Windows 7 Pro SSD Hot Swap

[SJLPHI]

Hello,

I currently own two near-identical laptops, both Lenovo T420. One with Nvidia graphics card, and one with integrated only. They have the same core, ram, and the one with the Nvidia is a bit fancier in terms of hardware.

I will call the one with Nvidia as N, and the other as I
N: (Primary + Secondary)
-W7Pro 64bit on 500GB HDD + OpenSUSE 13.2 64 bit KDE on 128GB SSD
I:
-OpenSUSE 13.2 64 bit KDE on 240GB SSD + W7Pro 64bit on 120GB HDD

I is my work laptop and the GRUB from OpenSUSE does NOT control the boot. In order to boot from secondary, I must interrupt the boot and choose to boot from the secondary drive. This was done on purpose.

Now, the reason for two 'identical' laptops for me was that previously I fell off my bicycle and destroyed Lenovo T410s, and only the SSD was salvageable. I was able to slap in that SSD to a new T420 and everything was good to go(With OpenSUSE 13.1).

I want these two laptops to be able to exchange parts at will, if one fails. Recently my work laptop keyboard has been worn down, and the spacebar stopped working properly, so instead of fixing it, I tried to do a hot swap of the drives. On Linux side, everything was good to go. From Windows 7 side however. Neither computers could boot. Also, W7 repair disc didn't work, neither did the installation drive for W7 for the 'repair' on the transplant.

Are W7 installations MAC-address specific or something? Is there a way to get around with this? I do want to take advantage of the better graphics card.

 

[Megahertz07]

I'm sure that Windows retail versions are chained to Lan or WIFI Mac address once activated. But OEM aren't. They are chained to the brand in BIOS. As they are same brand (Lenovo) and type (T420) they should work and don't even complain for activation.
I guess that it doesn't boot as they have different graphics GPU and drives. Linux may be using generic drivers, so it boots and runs under it.
Is it possible to deactivate NVidia on BIOS and use the internal GPU?

As you are swapping the drives with the Laptop off, don't call it hot swap.

 

[SJLPHI]

Hello, I have tried disabling Nvidia card from BIOS. That was one of my first attempts. No avail. I'm not quite sure how to change the title for correcting what I meant.

 

[Megahertz07]

I don't like the idea to make experiences on a working system without a backup. Do you have the factory recover disks and a HDD image so you're able to restore if something goes badly wrong?
When you swapped, did both Laptops didn't boot or only the one that has NVidia?
If that is true, boot on safe mode (F8). As in safe mode you don't load drivers, I think it will boot. Then install the Nvidia drivers. Reboot and see if it works. You will have NVidea on both drives, but it will use it only if needed.

 

[SJLPHI]

Hello,

I do have Windows 7 Pro disk and external USB DVD drive which have been tested. I also have downloaded basic drivers loaded on a DVD. I don't have the "recovery diskc" perse since I bought both laptops used.

As for the not booting part, neither laptops could boot with intermixed HDD, and could not boot from safemode.

Whence I stuck the HDDs back to respective laptop, everything worked again like a charm.

 

[Megahertz07]

Do you have any encrypt on them?
If on BIOS you have fast boot enabled you wont have mouse and keyboard during boot, so you cant trigger safe mode.

 

[SJLPHI]

The drives are not encrypted, and fastboot is not enabled.

 

[SJLPHI]

I should also mention, the "boot" actually makes it to
"W7 pro is being loaded" with the MS logo, then shortly after I get blue screen with what look like memory addresses then the computer reboots. It offers running windows repair, which goes unsuccessfully. I also get the logo-crash on safe mode.

 

[Megahertz07]

Sorry, can't think any thing else to suggest.

 

[townsbg]

We need more information when dealing with blue screens. http://www.sevenforums.com/bsod-help-support/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html

 

[SJLPHI]

a quick question,

since I can only boot from native hdd-laptop pair, I can only run the executable from matching pair, but I get BSOD only with non-matching pair. Would you still get useful information out of it?

 

[townsbg]

Please just follow the instructions as best you can and yes the information has to be gathered on the problematic system. Try safe mode.

 

[SJLPHI]

It will not boot from safemode from non-matching pair.

 

[townsbg]

You aren't giving us any information. We have blue screen experts but they need more information than you have provided. Please follow the tutorial and provide what you can.

 

[Digerati]

SSD Hot Swap

"Hot" swap? Understand that hotswapping a drive means removing a drive while the computer is still up and running and replacing it with a different drive.