Swap boot drive

steven37

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Jun 22, 2012
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Hi, I was wondering if it's possible to take the main drive from one computer and put it into another computer to use as the boot drive.
 
Solution


"The thing is..."
...it does not matter what the reason is!

If you just want to sell it with no OS, just wipe the drive and sell it. DBAN, or any Linux Live CD.
And you can't install that Windows OS on the for sale system, AND use that same license on the SSD in a different system.

Are you selling the system with or without the OS? It makes a difference.

But moving the SSD, with installed OS, to a different PC is a...

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
This is a case of 'sometime it works, sometimes it doesn't'.
There is no definitive answer. And it is ALWAYS recommended to reinstall the OS when moving to a new system, or during major part upgrades.

And then you have the potential licensing issue.
 
It's possible. But in my experience 9 times out of 10 the new computer won't boot. And the 10% of the time it does boot, performance is subpar or there are other problems because Windows is seeing a bunch of new hardware for which it doesn't have the drivers or proper configuration.

If you do this, you really should reformat and reinstall Windows once the HDD is in the new computer. If your goal is to "preserve" your old computer so that you don't have to reinstall your apps or customize your desktop, look into converting the old computer into a virtual machine. VMWare Converter will do it, as will programs from several backup software companies. Then you can "boot" your old computer in a window on your new computer using VMWare Player or VirtualBox. But be aware that the hardware requirements for running a virtual machine are pretty high (it is literally like running a second computer), so you may not be happy with performance.
 

ESPclipse

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May 27, 2014
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Yes and no. It is possible but major changes in components may leave you having to install drivers from safe mode or something, and there is no guarantee that you won't run in to problems if you try to. While I believe that to not be of terribly great concern, a problem will arise if you are using Windows 7 or newer. Typically, a change in motherboard will tell Windows, which was installed on another system, that the OS is not genuine, and after a set amount of time will bug you about it forever. IMO, unless all of core components (CPU, motherboard, RAM) are the same, reinstall the operating system and not risk future problems.
 

steven37

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Jun 22, 2012
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The thing is I am wanting to sell this computer soon but I can't find the OS disk anywhere to clean and reinstall it on the drive and I didn't really want to sell a computer with all my data on it and since it's a ssd I was going to see if I can upgrade my mothers old computer while keeping the OS on here.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


"The thing is..."
...it does not matter what the reason is!

If you just want to sell it with no OS, just wipe the drive and sell it. DBAN, or any Linux Live CD.
And you can't install that Windows OS on the for sale system, AND use that same license on the SSD in a different system.

Are you selling the system with or without the OS? It makes a difference.

But moving the SSD, with installed OS, to a different PC is a non-starter. It almost certainly will not work.
 
Solution

steven37

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Jun 22, 2012
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Meant to click reply but I guess you're best solution now lol.. And I wasn't planning on using the same license on both computers if that's what you were thinking, it was one or the other. And if I was able to put the ssd with the os still installed into the older machine I was going to sell this one with no OS but apparently that's not the case anymore. I guess I'll be searching through my boxes for that OS disk for a while.
 

steven37

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Jun 22, 2012
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USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


Assuming you haven't taken anything apart yet, Belarc Advisor can retrieve that license key
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
 

steven37

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Jun 22, 2012
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Thanks again! I actually just figured how to get it.
http://www.howtogeek.com/206329/how-to-find-your-lost-windows-or-office-product-keys/
 

steven37

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Jun 22, 2012
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Okay I thought about it and I decided to not upgrade the older machine and hopefully save myself some money lol... I'm just gonna Reinstall my Windows into my new computer. Thanks for the link!

new build will only cost me around $900 now. Still don't know on how much to sell my old one for though, probably $700