Win7 from one hard drive to another?

[titanyov]

So, my friend asked me to upgrade his computer. Along with the new components is a new, faster hard drive. He's asking me to transfer Windows 7 from his old, slow hard drive to the newer one.

So, how exactly does this work?
Is it just basically uninstalling Windows, taking apart the comp, shoving the new stuff in, and installing it down to the new hard drive? (he has the CD and the key)
I recall something about the motherboard being registered to Windows, but if I install the same version, it should be fine?

He also wants to use his old hard drive for storage, so is uninstalling Windows from that drive all I need to do in order to keep using it?

 

[treefrog07]

You can clone the new HDD from the old HDD, using the HDD mfr's software. Western Digital offers version of Acronis to do exactly what you want to do; I don't know what other HDD mfrs. offer.

 

[pete3867]

in my experience cloning software rarely works properly, but thats just me I guess , many folks use it o.k , there is also a built in clone feature in win 7 ......btw the best cloners for me has been macrium reflect ... its free and very fast

 

[Jonmor68]

Whether you clone the OS to a new drive or reinstall it is your choice. A new install will require you to reinstall all your software.
Either way if you are replacing major components like motherboard and cpu, you will need to reactivate Windows. If your OS is an OEM version it's not transferable as it's locked in to the original pc, a new board is considered a new pc by Microsoft unless replacing a faulty one with an identical or similar replacement.
If you choose a new install, you can use the W7 Easy Transfer Wizard to save your files and settings to an external drive or cd/dvd before you start dismantling it.

 

[MRFS]

Acronis True Image WD Edition Software works fine,
as long as you have at least one WD HDD installed:

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119


MRFS

 

[titanyov]

Whether you clone the OS to a new drive or reinstall it is your choice. A new install will require you to reinstall all your software.
Either way if you are replacing major components like motherboard and cpu, you will need to reactivate Windows. If your OS is an OEM version it's not transferable as it's locked in to the original pc, a new board is considered a new pc by Microsoft unless replacing a faulty one with an identical or similar replacement.
If you choose a new install, you can use the W7 Easy Transfer Wizard to save your files and settings to an external drive or cd/dvd before you start dismantling it.

So I can just copy the OS over to the new drive using that W7 Easy Transfer, uninstall it from the old drive, and just change boot disk? The guy's not changing his mobo, and he has the Win7 cd and key (dunno if it's OEM, he bought it from a store that sells computer parts and stuff), so is it also possible to just uninstall win7 from the old disk and install it onto the new one?

He wants a fresh hard drive, he has lots of unnecessary junk on the old one, so copying the whole drive isn't exactly ideal.