Can i install my same OS onto another HD?

[mrtoesterman]

I think my HD is starting to fail.... files are being locked and i can't alt. then because they say Admin is the only one who can do it, but i am it! and my HD is acting real slow.... But i was wondering can i install my win7 with the same key onto another drive? then i can transfer my wanted files onto it?

planning on getting a boot disc and then 4 more HD for raid 10


-mrToesterMAN

 

[tecmo34]

To put it simple: Yes, you can install your windows on another hard drive for the same system... It is pretty much like doing a fresh install.

 

[mrtoesterman]

will it sill be legit to microsoft? i know 1 key, 1 install. Since its for me, can I install it again? and when i got to register it, would microsoft know the key had been used twice?

 

[WyomingKnott]

Microsoft seems to store a lot of info about your PC with an activation: cpu, mobo, system drive, stuff I can't imagine. If a lot of it changes, they bitch. If a little changes, they let it re-activate. I've always been able to re-activate after a disk swap.

BTW, instead of a clean reinstall, do you want to try to do an image copy of the old drive and see if you get a running OS with all of your programs installed?

 

[mrtoesterman]

how do i do that?


well update on me, today i got a message saying my window is not Genuine.... WTF up with that? i think my computer has a virus that or something that Norton or kaspersky did not catch and for that, i lost my Genuine...

 

[WyomingKnott]

how do i do that?


well update on me, today i got a message saying my window is not Genuine.... WTF up with that? i think my computer has a virus that or something that Norton or kaspersky did not catch and for that, i lost my Genuine...

As usual with me, last things first.

Have you activated Windows? Also, is this XP, 7, or something else? I know that with 7, you install it, run it for a few weeks, and then that pops up. It's usually just that you need to activate it online. I've activated the same install 4 times now without problems (I'm building a new OS and I tend to roll back to savepoints after I make a mistake).

As to "how you do that," the idea is to make a complete "image" copy of the existing OS disk. An image copy will include not only the files but the disk's Master Boot Record (MBR) and the OS partition's Partition Boot Record (PBR) and, in the case of some Win7 installs, that pesky hidden 100MB partition at the beginning.

There are dozens of programs that can accomplish this; you will find them in posts all over the forums. I'm very old-fashioned and I use a DOS-based tool, the 2003 version of Norton Ghost. Acronis True Image can actually clone a drive while the OS on that drive is running. This is common now; I used to consider it to be impossible. EASEUS gives away basic versions of all of their software in the hope that you will buy the more advanced version (I did). They have a disk copy program. These are just the ones that I'm familiar with; there are many programs out there and probably better ones than I use. (Certainly better for modern OSes that Norton Ghost 2003; its disk marking once trashed my Win7 installation because it was never designed for Win7).

So you clone your old drive to the new one, put the new one in, and boot it. I'll give you 90% chances of success.