My old laptop came with an OEM Windows Vista license. However, the laptop is all but dead now due to a power supply issue. In addition, the HDD that was being used with it, which contains that installation of Vista with the OEM license, seems to be failing. The drive also contains installations of other programs, such as Microsoft Office, that I am only licensed to have installed on 1 machine. I want to rescue my data from the failing drive. Would it be legal for me to connect the drive externally to my new PC and clone it onto a USB HDD with a 3rd-party utility? My concern comes from the fact that (if my understanding is correct) I am only licensed to have that copy of Vista installed on that one original machine, and after the clone, both Vista and those programs with single-user licenses would be installed on 2 HDDs, neither of which would be being used with the PC that the Vista license is for (both drives would be connected to a different PC). After the clone, I would be deleting all the OS and program files from the destination drive and only keeping my data (documents/music/pictures/video/etc.), however, so I would never actually run Vista or any of my old programs from either of those drives.
Would it be legal for me to clone the drive like this? Would it be a violation of any EULAs?
Thanks!
Would it be legal for me to clone the drive like this? Would it be a violation of any EULAs?
Thanks!