Moving Win7 OEM Hard drive to identical computer

[Phijammer]

Hi
Hope I can get some help with this.

I have an ASUS U50A that is completely dead. Asus wants 350 bucks to replace the motherboard, battery etc...

I have purchased an identical working machine from Ebay. for 140$

My plan is to take the hard drive from the old dead machine and put it in the new (used) identical machine I purchased on Ebay. I have a lot of files on the old machine that are not backed up.

Both hard drives have the original OEM OS installs on them.

My questions are

Will MS/Win7 let me do this?
Will it boot?
If the motherboard is fried what are the chances the old hard drive is fried?
Anything I should do before I switch the hard drives?

Any thoughts are appreciated, thanks

 

[matts6887]

Hi
Hope I can get some help with this.

I have an ASUS U50A that is completely dead. Asus wants 350 bucks to replace the motherboard, battery etc...

I have purchased an identical working machine from Ebay. for 140$

My plan is to take the hard drive from the old dead machine and put it in the new (used) identical machine I purchased on Ebay. I have a lot of files on the old machine that are not backed up.

Both hard drives have the original OEM OS installs on them.

My questions are

Will MS/Win7 let me do this?
Will it boot?
If the motherboard is fried what are the chances the old hard drive is fried?
Anything I should do before I switch the hard drives?

Any thoughts are appreciated, thanks

I dont think the motherboard is totally fried necessiarly as that usually only happens if a surge of electricity somehow bypasses a surge protector or you touch the mb without discharging static electricity first. yes widows 7 should accept your old drive as long as it is compatible. It should hoot also as long as the bios detects it when you connect the drive cable(s) and power supply to the drive. The chances of the hd being fried if the mb is fried i would say is 50/50. I mean yes it can happen; but I have rarely heard of instances where the mb fried and in the process fried the hd as well. But again it can still happen. AS far as what to do before you switch drives; i would make sure the cables for both the power supply and and data coming from the drive are in good working order with no bent connectors or anything. Other than that not barring any complications you should be good to go Hope this helps ya out.

 

[gregrocker]

Win7 should start up on the identical hardware, although you'll likely need to reactivate with the Product Key from the new PC.

If by any chance Win7 doesn't start up on the new hardware, you can adjust it to do so by booting Paragon Adaptive Restore CD to P2P Adjust the OS to start on different hardware.

Your data should always be backed up against HD failure. A modern way to do this at the same time you sync the data across your devices is here: Sync, Backup and Store your Files to the Cloud with Skydrive - Windows 7 Forums

 

[AddRAM]

Only one way to find out, put it in and hit the power button

Don`t forget to wave your hand over the laptop while you say "My hard drive will boot up"