Do I have to reactivate windows when cloning to a new drive?

[PCNoobXCVII]

I'm buying a new SSD (HyperX Savage 240GB) and I'm planning to clone my windows and some other files from my current 1tb HDD. The title says it all in that when I clone the drive do I have to reactivate my windows, I'm not sure exactly where my windows key is and the last time I had to switch HDD due to failure my key wasn't working properly and I don't want to have to deal with Microsoft customer support again as they didn't help much at all last time.

 

[USAFRet]

No you do not. I've done it multiple times.
No reactivation needed.

And you can retrieve your existing key with Belarc Advisor.

 

[SBMfromLA]

First you really should start making image backups of your drive so restoring would be a piece of cake. As for your Serial Key.. just install software that will print out your key and then write it down or tape it to the side of your computer. Also, cloning an HDD onto an SSD isn't recommended... You might run into problems and you would be required to perform a registry change if you switch from IDE to AHCI. A clean install is preferable.

 

[PCNoobXCVII]

First you really should start making image backups of your drive so restoring would be a piece of cake. As for your Serial Key.. just install software that will print out your key and then write it down or tape it to the side of your computer. Also, cloning an HDD onto an SSD isn't recommended... You might run into problems and you would be required to perform a registry change if you switch from IDE to AHCI. A clean install is preferable.

I already have the backups taken care of and I've never heard of any problems with cloning from a HDD to a SSD but the last time I did a clean install on a new drive I had to go through Microsoft support for about two days just to get my windows key working again and I don't want to have to do that again.

 

[USAFRet]

First you really should start making image backups of your drive so restoring would be a piece of cake. As for your Serial Key.. just install software that will print out your key and then write it down or tape it to the side of your computer. Also, cloning an HDD onto an SSD isn't recommended... You might run into problems and you would be required to perform a registry change if you switch from IDE to AHCI. A clean install is preferable.

I already have the backups taken care of and I've never heard of any problems with cloning from a HDD to a SSD but the last time I did a clean install on a new drive I had to go through Microsoft support for about two days just to get my windows key working again and I don't want to have to do that again.

Cloning is different than a clean install. You should be fine.

 

[PCNoobXCVII]

First you really should start making image backups of your drive so restoring would be a piece of cake. As for your Serial Key.. just install software that will print out your key and then write it down or tape it to the side of your computer. Also, cloning an HDD onto an SSD isn't recommended... You might run into problems and you would be required to perform a registry change if you switch from IDE to AHCI. A clean install is preferable.

I already have the backups taken care of and I've never heard of any problems with cloning from a HDD to a SSD but the last time I did a clean install on a new drive I had to go through Microsoft support for about two days just to get my windows key working again and I don't want to have to do that again.

Cloning is different than a clean install. You should be fine.

Okay, one last question. Can you clone from a backup drive? I have a backup drive that's kind of on it's way out but still works fine for now, can I use that as the drive to clone from or does it need to be the main drive? I don't really want to trust it to be my lifeline if something goes wrong in the cloning process. And before you suggest it, I know I need to RMA it I just haven't had the time to contact Seagate about it.

 

[USAFRet]

First you really should start making image backups of your drive so restoring would be a piece of cake. As for your Serial Key.. just install software that will print out your key and then write it down or tape it to the side of your computer. Also, cloning an HDD onto an SSD isn't recommended... You might run into problems and you would be required to perform a registry change if you switch from IDE to AHCI. A clean install is preferable.

I already have the backups taken care of and I've never heard of any problems with cloning from a HDD to a SSD but the last time I did a clean install on a new drive I had to go through Microsoft support for about two days just to get my windows key working again and I don't want to have to do that again.

Cloning is different than a clean install. You should be fine.

Okay, one last question. Can you clone from a backup drive? I have a backup drive that's kind of on it's way out but still works fine for now, can I use that as the drive to clone from or does it need to be the main drive? I don't really want to trust it to be my lifeline if something goes wrong in the cloning process. And before you suggest it, I know I need to RMA it I just haven't had the time to contact Seagate about it.

Well...what exactly is this backup?
A clone is exactly that...an exact copy of whatever is on that drive.
Can you boot from this backup thing? Probably not. So you would not be able to boot from a clone of that.

 

[PCNoobXCVII]

First you really should start making image backups of your drive so restoring would be a piece of cake. As for your Serial Key.. just install software that will print out your key and then write it down or tape it to the side of your computer. Also, cloning an HDD onto an SSD isn't recommended... You might run into problems and you would be required to perform a registry change if you switch from IDE to AHCI. A clean install is preferable.

I already have the backups taken care of and I've never heard of any problems with cloning from a HDD to a SSD but the last time I did a clean install on a new drive I had to go through Microsoft support for about two days just to get my windows key working again and I don't want to have to do that again.

Cloning is different than a clean install. You should be fine.

Okay, one last question. Can you clone from a backup drive? I have a backup drive that's kind of on it's way out but still works fine for now, can I use that as the drive to clone from or does it need to be the main drive? I don't really want to trust it to be my lifeline if something goes wrong in the cloning process. And before you suggest it, I know I need to RMA it I just haven't had the time to contact Seagate about it.

Well...what exactly is this backup?
A clone is exactly that...an exact copy of whatever is on that drive.
Can you boot from this backup thing? Probably not. So you would not be able to boot from a clone of that.

Okay, looks like I'll just have to trust it for now I guess. Thanks for the help.

 

[The Original Ralph]

i've been using EaseUS ToDo Backup since 2008 and love, really easy interface to learn and use, and surprisingly was always the quickest clone backup

one suggestion - do a "sector by sector" clone - it'll be one of the options on whatever software you use - when i forget and restore that clone copy back to the OS drive, invariably i have to use the windows dvd to "repair" the boot files, when i do a sector by sector, no issue, it just boots

fwiw