Moving disks to a new computer

[BigKev]

My old PC is on its last legs so I have decided to splash out on something with a little more oomph.

My question is, can I simply move my system drive (Windows 7) to my new computer and will Windows 7 realize that it's talking to a new motherboard?

I remember under XP that if you did this you could 'repair' the OS installation (sometimes).

I've Googled around a bit and there seems to be conflicting opinions on this.

Any help will be appreciated.

Cheers,
Kevin Bell

[Pilgrim]

My old PC is on its last legs so I have decided to splash out on something with a little more oomph.

My question is, can I simply move my system drive (Windows 7) to my new computer and will Windows 7 realize that it's talking to a new motherboard?

I remember under XP that if you did this you could 'repair' the OS installation (sometimes).

Sometimes is the keyword. If I remember correctly, there are two issues which you will probably be confronted with:

1. HAL (hardware abstraction layer) which will prevent the OS from booting. A "repair" may allow you to boot into Windows.
2. Motherboard drivers for the new system will have to be installed. If #1 can't be done, then I'm not sure how you would resolve this one.

This is one of those perfect examples why a backup program such as ShadowProtect Desktop and Acronis True Image (with the Universal Restore add-on) are invaluable. These programs have the capability of doing a "Bare Metal Restore", i.e., restoring a backup image to machines which don't have the same hardware. Without this capability you can only restore an image to the original machine with the same hardware from which it was created.

I'm sure others here with more experience/knowledge concerning what you are wanting to do will be able to advise you if it is possible and/or what things you will need to do.

[John Gray]

There is the licensing issue to consider as well.

If the version of Windows 7 on your old computer was an OEM one, not a retail copy, then it lives and dies with your old PC.

If it was a retail copy, then you can transfer it - provided you ring up Microsoft and convince them that you have effectively uninstalled it from the old PC to move it to the new PC (where Windows Genuine Advantage is probably complaining that it isn't installed on the hardware it knew and loved). I'm not sure what actually happens then, but either they would agree that this can be done or give you a new Product Key...

[StuartR]

You are going to have to try this, and let us know if it works. The key issue is likely to be drivers for the motherboard components, if these are a close enough match then you should be OK, otherwise you will need a reinstall.

[JoeP]

As long as you have a Windows DVD you should be able to start the system by booting using the DVD. Then the Windows 7 install process should detect a current installation and you should be able to repair the current installation.

Joe

[BigKev]

Thanks all. I will backup (clone) my drive and give it a whirl. I have a retail Windows 7 Ultimate so I think the licensing will not be an issue. I will certainly download ALL the relevant drivers and make sure they are all installed.

I will update the lounge as to the result of my efforts.

Cheers,
Kevin Bell

[BigKev]

OK, here’s my report on what I did and what happened.

First I did a complete backup of all my important data then cloned my system drive.

Then I assembled the new computer. I went from an Intel Dual Core with 2GB RAM to an Intel i7 Quad Core on an Intel DX58SO motherboard with 6GB RAM. 6 GB even though I’m running the 32 bit version of Windows 7 because the motherboard manual says that if you use 3 DIMMs it is more efficient.

Note that this motherboard doesn’t have on-board graphics so I installed an nVidia GeoForce 220 graphics card with 1GB RAM.

I installed the cloned disk into the new computer and pressed the power button.

I configured the BIOS to activate all the cores and the hyper-threading. Save and restart.

Windows came up and told me that I had new hardware and did I want to repair the system. I said ‘You betcha’ and off it went.

The system restore started, completed and then rebooted.

Windows 7 with my desktop appeared and after a couple of minutes of gurgling and whirring a message box told me that I would have to restart my system for the changes to take effect.

OK to restart and once again Windows appeared again with my desktop and after a little more gurgling and whirring told me to restart.

OK to restart and Windows 7 came up with my desktop, all my programs and everything else in the same condition as with the old computer.

At no time did I have to download anything or even was I asked to do anything except click OK. Actually I was never given a choice to do anything else which is probably a good thing. I didn’t notice any activity on my Internet connection at any time during this process.

I did a Windows update and nothing was found except new Windows Guardian Definitions. I visited the Intel site and used the automatic scan facility. Again, nothing needed.

After about 30 minutes I was told I had to reactivate Windows. I entered the product key from my retail DVD box and the activation completed,

I ran the System Performance Rating option and was given a score of 5.9 which is the score of the hard disk performance. CPU is 7.7, Memory 7.5 and Graphics 6.5. The old system was 3.6.

All-in-all a complete success. Hats off the Microsoft for making this so easy.

[HansV]

Great experience! Thanks for the feedback.