Moving Hard Drive With Windows Installation To New PC

dk345

dk345

dk345

Associate
Joined
30 Dec 2008
Posts
418
Location
York
Hi guys,

I have a question regarding a client's PC that I have in my possession right now. The motherboard in his old PC has failed, and as such he needs a new computer as it's a socket A motherboard, so the system's due an upgrade anyway.

Annoyingly, he uses some form of 'specialised business software' that he's conveniently lost the installation disc and license for, so it can't be reinstalled on a new hard drive. Now, this software spans three of his hard drives, but my question only concerns the 1tb SATA that has Windows Vista installed on.

Am I able to just take this Hard drive out of the system and fit it to the new one, keeping the OS in tact? Normally, I'd just format the drive and start again but in this situation he needs to have his original OS in tact.

So, is this possible? Or will I have to reinstall the operating system when it's in the new computer?

Any help greatly appreciated.
 
Normally Windows throws a hissy fit when you change the OS to a new motherboard. Mostly BSOD's.

However in some cases, it works fine - just a reinstall of the drivers, etc.

I would try these two options:

Option one

- Plug HDD into new motherboard and go straight into safe mode (Don't boot up into the normal OS just yet)
- Then remove all drivers for all the devices you can remove them for. (Chipset, etc)
- reboot into normal mode and Windows should pickup the new drivers.

- Option two may be a repair install, rather than full reinstall.

Also, if non work - try just booting it up - might just work right off the bat without too much hassle. ;)


Good luck!
 
Thanks for your reply, Ice On Fire.

I was hoping that going into safe mode would allow me to do something like that, I'll set about moving hard drives around now.

Thanks for the other suggestions too.
 
I took my laptop HDD and plugged it into my desktop to recover files, booted fine and worked OK. There are two main issues with this: drivers and activation. The OS files are riddled with references to the chipset driver on the motherboard, so if you start changing the motherboard, Windows cannot communicate properly with the motherboard. Most of the time you will get an instant BSOD, but if you are lucky and it works you will have much poorer performance. The other issue is activation, Windows considers a new motherboard a new computer, so if you only have a single licence (which is almost always the case) you will have to sort out the licence key.
 
dk345 said:
Thanks for your reply, Ice On Fire.

I was hoping that going into safe mode would allow me to do something like that, I'll set about moving hard drives around now.

Thanks for the other suggestions too.
Click to expand...

Cool - good luck with it.

Let us know if you have any further issues. ;)
 
Right guys, sorry for the delay in replying, had some things to do before I go off for Uni.

Anyway, I tried to get into safe mode as suggested, but when the PC starts and boots from the hard drive, all I am presented with is Error Loading Operating System...

Any ideas??
 
I half expected this to happen. I've managed to restore the operating system using my Vista DVD. Now when I boot up, I am met with a 0x0000007B blue screen.

So the new motherboard is conflicting with the old drivers, causing everything to get confused. Like I said, half expected it, I'll just have to format and reinstall afresh.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom