HDD Swapping Between PCs

[Coldplayist]

Hi everyone,

It might seem a trivial question, but I'm interested in knowing whether changing a motherboard, CPU and GPU (basically everything but both HDDs on my current PC) won't affect the current installed Windows and all other installed programs.

Can I simply insert and connect them together and it'll work as if nothing has happened?
Several programs aren installed on the non-Windows HDD.

Thanks

 

[USAFRet]

Hi everyone,

It might seem a trivial question, but I'm interested in knowing whether changing a motherboard, CPU and GPU (basically everything but both HDDs on my current PC) won't affect the current installed Windows and all other installed programs.

Can I simply insert and connect them together and it'll work as if nothing has happened?
Several programs aren installed on the non-Windows HDD.

Thanks

It absolutely WILL affect.
There are two considerations, Operation and Licensing.

Operation - Will it boot up? Maybe, maybe not.

Licensing - it WILL become deactivated upon seeing new hardware.

Can I simply insert and connect them together and it'll work as if nothing has happened?

We'd all like it to work like that, but it does not.

 

[boosted1g]

Totally depends.

When you install windows you are installing it for your specific set of hardware.
Upgrading the board OR the cpu with something in the same generation and family you can often get away without having to do a full reinstall
Upgrading to a new generation is going to need a reinstall and even more so going from AMD to Intel or vice versa.

 

[drtweak]

IF running windows 10 you will have more of a chance of it working

(I have gone from a AMD AM3 880 Chipset, to a Dell Optiplex 3040 i5 6th Gen, to a AMD AM3+ 990 chipset without issues what so ever)

Of course licensing is an issue. If you have a Retail license you can just call up MS and they should be able to reactivate it.

I am still running that same Windows 10 install that i moved around 6+ months later and no issues as of yet (Even though I am do for a Wipe and reinstall though as this install was installed on Day 1 of Windows 10 release)

If you have windows 7, you can almost forget it without any kind of work around (Install say a 1 port SATA card, install drivers, then connect HDD to that Addin card and boot to make sure it boots, then you can move that SATA card to new rig, boot while connected to that, install your drivers, restart, and then plug into the on-board SATA and boot.

Now as everyone else says its not recommended but being in the IT world i have quite a few clients where they have outdated software on PC's that are failing or don't have the setup files for anymore. My work PC here has had almost a dozen Video cards swapped in an out both AMD/ATI, Intel HD, and Nvidia and I have no issues for me at least and i have never uninstalled the old stuff.

 

[Coldplayist]

Hi,

The current PC runs Windows 8.1 with the following specs:

Intel Core i7 4770
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. H87M-PLUS (SOCKET 1150)

Yet the new one will be either i5 7600 or i7 7700 (with their respective MB).
Will the swapping work?

 

[USAFRet]

Hi,

The current PC runs Windows 8.1 with the following specs:

Intel Core i7 4770
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. H87M-PLUS (SOCKET 1150)

Yet the new one will be either i5 7600 or i7 7700 (with their respective MB).
Will the swapping work?

The only way to know is to try it.
Prepare for if it does not.

And then you still have the activation issue. It WILL become deactivated upon seeing the new hardware.

 

[Coldplayist]

Thanks everyone!