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Take my OS to my new system?

post #1 of 6
10/31/10 at 10:28pm
Thread Starter 
Hey guys,

So my alienware laptop is officially for pieces now. I am in the midst of building a new desktop, and was wondering since my SSD in my laptop is still good, and has my Windows 7 I paid for on it if I can use it in my desktop. I have the bay adapter coming and dont really want to shell out the $275 bucks for Windows again. Is this possible? Thanks for any input.
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post #2 of 6
10/31/10 at 10:53pm
If your copy of Windows 7 is a Retail or Upgrade version, then yes, you can transfer it to your desktop or any other computer so long as the installation is only on one computer at a time. If, however, it's an OEM copy, then it's locked to the hardware it was initially installed on and cannot be transferred.
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post #3 of 6
11/1/10 at 6:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by willis23 View Post
Hey guys,

So my alienware laptop is officially for pieces now. I am in the midst of building a new desktop, and was wondering since my SSD in my laptop is still good, and has my Windows 7 I paid for on it if I can use it in my desktop. I have the bay adapter coming and dont really want to shell out the $275 bucks for Windows again. Is this possible? Thanks for any input.
I am not sure if you can just take the hard drive from another system and plug it onto another and hope that it can run right of the bag though, unless both systems are identical

cheers ...
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post #4 of 6
11/1/10 at 10:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
I am not sure if you can just take the hard drive from another system and plug it onto another and hope that it can run right of the bag though, unless both systems are identical

cheers ...
I have actually tried this once and it worked perfectly, although I did it with older notebooks (one from 2004 & one from 2005). Windows just had to auto-detect the different hardware.
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post #5 of 6
11/1/10 at 12:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Djembe View Post
I have actually tried this once and it worked perfectly, although I did it with older notebooks (one from 2004 & one from 2005). Windows just had to auto-detect the different hardware.
I heard that also, but OP wanted to use notebook drive on a desktop. Would this work as well?

cheers ...
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post #6 of 6
11/1/10 at 12:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
I heard that also, but OP wanted to use notebook drive on a desktop. Would this work as well?

cheers ...
SATA connections are the same size on 2.5" & 3.5" drives, so it would connect fine. As to whether the drivers would be able to line up, the only way to find out is to give it a try. The worst thing that could happen is the drive not booting, and as long as the original poster doesn't have an OEM copy, he or she can just reinstall Windows if that happens.
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