Unsolved
10 Posts
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179
October 9th, 2022 23:00
Hard Drive Swap?
I have an old laptop(Win7) which has various cosmetic issues, so I purchased the same version of this model on ebay (in great shape) so I can replace it. Can I remove the hard-drive from the old one and just install it into the newer ebay one? The newer one has a slightly faster AMD processor.
In addition, is EVERYTHING on a hard-drive, including desktop items? thanks.
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filbert
4 Operator
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1.8K Posts
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October 11th, 2022 10:00
It may work, though different drivers may be required for that laptop, as some components may differ. I would recommend a different solution, which I will describe below.
Yes.
Windows 7 is unsupported and insecure. It does not receive security patches, so it should no longer be used on a PC connected to the Internet.
I suggest that you update to Windows 10. Do the free upgrade: https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/
After upgrading, check to see if Windows 10 is activated in Settings | Activation. If it is, then you can perform a clean install of Windows 10 and it should activate automatically.
At that point I would recommend that you use Microsoft's Media Creation tool to create a WIndows 10 installer flash drive. Boot from it and perform a clean install of Windows 10. That will have better performance and less junk from an old Win7 installation + upgrade.
After you have WIndows 10 running well, you can transfer your user files from the old laptop to the new one.
If the old laptop has a larger or faster drive that you want to use in the new laptop, backup your user files and install that drive into the new laptop after the new laptop has activated with Win10 upgrade, but before performing the clean install.
Kflash08
3 Apprentice
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657 Posts
0
October 12th, 2022 14:00
Yes it will work, but physically moving a Windows installation over to another system will require re-activation, which will most likely fail due to a different hardware configuration. Even if the other system was exactly the same model and the exact same hardware configuration, activation will detect and send serial numbers unique identifiers to Microsoft's servers to verify that the Windows installation and product key are tied to the correct system.
In order to successfully activate Windows 7 on your new system, I would try using your system recovery discs that were included with your old system. If no discs were included, then you'll have to create a set of recovery discs from your old system, assuming that the recovery partition and program used to create the discs are still present. Once you've reinstalled Windows 7 on the new system, verify that it's activated, then upgrade to Windows 10, which should still be a free upgrade for 7 & 8.1 users. You can't install Windows 10 without installing and activating Windows 7 or 8.1 first, as Windows 10 uses the product key and activation status from the previous version to determine your upgrade eligibility. However, once you've upgraded to Windows 10 and it successfully activated, only then can you perform a clean reinstall of Windows 10 without reinstalling Windows 7 or 8.1 first.