Can all motherboards support switching OS disk from laptop to PC like my combo does? (i3-7100u >> i5-8400)

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Bruno Vincent

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I share an OS SSD with my laptop and desktop, I swap the disk back and forth between laptop and desktop. When I go out, take the disk and put it in laptop and vice versa.

This works 100% fine, PC and laptop simply says "getting devices ready" on boot for a few seconds and then good to go.

This works with the AsRock Z370 Pro4, but I broke it...so need to buy a new board...

Will Asus or any motherboard allow me to do this?

Or was I lucky with this particular brand, and I should stick to AsRock? Can Asus do that also?
 
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USAFRet
Swapping a drive and its OS between systems has 3 possible outcomes:
1. It boots up just fine
2. It fails completely
3. It boots up, but you're chasing issues for weeks.

I've seen all three.

2 almost identical HP/Compaq laptops - Fail
i5-3570k/Gigabyte board -> i7-4790k/ASRock board - Fail
Pentium G840/Biostar board -> i3-8100/Gigabyte board - Pass


And of course, the booting up says nothing about the activation status. That is a whole different aspect of this.
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Bruno Vincent

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But it works 100% perfect, what can go wrong? I switch back and forth every single day. 100% productivity boost with no data loss, no copy and paste, no syncing between machines, it's taking my whole workload "portably", fantastic solution, like taking the whole pc in your hand...!

So I absolutely love this system!

The board that it works with is:

AsRock Z370 Pro4

Should this also work with this?

AsRock B360M-HDV

 
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Gam3r01

Gam3r01

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Swapping OS drives typically results in no boot, partial boot with next to no usability, and stability issues.
I wouldnt plan on it working in the future.

If your work needs to be that portable you dont need to be swapping the OS drive, just the data drive.
 
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Bruno Vincent

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So how come this has been working perfectly since November 2016? With 2 different laptops SSDs? Almost every single day, hundreds of times/swaps?

I'm in no way questioning your knowledge, but might this be a myth that this can't be done? Maybe it didn't work with old systems, but with Windows 10 and 8th gen the system is smart enough to be flexible?

This worked perfectly with 15-8400, i3-7100u and even with an old b950 !

Does anybody actually have experience or has this been tried, because I can tell you from my case, it works flawlessly...but maybe just lucky with my board....!



 
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Gam3r01

Gam3r01

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It failed to work at all when I swapped motherboards, let alone entire systems.
Friends PC did the same, tried to transfer his OS drive to a new rig without wiping, didnt work.

Theres alot of people on here that have the same issue all the time.
Sure, it works sometimes, but its certainly not recommended.
The issue is tied to windows, the install is supposed to embed part of it on the motherboard to ensure one license works with once PC.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Swapping a drive and its OS between systems has 3 possible outcomes:
1. It boots up just fine
2. It fails completely
3. It boots up, but you're chasing issues for weeks.

I've seen all three.

2 almost identical HP/Compaq laptops - Fail
i5-3570k/Gigabyte board -> i7-4790k/ASRock board - Fail
Pentium G840/Biostar board -> i3-8100/Gigabyte board - Pass


And of course, the booting up says nothing about the activation status. That is a whole different aspect of this.
 
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Solution
USAFRet

USAFRet

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Also, that SATA connection is only rated for so many insertions.
You're well on the way to wearing out the cable or the drive connection.
 
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Bruno Vincent

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I use an extension, so only thing that will get damaged is extension port, $1.20 each, so original SATA connectors stay intact. But still have 100's of in an out insertions, extension port is actually fine, a lot sturdier than I thought!

 
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Bruno Vincent

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Mmm, interesting, seems the 8th gen boards can be on the receiving end.

I suspect this works only with 8th gen, and source can be any generation.

But would need to know if somebody else has success with 8th gen also, regardless, I'll buy the board and post results here, I think I'd better stick to AsRock again.

These 2 boards are essentially the same right? Just one of em has more features?

AsRock Z370 Pro4

AsRock B360M-HDV



 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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No, that's just my personal experience. I don't have an unlimited selection to try it in both directions.
I wouldn't count on any board to "just work", no matter what gen or make was the source or target.

Also, the OS counts some as well. Win 98 is probably better than Win 10, which is better than Win 8, which is better than Win 7.
 
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