i have posted this on acronis forums also....

my questions are numbered (1)-(3)

(1) how do i restore to a different computer that has a different hard drive interface?

my computer backup has been made on my laptop with a IDE hard drive 

I have a desktop that has a SATA hard drive and when i restore the TIB file to it get a blue screen stop error
"STOP: 0x0000007b (0xf78a6528, 0xc0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)"

i have tried it the other way around too...making a backup with my SATA drive (desktop)(same xp pro manually installed) and then trying to restore it to the laptop (IDE) (this gives me the same blue screen) (safe mode loads the xp boot files and then i get the same blue screen.

(2)how do i get it to have it when i am whiping out the laptops drive with the backup?

(3 IMPORTANT QUESTION) what is an alternative program or way to allow me to restore my backup to any hard drive and to any interface.

PS> (now thinking its an interface problem i have installed a seperate IDE hard drive into my Desktop and tried to restore the laptops IDE backup file to it....no luck).... now the laptops hard drive is IDE and my secondary desktop hard drive is IDE i really dont know why this is not working. (ALSO THE BACKUP FILE IS FINE AND IT HAS BEEN VERIFIED AND RESTORED TO THE LAPTOP TWICE....AND YES IT HAS BEEN RESTORED RECENTLY (TODAY).

THE MAIN LINK TO THE ACRONIS FORUM PAGE HERE:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=1475371#post1475371

I would appreciate any help thanks alot.The reason Acronis won't do it this way is not Acronis' fault...you can thank Gates for that.
Your image contains all the drivers...etc. for the laptop itself...unlikely that once restored to a Desktop that the machine will even boot up.

If you have an original Windows CD however there is a workaround...
Grab one of these...

Install the laptop drive to the Desktop machine. Use the desktop HDD FREE software to "clone" the laptop drive to the Desktop.
Then boot to the XP CD and do a REPAIR Install of XP
This will allow the desktop to boot to the laptop install

Note: you will lose all data on the Desktop machine
Note #2 you will need to re-install the drivers for the desktop machinemy questions are in red

ok that would be an option....my current sata to usb adapter could do that fine....although there is one problem....my laptop as compared to some new "netbooks" has a FIXED drive....my laptop though is not new at all...its a dell latitude c640.

it's drive isn't really fixed it just has a wierd interface...

but my point is WITHOUT the proper adapter for every different hard drive interface the clone method will not work unless the computers hard drive can support the adapters...

but my interface again is not fixed but is not standard either...and neither is any "fixed" drive laptop....

i have heard ghost can copy all storage controllers (as acronis can) but ghost can implement them in the restore process when they are needed....is that true?...are there any other ways since my drive isn't the right interface?...

right now i am trying to load in my drivers for my desktops mass storage INF...standard vga INF...up to date nvidia INF...and chipset INF files into the restore process of acronis workstation. (this is when it prompts me to specify drivers to add into it.) ( and this is only with acronis universal restore implemented into workstation.) (before i tried it on the desktop with only the laptop drivers implemented and not the desktops....this is a possible answer to why it did not work.)

so trying the desktop drivers should work....don't you think?I don't know of any HDD laptop or desktop with a wierd interface...
Can you be more specific ? ?ok it looks like without even taking the hard drive out of my laptop and by looking at some pictures it tells me that my hard drive just had a connector adapter on it.....so my bad  ...i would insert the pics but when i insert pic it shows this: "img][/img"

now anyways instead of removing hard drives and repairing windows then hooking hard drives back up. don't you think it would be much easier to fix acronis universal restore.

now i already have many posts on their forum about it

here: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=1475371#post1475371

BUT you guys have been much more responsive and i would like to see if you have any further thoughts with acronis universal restore.....trust me im not trying to make this repetitious but here are my remaining problems:

1.) during the restore process acronis universal restore asks me where are the inf drivers. and i tell it where they are.

2.) acronis also asks me to specify where to search just for mass storage inf drivers on the following page. i tell it.

3.) acronis then trys to restore the image and has two separate errors....(can't find the "jraid.sys" and "pciidex.sys") when each error window appears i tell it to find the file and it continues...

4.) now, after it continues the restore process it goes to the main screen of acronis and tells me the operation completed with errors (ok no big deal why?, because i told it where they were at which point it continued restoring everytime.)

5.) ok now it just said completed with errors (errors being the drivers not found right away) it did not say it failed.

because it did complete and i did give it all its INF files (video, mass storage, chipset, etc.) i believe windows should be restored (from the laptops backup file) to the desktop perfectly fine.

NOPE i get either a blank black screen and the desktop idles.....or on another attempt ill get a blue screen with the same stop error: "STOP: 0x0000007b (0xf78a6528, 0xc0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)"

again i am working with acronis as well and any other help will be great from you guys.

thanks