Move 2nd of dual boot drives to a new computer

Hmil3 · 28 Oct 2013

My wife's desktop has a dual boot setup--Vista on the C drive and a 256-gig SSD with Windows 7 on the 2nd drive. Because her computer was so slow, I set up the SSD with Win 7 from a upgrade Family 3-pack and installed all the programs she had on the C drive so she can work off the SSD instead. Unfortunately, the computer is old, the hard drive with Vista is failing, and now the motherboard is starting to have problems. I bought her a new computer with Win 7 Premium on an SATA hard drive. Is there any way to move the SSD to the new computer to use in a dual boot situation similar to the one on her old computer without reinstalling Windows 7 and/or all the programs? Is there a better way of handling this than what I'm proposing?

Kaktussoft · 28 Oct 2013

old computer: So win7 is on a SSD. Vista is on a normal hdd. Correct? Is it win7 home premium or professional or....? Valid retail license or OEM?

Is old computer still working...if so post screenshot of disk management please.

Kaktussoft · 28 Oct 2013

Another question: Old computer's BIOS has SATA settings set to AHCI or IDE or RAID?
Same question for new computer.

If you don't know post screenshot of device management with "IDE ATA/API controllers" branche expanded. Do it from old and new machine.

You bougth this: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack (3-User)?
So old and knew computer have win7 home premium?

gregrocker · 28 Oct 2013

Once we see a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image to see if the SSD is booting itself, or make the necessary changes so that it is booting itself, then you'll have two choices to do what you want:

1) On the old hardware run SysPrep to move HD to another computer to make Win7 bootable on new hardware if it isn't, which is likely.

2) On the new hardware with Legacy BIOS or CSM enabled in BIOS, and with only the SSD drive plugged in, boot Paragon Adaptive Restore CD to P2P Adapt to the new hardware.

When Win7 starts by one of these methods, it will change out most drivers in a cascade you can monitor by clicking on the Installing Drivers animation in the System Tray. Once activity stops, do the requested reboot and check for more activity. When none, enable Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3) to install all Important and Optional Windows Updates with reboots until there are no more, to get needed patches and more drivers.

Since the two options above remove Activation you'll need to insert the new PC's Product Key from it's COA sticker. If it's not the same version then you'll need to

Hmil3 · 29 Oct 2013

Let me see if I can answer all of your questions and give you more information:
1. Can't boot up her SATA hard drive with Vista anymore, so it's status doesn't seem relevant now.

2. The SSD was set up as a dual boot from scratch with Windows 7 Home Premium from a 3-user Family Upgrade Pack--valid license, not OEM. I used EasyBCD to move the boot info to it before her SATA hard drive totally crashed, so it is "active." I can boot up to it on her old computer--a Dell desktop.

3. Old computer's SATA mode is IDE; new computer's mode is UEFI with an option to change to Legacy.

4. What I'm asking is whether I can move the SSD to the new computer to use it as a dual boot as well. The new computer has an SATA hard drive with Windows 7 Home Premium--also not OEM.

Kaktussoft · 29 Oct 2013

Hmil3 said:

Let me see if I can answer all of your questions and give you more information:
1. Can't boot up her SATA hard drive with Vista anymore, so it's status doesn't seem relevant now.

2. The SSD was set up as a dual boot from scratch with Windows 7 Home Premium from a 3-user Family Upgrade Pack--valid license, not OEM. I used EasyBCD to move the boot info to it before her SATA hard drive totally crashed, so it is "active." I can boot up to it on her old computer--a Dell desktop.

3. Old computer's SATA mode is IDE; new computer's mode is UEFI with an option to change to Legacy.

4. What I'm asking is whether I can move the SSD to the new computer to use it as a dual boot as well. The new computer has an SATA hard drive with Windows 7 Home Premium--also not OEM.

You're an experienced user, that makes explainig thing easier.
First prepare the old system's SSD disk for the swap to the new system. I mean Uninstall Device and Device Driver for devices no longer attached to system. Uninstall associated software as well. So unistall graphics driver, sound driver, network driver etc. (checkmark uninstall files from disk to regain disk space). New system needs other drivers! When all has been uninstalled... shutdown and power off and put SSD in new system.

System tries to boot now from normal disk or SDD you just built-in? You can change that anyway in BIOS "boot priority" or "one time boot options". You can move the bootmanager if you like Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD

Most likely the best thing to do is:

force new system to boot from same disk as always so HDD.
Mark partition on SSD inactive, so tools don't get confused.
Do a Startup Repair. It will add new "win7 on ssd" to bootmenu.
run easybcd an give the boot entries a descriptive name. https://neosmart.net/wiki/easybcd/ba...aming-entries/ . So you can easily see what win7 is on SSD and HDD. Make SSD the default, or HDD ... whatever you wish (also in easybcd).

Any questions? Any remarks? I'll give instructions how to make it succesfully boot later. Please post you progress

Kaktussoft · 29 Oct 2013

If you followed my previous post and all went as expected:
Make Windows 7 bootable after motherboard swap (very easy. use "Adjust the OS to the new hardware automatically"... it normally finished in seconds)

Tutorial say's at the end:
After procedure has finished succesfully and system boots fine:

Uninstall Device and Device Driver for devices no longer attached to system. Uninstall associated software as well. =>You did that before the swap! All unneeded drivers aren't listed anyway.
Install all of your device drivers, then Windows Updates. =>better: Let windows updates do its job until no updates are required anymore. Still "other devices" or devices with checkmarks in the device manager list?
Refresh your Windows Experience Index (WEI) score.
When done, all you will need to do is to activate Windows 7. => I think it's already activated

Post results

gregrocker · 29 Oct 2013

Where is the requested screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image ? You said the HD boots on the old PC.

You'd want to see if changing the new PC to Legacy mode or Compatibility Service Mode (CSM) would allow the extant UEFI install to boot. There should be a setting that allows both modes. If so then plug in the SSD, set it as drive to boot first in BIOS setup, if it won't boot outright then boot to Paragon Adaptive Restore CD to P2P Adjust the SSD to boot on the new hardware. This is illustrated in Kaktussoft's tutorial in Post 7.

Next check if there's a SATA controller setting in Legacy Mode for IDE. You may need to convert the old install to AHCI : Enable in Windows 7 / Vista if it won't start after adjusting to new hardware.

If the SSD boots on the other PC now then it should start on the new one. If not confirm Win7 or it's 100mb System Reserved partition (preferred if you have it ) is Partition Marked Active to run Startup Repair - Run up to 3 Separate Times until it starts. If you only moved the boot files using EasyBCD then the job was not done completely which is why we've always recommended the 3 Startup Repairs to do the job fully including rewriting the Repair console to F8 Advanced Boot options.

You can boot the old HD using the one-time BIOS boot menu key, or if you want a Windows Boot menu at every boot add the HD install from the SSD using EasyBCD.