Restoring a laptop on a new HD from the old HD

[hyou0079]

My Windows-7 64-bit Asus G73JH laptop, which came with no recovery or driver discs, started freezing without discernable cause at the start of August of this year. It was taken to a non-chain repair shop, who initially diagnosed it as a failing hard drive. They replaced the hard drive claiming they would transfer the data, but later said it was still freezing, and assumed it was an overheating problem. Ultimately the entire motherboard of the computer was replaced along with the hard drive. No data on the original hard drive was not moved to the new hard drive, and the computer now has no drivers or any programs on it, leaving it largely useless. Attempts to obtain whatever drivers may have come factory-installed with the laptop upon first booting it up have completely failed.

The original hard drive was extracted and is still in my possession undamaged. For unknown reasons, the original hard drive can no longer boot up when placed inside the computer, which is odd as it had shown no signs of failing prior to taking it to the computer repair shop. The original hard drive is now in a USB 3.0 enclosure, on which the data is still readable and the files extractable. No idea why the original hard drive will not boot anymore, or if it has anything to do with the motherboard being replaced. If I turn the laptop on with the enclosure-original hard drive plugged in via USB, the computer will not boot.

The computer shop claimed attempts to make an Image backup of the computer failed due to freezing. Although I have an image file made in May of 2016, it does not appear when attempting to restore the computer via image restore. I also have what appears to be an image file marked the same date I took the laptop to be repaired stored on an external hard drive I handed to the computer shop to back up the data, but it is unknown if this image file is complete or able to be used.

The ultimate goal is to restore the computer to software-wise either the form it was in prior to taking it to the computer shop, or restore from the May 2016 image file, in order to retain the drivers, system setup and programs/licenses used since the laptop first began use. Media files such as images, work-files (PSDs), music, movies and the like are backed up on another external hard drive and are not a concern.

Any and all help in restoring the computer to its original state would be greatly appreciated, as working on the school-macbook on which I am using now drastically limits my productivity and capability.

 

[hang-the-9]

Plug in your original drive, go into the BIOS and change the drive type from AHCI to ATA or whatever it is not set to, see if that works.
The fact that the system won't boot when your old drive is attached and that it also won't clone properly points to a failing hard drive.

You will not be able to move the programs to the new drive unless you kept track of the media and setup keys. Drivers you can easily get from ASUS, not sure why you would have issues getting them https/www.asus.com/us/Laptops/ROG-G73Jh/HelpDesk_Download/

If you want to try to clone your drive to a new one, I use Macrium Reflect, there is a free version and I have not had any issues with it.