Solved Moving Windows 7 from one HD to another

E

Edgeworth

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I recently bought a laptop, it came with Windows 7 Home Premium. I ended up getting another HD on it, and I got my hands on a Windows 7 Ultimate disk. Thing is this second HD is actually a SSD so I want to install 7 on it, and I'll do it with the Ultimate for obvious reasons.

A friend of mine reported that once he was in a simmila situation, but with Windows XP, and even after he uninstalled the older install he still got the dual boot thing when booting up, even though he couldn't boot the first one anyways, but that'd make him take longer than usual to boot (would miss the whole purpose of installing it on the SSD). I'm guessing they probably have fixed that, but wouldn't hurt to ask. So, would I get the same problem if I did that with 7?

And on my case, should I:
1-Install it on the SSD, then uninstall the older 7 on the original HD
2-First uninstall the older one, then install the new one (that would be a clean install, right?)?
3-something else?

I'm not familiar with booting from CD/DVD so I'd rather do 1 than 2, but if it's better I can read up and manage to do 2.

If you recommend 2, is it faster? Or does it have other benefits from being a clean install? Or is it just because 1 is a bad choice in the first place?

Thanks in advance!
 

My Computer My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Home Basic x32
Edgeworth said:
I ended up getting another HD on it, and I got my hands on a Windows 7 Ultimate disk.!
Click to expand...

The way you phrase that makes it sound very much as if it's not a 'kosher' disk and license. If that's the case, then we cannot assist.
 

My Computer My Computer

Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Asus K52F or Lenovo B51-80
OS
Win 7 x64 Home Premium (and x86 VirtualBox VM)/Win10
CPU
i3 370M/i7 6500U
Motherboard
Asus/Lenovo
Memory
8GB - finally :)/8GB
Graphics Card(s)
it's an i3, dude!/dual Intel&nVidia
Sound Card
onboard
Monitor(s) Displays
15.6" built-in
Screen Resolution
1366x768/1920x1080
Hard Drives
750GB Seagate internal
Sundry external drives attached to other computers on the local network
1TB SSD on the Lenovo
PSU
n/a
Internet Speed
as much as I can get - usually on a dongle/phone, so <1MB/s
Antivirus
MSE/Defender
Browser
IE11/12/Edge/Chrome/FF(if I must)
I have to agree with NoelDP.

However, you have the option of simply transferring (cloning) your existing Windows 7 system with all apps, data and settings intact. It would actually be easier, and we can help you with that.

You won't have the advantage of a fresh install, obviously, but if you do have a legitimate key for your Ultimate disc, you can use it to upgrade the Home Premium install to Ultimate without reinstalling.
 

My Computer My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom-built
OS
Windows 7 Professional SP1 32-bit
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz
Motherboard
Asus PL5D2
Memory
4GB DDR2-667 (4x1GB in dual-channel config)
Graphics Card(s)
nVidia GeForce 9800 GT
Sound Card
Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic
Monitor(s) Displays
Acer P236H
Screen Resolution
1920x1200 (DVI)
Hard Drives
OCZ SSD Vertex Plus 60GB SATA (Firmware 3.55), 64MB cache
Hitachi HD321KJ SATA, 320GB, 7200rpm, 16MB cache
PSU
Antec TruePower 2.0
Case
Cooler Master Centurion
Cooling
Too many fans
Keyboard
Standard
Mouse
Microsoft wireless optical mouse
Internet Speed
AT&T U-verse (18mbit/sec)
Antivirus
Microsoft Security Essentials
Browser
Firefox
Other Info
Other devices:
Compaq CQ-60 laptop
Google Nexus 7 (2012) tablet
Nvidia SHIELD tablet (US/LTE)
Hardkernel ODROID-XU single-board computer (Samsung Exynos 5420)
How do you plan to activate Ultimate?

Cleanest method is to unplug the HD while installing to the SSD, then afterwards plug back in the HD and boot it when desired using the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key given on first boot screen.

If this is Upgrade version you'll need to do the quick workaround here after install to activate Upgrade version on a new HD: Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

If you want to wipe the other OS HD, move the data off, open an Elevated Command Prompt to run Clean with Diskpart Command. To simply delete the OS partition use Delete Partition Override
 
I apologize for my wording, the disk is original yes. Sorry if it sounded otherwise, english is not my mother language. So there are advantages to a clean install? And this upgrading then moving my Windows from one HD to the other seems like the easiest route (both my Home Premium that came with the laptop and the Ultimate are legit, yes).

The laptop had a little problem so I had to send it back for repairs, and I that's when I had the SSD installed on it. They have some stickers in some places that prevent me from messing with the hardware without breaking warranty just so you guys know.

Hope that cleared some stuff up.

Also upgrading+moving Windows 7 to the SSD would mean that I'd have everything as it was before, I believe?
 

My Computer My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Home Basic x32
Why would you move Windows from one HD to the other? I thought you want to clean install Ultimate to SSD? Did you even read my post?
 
"Cleanest method is to unplug the HD while installing to the SSD, then afterwards plug back in the HD and boot it when desired using the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key given on first boot screen."
I can't unplug the HD as I explained earlier

"If this is Upgrade version you'll need to do the quick workaround here after install to activate Upgrade version on a new HD: Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version"
I might have misread that earlier, so the installer can do the upgrade and switch hard drives? (I hope I'm not looking like I'm lost here)

"If you want to wipe the other OS HD, move the data off, open an Elevated Command Prompt to run Clean with Diskpart Command. To simply delete the OS partition use Delete Partition Override"
I'll probably do that after I get Ultimate working on the SSD, yes.

"Why would you move Windows from one HD to the other?"
I might have been calling the SSD a second HD, I'll call it just SSD from now on

'I thought you want to clean install Ultimate to SSD?"
I do, but should I delete the Windows 7 Home Premium I already have installed on my HD before or after installing Ultimate on the SSD? Since I've never done this before there might be advantages to doing one or another that I don't know, so I'd rather ask first.
 
Last edited:

My Computer My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Home Basic x32
So you don't want a Dual Boot but want to install Ultimate to the SSD, correct?

Keep in mind that you own a copy of Premium on that computer for life so if you use the Ultimate license you aren't using the $100-value license which came with the computer. But you can later migrate Ultimate elsewhere and reinstall Premium, so make your Recovery Disks and consider saving a backup image of it before you wipe the HD: Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

If you install Ultimate to SSD while Premium is still on the HD and it is attached, then Ultimate installer will configure a Dual Boot menu while updating the boot files already on Home Premium. This means that when you delete Premium then Ultimate willl have no boot files of its own. The solution to this is to disable the HD in BIOS during install (if you can't simply unplug it) so the installer places the boot files on Ultimate. Otherwise Ultimate will need repair after you wipe or delete Premium.

Afterwards when you re-enable the HD you can boot it using the BIOS one-time Boot Menu key, wipe HD or delete Premium to use as a storage drive once you're sure you have everything. Keep the SSD set to boot first in BIOS, after DVD drive.
 
Last edited:
Yes, that's basically it, so I can disable the HD temporarily using the BIOS. Thank you very much greg!
 

My Computer My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Home Basic x32
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