Moving a hdd to a new pc

[aj4749]

Hello guys, im currently using a 340gb hard drive on this pc, this pc has an 8500gt, intel q6600 cpu and 2gb of ram. I wish to move this hard drive to my new pc, my new pc will contain the same cpu, but every other component is changing, can i move this hard drive into my new pc and boot it? I also plan to put windows 7 upgrade over this hard drive as its a vista home premium OS. Will i encounter any problems moving this hard drive, booting it, or install the upgrade?

Thank you in advance

 

[gtvr]

bunch of issues. Google moving windows to a new motherboard, there's advice on how to remove old drivers, etc. You will probably have to reactivate windows.

If it was me, I'd back everything up, drop the partition & do a clean install. There's ways to do that with win 7 upgrade, and it's legal if you already own vista for that PC. basically just install 7, don't activate it, and then install over it as the upgrade (again, google for some step by steps on this)

 

[aj4749]

If i did a clean(custom install) of windows 7 on this hard drive right now, then moved this hard drive straight to the new pc, would it work? i really dont mind about losing my files, i just dont want to have to pay the full price for a new OS, when i have a completely legal version of vista on this hard drive, i figured why not just clean install win 7 over it and use this and a secondary hard drive?

im a bit of a software noobie, could anyone run me through how i would go about this?

 

[aj4749]

I did some research, and i think i understand, i install windows 7 whilst its on this hard-drive, whilst its still connected to my old computer, then simply more the hard drive to my new computer, and activate windows 7 when its connected to my new computer?

 

[gtvr]

Why not install it on the new computer? Then you don't have to worry about mixed motherboard/chipset drivers, video, anything you are changing. That's what I'd do, unless I'm missing some reason you want to install it on the old PC

 

[aj4749]

@gtvr

Do you mean move the hard drive to the new pc, then when it wont boot install windows 7 upgrade over it? Im worried that it may not detect vista on the hard drive for some reason.

 

[gtvr]

Here's what I'd do:

Back up the HD, especially data files
Remove MB specific drivers
Power down, move it to the new PC
boot from the win 7 CD (or DVD) & do a clean install. I think this will move windows to windows.old, and it should install just the drivers, etc for the new hardware.

If you do this, you will also have to reinstall all of your software - do you have install disks/keys for everything commercial? If not, then probably best to do the upgrade option. Regardless, I'd do the win 7 install on the new PC not the old one.