[Moto X Q&A] hachamacha:
Near as I can see (and I just tried multi-q for the first time), it is a myth ;) I copied the original question down below and will look and see.

Not sure I'm understanding. Was the first phone not a DE, rather an xt1060 or something like that? If so, which model was it? I'm also awaiting (few days) delivery of my first Moto X DE but have had no other one. Any factory unlockable phone I've had in the past is returned to a somewhat blank condition (/system and /data) as soon as you either a) lock or b) unlock using the Moto website so you'll of course, have to do that much and then slap on SuperSU (or whatever you like for root), busybox, etc.

Minimal amount of work? Stick to one recovery type because making backups is easy. If you want to use TWRP (which is a good recovery) to restore to the new phone, then do it. The easiest part of everything is changing recoveries once unlocked and rooted and you "KNOW" that TWRP can restore TWRP. Yes, Philz Touch can also restore TWRP, but when we build for phones new to us, sometimes, the git is in a state where maybe something isn't working, so why bother taking a chance on wasting all that time.

I've got Philz Touch latest version built for the msm8960dt (the motos/ultra/maxx/and others) but haven't looked into it since I've got no phone yet. My other possible suggestion would be to switch to Philz Touch as soon as I put up a pointer on it (or use an older one if you get your phone before). Stick it on your phone and make a new backup in CWM/Philz format. I'll go through the code and enable the /persist partition so you can get a backup of that. When you get the new DE, goto website, unlock, (which will probably just git rid of /data and /system), and if you want the least amount of guessing what is needed and not needed , just install the DE 4.4.2 image from the site so you'll have the firmware that is desired for that model phone. (radio and /firmware / persist stuff). Then boot to recovery and do the restore of the usual partitions. Use the .xml file in the .zip to figure out the order of the partition flashing for /firmware and radios and any other bits you want to flash. I would just create a batch file with 'fastboot flash 'partitionname' '{name}.img' statements in the exact order as in the .XML file and run it.

I don't know which (if anything but stock) ROM you've used and I'm not sure it matters which flavor it is, but it matters which version it was built from on the Moto so be sure it's apples to apples, since most the ROMs I've looked at seem to require the kernel from whatever was installed before. (the /lib/modules are also built to match that kernel as well and are a part of the /system of that ROM).

Everytime I've gone into a new phone situation and decided I was going to get away with a nandroid restore and voila ;) , it always takes a bit of touch-up work, so pick one recovery, make the backups doing it, and do the restores to the DE using it rather than adding yet another variable. I can't think of one situation where I didn't have to at least use say Titanium Backup to restore the apps (I don't bother with data) because things rarely work out the same way. The other not-so-intuitive thing is that moving things from one phone to another (especially a nonDE to a DE) often bring up a new issue or more so expect to have to do a bit of work. Just be sure to make a good copy of the /sdcard/.. stuff that you need to keep (TitaniumBackup), and other data you need that nandroids don't care about, and back it up to your PC using adb. After you unlock, you can copy it to the target phone, and try the recovery. I really like Philz and I like TWRP as well, but I'd never tell someone they could move for sure from one phone to another without any problem. Best bet is using same recovery type on both ends though. Don't restore /persist or /firmware unless you're certain it's wiped. I mean that 4.4.2 image (.xml.zip) from the website has all the firmware you really want in it at it takes about 2 simple statements from adb to get it on the phone. That's pretty easy. Also, you never know. Might get lucky and a nandroid could be all you need but I'm not holding my breath on that.

Good luck.