Move win 7 to a new machine

[woodgray]

Hi
I have a laptop that I did a fresh install of win 7 64 ultimate on. The video board died after some use. Its an Toshiba x205 sli3. CPU is t7500(gaming rig two video boards). The repair cost is 800.00 So on an older machine its not worth it.
I decided to build my own desktop. Which will cost me the same as the repair.
It is based on a i5-760.
Part of the cost savings was to salvage the old hard drive from the x205 and put it in the i5 system.
I want to do this without reinstalling a new Copy of the OS and reinstalling all the programs and data.

So the question is can I move the hard drive during build time and will the OS and drivers adapt themselves?

 

[Tepid]

You can not legally do that if the OS came preinstalled on the laptop.. it is known as OEM.


OEM = May be cheaper. But there are reasons for that. Very Limited Support. One License tied to One PC.
Whn that PC dies, the license dies with it. Can not be transferred (legally) to any other system.

Retail = Can be installed/Activated on one PC at a time. (Either 64bit or 32bit only one on one system at a time). If that PC dies, you go buy/build a new one. You do not have to purchase the OS again. you already have it and can install it on the new PC as long as you uninstall it from the old one. You may have to call MS to get activated again, but it will not be any problem to do so. You get MS Support.

So, you can use the Hard Drive, but you might need to purchase a new License for Win7.
Unless, the version of 7 you have is Retail (Upgrade or Full Version)

 

[woodgray]

It is a new fully purchased win 7 install. It was originally vista32 that I removed

 

[Tepid]

Ok,, I would still back up all data before attempting.....

you can attempt to swap it to the new system without doing a reinstall.
many people have done so without issue.

Drop drive in new system.
Boot into it and install drivers.
Can't be certain that there won't be conflicts or problems down the road, but.....

 

[woodgray]

The actual point is I don't have another hard drive to work with other than the laptop one. So, will the OS and drivers adapt themselves. This is not about activation, OEM, ect.

 

[Tepid]

No, the drivers will be completely different. and you will have remnants of them left.

You can attempt to uninstall and remove the drivers before installing the drive into the new system.

That is why it really is highly recommended (regardless of others successes) to do a fresh install on a new system.
Everyone's mileage may vary.

No One can guarantee a smooth transition.
If they say they can, they are lying.

And, if you do not back up your data, do not be sad that it got lost.

There are 2 groups of people in the entire whole of all the world....
Those who have lost data
and those who Will lose data

There are no inbetweens.

 

[DocBrown]

You might get by with a couple of repair-installs, but it's a 50 / 50 chance

I have done one desktop HD that had win7 Ulitmate from an older Gigabyte MB to a newer Gigabyte MB. It did find all the needed drivers, etc using online Windows Update.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello woodgray, welcome to Seven Forums!


You will save yourself a lot of headaches in the long run if you do a new clean install to the HDD, I would suggest, after you have copied out or made back-ups of the data you need to save to external media, use Step One of this tutorial at the link below to do a wipe (secure erase) to the entire Hard Disk Drive, running this "clean all" then using the outline in Step Two #2 to create/format and mark Active a single 100GB partition using diskpart will get you the best possible space to do a clean install of Windows 7 to; you can always extend the Windows partition to include the remaining unallocated space on the HDD / SSD or create additional partitions after the installation completes if you choose.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version


If you do a clean install you will have to reinstall all the programs/apps that you use, they integrate themselves into the Windows registry and are not moveable from one Windows installation to another so be sure to save the program activation keys where applicable.

 

[woodgray]

List of options:
I have one hard drive that works.
The machine itself has a fried video card. It is impossible to see any visual output. It is a laptop there is no replaceable card.
I am trying to use the existing hard drive in a new installation. It is a seagate momentus xt 500gb So it is very capable.
Backup is not a option at this time.
Bests would be reuse of the hard drive. Update the drivers because they will be different.
Is there a tool or tools that will aid me in this?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

This will do it.


Paragon Adaptive Restore

 

[gregrocker]

To reuse the HD, SysPrep it before moving it to new machine. This does the same thing as Paragon app but is free: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...lation-transfer-new-computer.html#post1161038

 

[grss1982]

You could also try sysprep:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...lation-transfer-new-computer.html#post1161038

 

[woodgray]

Yes only problem is still the old computer is fried so no way to use sysprep.

 

[gregrocker]

Plug a monitor into the laptop, Sysprep the hard drive then move to new machine.

Or move HD to new machine,boot Paragon Adaptive Restore CD to remove all drivers and prepare it to boot on the new hardware.