Windows 7: Hard drive from one comp work in another comp like it did before?

Ocilfa · 21 Sep 2011

My dad has expensive construction software that he needs on a day to day basis, but his laptop is dying and very slow. Currently his laptop runs Vista x86, and I wanted to give him my laptop that runs 7 x64. Could I swap the hard drives so that its an easy transition, or would that not work? Thanks for any input and suggestions.

johnhoh · 21 Sep 2011

"his laptop is dying and very slow"

that might mean his hard drive is bad, or that he has too many programs/malware installed, in which case you would not want to put his drive in your laptop.

But to answer your question, it depends on how different the chipset drivers are between the two machines. But if you have the Windows 7 x64 install dvd, you should be able to do a repair install if windows is not able to boot after switching hard drives.

rraod · 22 Sep 2011

If your dad has the install CDs for this expensive construction software, you can do a fresh windows install on his laptop and reinstall the software back.

Or you can try to install that software on your laptop and if works fine you may swap the laptops. Afterwards, you can clean his old laptop and have a fresh install of OS.

By the way what is the name of the software?

Sub Styler · 22 Sep 2011

I do believe theres a tutorial here for the sysprep tool that may be ideal for this.

alphanumeric · 22 Sep 2011

If you are planning to put the Vista drive in the Windows 7 laptop and run Vista from there it will likely fail activation and refuse to activate on line. If Vista was a preinstalled OEM version it is locked to the old hardware and you are not allowed to move it. At the very least you would likely have to call Microsoft and plead your case for a new activation code. Even then you may be just moving all the current problems over to newer hardware and introducing more problems due to the old drivers and new hardware. I personally wouldn't do the hard drive swap. I'd find another way to move the program to a new home or try to fix the problems on the Vista PC. just my 2 cents.

mjf · 22 Sep 2011

If your Dad is using expensive third party software then it will probably have tight licensing protection (as it should of course). Check the licensing conditions.
It may be cleaner to follow the software deactivate procedure, reinstall on the Windows 7 PC and activate. Then transfer any data files he uses in conjunction with the software.

PS: Then you could fix the HDD on the Vista PC.

Bill2 · 22 Sep 2011

Your system specs show Asus, so you likely have OEM Windows 7. Installing the Windows 7 hard disk into Dad's computer will not work because windows will be deactivated. What prevents you from uninstalling the construction software from Dad's machine, installing on yours and letting Dad use your machine? Although lemme tell you, how well that software runs depends on its requirements- does it need a lot of memory? in that case you can upgrade the memory on the vista machine. Is it CPU intensive? Nothing much can be done about that, laptops are not very amenable to CPU upgradation.

patio · 22 Sep 2011

Ever since Windows ME you cannot simply move a HDD from 1 machine to another and expect it to run properly...
This is by design.

He may want to contact the Software Authors and see if they will provide new installation media...

essenbe · 22 Sep 2011

I agree with everything others have said about activation and moving the hard drive. But, my first question would be why is his laptop 'slowly dying'? What is wrong with it and could it possibly that the laptop hard drive is the cause of the problem. I think I would first run a diagnostic test on the hard drive downloaded from the manufacturers web site to see if the condition of the hard drive is the cause of his problems. If that is the case, the current hard drive could be cloned to a new hard drive and then installed in his laptop. Then you would have time to sort out the licensing problems with his expensive software.

Ocilfa · 22 Sep 2011

That's all understandable, and what I thought would likely happen. I just wanted to be sure. Its the UDA construction suite. a normal license is like $600 from what I heard. Ill just contact the company and see if we can get things straight. Thanks for all the input!

Windows 7: Hard drive from one comp work in another comp like it did before?

Hard drive from one comp work in another comp like it did before? problems?