. After a crash, it could not restore a single file. Not falling for that @#$% again.

So - what if I bought a second laptop of my exact model for a spare? I'd probably cost no more than a dinner in town. And cloned everything from the current laptop to it? Would things work, or would copy protection notice that internal components have all different serials now and lock me out anyway? Did anyone try thins, what was your result?

Thank you

[Tarekith]

I’m guessing that especially the plug ins are going to want to be reauthorized if you put them on new hardware, but you’d have to look into the specifics on a case by case basis.

I understand what and why you are trying to do this, but attempting to freeze such an already old set up is likely going to be more headaches than it’s worth if you ever need to access that clone. Not trying to talk you out of attempting it, but with that much data and plug ins I’m guessing the only way you’re going to know if it works is to actually try on the new laptop. You might need to trying a few different cloning tools before you find one that works. Hopefully.

[bravedog]

I'm far from expert but think you should just back up your My Ableton and My Sounds folders and think they will just copy over to a new computer fine. Software on a new computer often needs to be reauthorized so I agree with previous poster, many vsts will require reinstall.

[brianwdowling]

Cloning may work if the laptops are identical, but as others have mentioned, either most or all software will likely need to be reauthorized, and most software vendors allow multiple authorizations.

For redundancy, I have two laptops, I install all software on both so if one were to crash I'd still be able to work. I back up all data files to OneDrive which I can access on any of my devices. I also periodically do 2 full backups of each laptop so I can restore if needed.

I'm currently using Macs, but I've been able to restore laptops before with Acronis and I believe the current versions of Windows should be able to to a complete image of a laptop's hard drive.

Brian

[mrdelurk]

Answering my own question, after I found out the answer. The cloned laptop works like a charm. Old files with a jillion plugs open and play in my Ableton 8, not a single nag screen. The only thing screaming for authorization is Microsoft Windows 7, but **** it. I'll deal with it when the repair guy is positive that the cloned source laptop which crashed is truly a goner beyond revival and returning to it.

A part of the success why everything worked from the first on this cloned laptop is that I'm not a big copy protection fan. In other words, I do duly buy and display a legit copy of every software, sound, loop, etc. that I use, but that's it. Cheers