[SOLVED] Can you build a PC with all new components except for the hard drive

[iamjudebot]

We currently have this HP ProDesk pre-built as a server and it needs upgrading. Could i take the hard drive from it and put into a new system? i'm willing to buy a new windows key for it i just need the configuration and files to be exactly the same because i dont want to mess up the networking. Also, if i get that working ill then upgrade to an SSD.

 

[JaidevB]

Yeah of course. If u have just an ssd that can work too.

 

[refillable]

Only the HDD? You can do that in any system in any day of the week in any region you can think of.

 

[iamjudebot]

Only the HDD? You can do that in any system in any day of the week in any region you can think of.

Oh okay

Yeah of course. If u have just an ssd that can work too.

Yeah of course. If u have just an ssd that can work too.

Okay great! When i move it over to the ssd, nothing will change right? Im just really scared about the networking because we don’t have anyone to fix it in case it doesn’t work after this.

 

[JaidevB]

Oh okay


Okay great! When i move it over to the ssd, nothing will change right? Im just really scared about the networking because we don’t have anyone to fix it in case it doesn’t work after this.

Nothing should change tbf. Ur just only switching the hard drive from system to system. 👍

 

[iamjudebot]

Nothing should change tbf. Ur just only switching the hard drive from system to system. 👍

Okay got it. Hope this works, will be updating soon. Thanks for the help man i really appreciate it.

 

[USAFRet]

Hang on....

You're building a new system, and wanting to just move the drive with its OS from old to new, and hope it just boots up?

And coming from a prebuilt HP server to....what?
Unless it is also an HP server of very close specs, this is unlikely to work.

What are the specs of old and new, what OS, etc, etc...
Details, please.

 

[USAFRet]

And of course, you have a known good recoverable backup of the whole system, in the likely event things to not go as swimmingly and fail free as suggested above. Right?

 

[iamjudebot]

Hang on....

You're building a new system, and wanting to just move the drive with its OS from old to new, and hope it just boots up?

And coming from a prebuilt HP server to....what?
Unless it is also an HP server of very close specs, this is unlikely to work.

What are the specs of old and new, what OS, etc, etc...
Details, please.

Okay so the server we use now is a HP Prodesk Enterprise PC runs on windows 7 and has a i5 4960 with 4gb ram and HDD. I recently bought components for a slight upgrade. Ryzen 3 2200g, 8gb 2600mhz ram, sata SSD. I’m basically trying to migrate the OS along with the config for it to be exactly the same but with newer parts. Did some research and some people were saying i would atleast have to get a windows key for it to transfer. Could be wrong, please let me know your thoughts.

 

[DSzymborski]

Okay so the server we use now is a HP Prodesk Enterprise PC runs on windows 7 and has a i5 4960 with 4gb ram and HDD. I recently bought components for a slight upgrade. Ryzen 3 2200g, 8gb 2600mhz ram, sata SSD. I’m basically trying to migrate the OS along with the config for it to be exactly the same but with newer parts. Did some research and some people were saying i would atleast have to get a windows key for it to transfer. Could be wrong, please let me know your thoughts.

Windows isn't really intended to "migrate" in this way. This is a very significant hardware change -- I assume, there's no such thing as an i5-4960 -- and the larger the change, the harder it will be for Windows to make up for the corner-cutting. Windows 7 was also significantly worse at this than Windows 10.

Making this even harder, the recent Ryzen/Intel CPUs aren't really designed to be running with Windows 7. You'll be slapping a seven-year-old operating system, with drivers for that seven-year-old hardware, into a modern AMD build missing native support for a lot of things, depending on your motherboard (which you did not tell us about).

I'll be honest, this is going to be a mess, certainly not worth the minimal gains from going to a 2200g from a (I'm guessing) i5-4690. If you're going to need this much jury-rigging and corner-cutting and this is a work thing, I'd just upgrade the RAM and clone the hard drive to a SATA SSD.

If you're going to upgrade to a new platform, it should be a significant upgrade and be in a time in which you can do all this properly. Which means full wipe and an upgrade to Windows 10. If you can't do this and you're so reliant on some unrecoverable configuration, I think this is all just a really bad idea.

 

[USAFRet]

Okay so the server we use now is a HP Prodesk Enterprise PC runs on windows 7 and has a i5 4960 with 4gb ram and HDD. I recently bought components for a slight upgrade. Ryzen 3 2200g, 8gb 2600mhz ram, sata SSD. I’m basically trying to migrate the OS along with the config for it to be exactly the same but with newer parts. Did some research and some people were saying i would atleast have to get a windows key for it to transfer. Could be wrong, please let me know your thoughts.

Windows 7, going from a 6 year old Intel i5 to a new AMD Ryzen, and hoping it will just boot up exactly as before?
Sorry, but the above commenters are woefully incorrect.

The need to do a full reinstall here is pretty much guaranteed.
What is this server used for?
Which Win 7 version?
What drives are in this? What is on them?

Any upgrade like this needs a plan before you start. And a fall back position at every step.

 

[iamjudebot]

Windows isn't really intended to "migrate" in this way. This is a very significant hardware change -- I assume, there's no such thing as an i5-4960 -- and the larger the change, the harder it will be for Windows to make up for the corner-cutting. Windows 7 was also significantly worse at this than Windows 10.

Making this even harder, the recent Ryzen/Intel CPUs aren't really designed to be running with Windows 7. You'll be slapping a seven-year-old operating system, with drivers for that seven-year-old hardware, into a modern AMD build missing native support for a lot of things, depending on your motherboard (which you did not tell us about).

I'll be honest, this is going to be a mess, certainly not worth the minimal gains from going to a 2200g from a (I'm guessing) i5-4690. If you're going to need this much jury-rigging and corner-cutting and this is a work thing, I'd just upgrade the RAM and clone the hard drive to a SATA SSD.

If you're going to upgrade to a new platform, it should be a significant upgrade and be in a time in which you can do all this properly. Which means full wipe and an upgrade to Windows 10. If you can't do this and you're so reliant on some unrecoverable configuration, I think this is all just a really bad idea.

Well I guess this was the answer i was looking for. I’ll look into cloning the hard drive and just using this as a new station instead of it being the server. I’m a first time pc builder btw and it makes sense now that what i was going for was kind of a “too good to be true” situation. Thanks for the recommendation and talking me through how all this works! 👍🏻

 

[USAFRet]

Well I guess this was the answer i was looking for. I’ll look into cloning the hard drive and just using this as a new station instead of it being the server. I’m a first time pc builder btw and it makes sense now that what i was going for was kind of a “too good to be true” situation. Thanks for the recommendation and talking me through how all this works! 👍🏻

Cloning, for what purpose?
A clone is no different than the original drive. It still needs to live in that original system.

 

[DSzymborski]

Yeah, I was suggesting a clone to an SSD just to use in this PC.

New PC, means a new install.

 

[iamjudebot]

Cloning, for what purpose?
A clone is no different than the original drive. It still needs to live in that original system.

Yes i intend to still the HP ProDesk just clone and upgrade the hard drive into an ssd. Did i get that right?

 

[USAFRet]

Yes i intend to still the HP ProDesk just clone and upgrade the hard drive into an ssd. Did i get that right?

OK, yes.

-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

 

[iamjudebot]

Yeah, I was suggesting a clone to an SSD just to use in this PC.

New PC, means a new install.

This would probably be best for my situation just upgrade the ram and clone to an ssd so i can keep the pc and not have to worry about altering the system.

 

[iamjudebot]

OK, yes.

-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

Wow okay thanks! I'll go through this guide when i get that new ssd tomorrow. Hopes it all goes smooth since we can’t afford stoping store operations because of the server.