Can you change a boot HD w/o Win7 OEM wanting a new version of the OS?

I know Windows7 OEM can be picky about what you can change out without having to purchase a new copy of the OS. I have a hard drive that I believe is failing on a little used partition. The past few days my boot times have gone from a too long 5 minutes to 30 minutes or more. When I try to access a specific partition on the HD, the system hangs for several minutes. Any of the other partitions it's fine.

I have current Macrium Reflect backups of my system exclusive of the partition giving me problems so I can easily rebuild the info. I just want to keep from having to buy a new OS. So do I need to get the same exact drive if that's the only change I make to the system or can I get a different drive?

So do I need to get the same exact drive if that's the only change I make to the system or can I get a different drive?

No problems using a different drive.

Mark Phelps said:

When I "migrated" from my HDD to an SSD, for a brief period, the OS was NOT activated. But then, I chose the option to activate online, and a couple of minutes later, all was OK. This is NOT a preinstalled PC but one I installed myself from a Retail purchase.

This computer happens to be a Dell and most manufacturers use an OEM version of Windows. I built a system back when Win7 first came out and used an OEM copy for that. Fast forward a couple of years and the MB died. Replaced the MB and Win7 wasn't happy. Would not activate. Finally I figured out what the problem was. An OEM version of Windows is just for the original computer. Significant changes like say, a MB replacement, trigger a phone home and Windows won't activate. You need to buy a new copy of the OS.

The retail version will phone home after a MB replacement and will activate. It was the first time I had ever had that experience and I didn't want to run into that again. I don't know how much of a change will require a new OS purchase.