How can I upgrade my WinXP laptop to Win7 using an external HDD formatted with Win7 from a different laptop ?

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Brian M

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Sep 22, 2013
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Hey folks,

My intension is to upgrade my XP machine to Win 7, but I want to use a Win 7 formatted HDD taken from my other (damaged)
laptop.

*Both versions/copies of Windows are leagal, and owned by me.*

The Win 7 HDD is already in an external enclosure, and I can access [most of] it sucessfully via USB from my
Win XP laptop. I've upgraded my RAM to 2G, and have migrated all the files I want to keep to that same external Win 7 HDD.
The Win XP HDD (in the machine) has enough free space to make the upgrade-(19G's Free).

Dumb question: Simply swapping a like-for-like HDD with one formatted with a different Operating System, does not effecively
upgrade a machine, right ? Reassigning the boot drive that has a different OS than the one the machine was manufactured with,
isn't possible either, is it ?

I have already tried to reassign the boot drive from the Win XP HDD to my USB connected Win 7 external HDD, in the
start up menu. No luck, obviously. I'm trying to avoid redundantly purchasing another copy of Win 7, when I already have a drive
formatted with it.

What am I missing ? Please help.

-Brian M.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Do you have a valid activation key for Windows 7?
If so, you can download a Windows 7 ISO for free, legally, and reinstall. Use your existing activation key to activate it.

Just swapping the hard drives around may or may not work.

But....if both drives and OS's were in laptops, they are probably OEM versions. And as such will not activate on the new hardware. Windows 7 OEM is tied to the first motherboard it is installed on.
It's not the drive that matters, but rather the motherboard the drive talks to.
 
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COLGeek

COLGeek

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There is no upgrade path to go from XP to Windows 7. Moving to Windows 7 from XP requires a new, clean install and then you can migrate your old files from another HDD (for example).

What you are sort of describing is cloning an existing Windows 7 installation from one drive to another. Is that what you are trying to do?
 
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Brian M

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Sep 22, 2013
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Hi USAFRet,
Thank you for your kind reply.

Where can I find the activation code ? Is that info contained on or in the HDD ?

Unfortunately, the Win7 laptop I salvaged the HDD from, is no longer in my possession. I brought it to an electronics recycling depot and junked it. Please don't tell me there was a sticker on the bottom of it I could have still used or something . . .
 
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COLGeek

COLGeek

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Yep, the sticker was likely on the bottom of the laptop....

USAFRet is spot on regarding the licenses. The one you want to swap into the laptop is likely an OEM license that is tied to the original system. There is a chance it will work in the new system, but there is a chance it won't as well.

Are the 2 systems as least the same brand?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Yes, on the bottom of the laptop would have been the place to find it.
But as it is almost certainly an OEM install, it would not have worked with different hardware anyway.
 
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Brian M

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Sep 22, 2013
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Hi COLGeek,
Thanks for your kind reply,

Yes, I would say 'cloning' would be the best way to describe my intentions. The HDD with Win7 I have, has a far bigger capacity than the XP's stock drive. That was another reason I wanted to change the drive.

Also, I have a non-formatted/empty 120G drive for the XP machine. I bought it in preparation to load a brand new copy of Win7 onto it. I have not yet purchased the Win7 Home/Full Suite yet because I am beginning to realize the cost of my plans, here. I'm almost considering buying a cheap used Win7 laptop, and interfacing the external HDD.

My motivating reason for all of this, is to be able to gain full access to my damaged Win7 laptop's HDD. My WinXP can't open things like MSWord, MSOffice which have become very valuable to me.

-Brian
 
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Brian M

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Sep 22, 2013
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Hey COLGeek,

Yes, both machines are Gateways. The drives themselves are not physically/mechanically interchangeable, though.

-Brian
 
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Brian M

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Sep 22, 2013
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USAFRet,
Rats. My motivating reason for all of this, is to be able to gain full access to my damaged Win7 laptop's HDD. My WinXP can't open things like MSWord, MSOffice which have become very valuable to me. Do you know if there is a WinXP software adaptation that allows reading/editing of Win7 versions of the above programs ?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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1. IDE vs SATA.
2. OEM in two different laptops.

This is soooo not going to work.
 
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COLGeek

COLGeek

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You can install a newer version of MS Office on your XP machine to allow you to open the files. There are also a couple of free Office clones that should be able to open them as well. Try OpenOffice or LibreOffice. See below:

http://www.openoffice.org/

http://www.libreoffice.org/

It also sounds like your Win 7 HDD is SATA and your older XP machine uses a PATA HDD. Cloning (means copying the contents of one drive to another, bit for bit) would likely not work in this case. There is still the situation of the OEM license likely not working on the "new" system as well due to the age of the system.
 
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COLGeek

COLGeek

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+1. Neither will allow this to work.
 
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Brian M

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Sep 22, 2013
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Thank you COLGeek,

I appreciate your info and advice- I will definitely check out those 2 links !!

Respectfully and sincerely,

Brian M.
 
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Brian M

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Sep 22, 2013
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Thank you for your effort and advice USAFRet,
At least there's still a chance I can recover all of the data on the Win7 HDD, using my WinXP laptop with a recent revision of MSWord&MSOffice. Again, thank you for the info.

Respectfully and sincerely,

Brian M.
 
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