Help Swapping Drives From PC to PC

[Starboard_Bound]

I've recently upgrade laptops to an Alienware 17. I want to use the SSD I had with my old PC as the drive for this one, with Windows 7 installed and my old files, etc. Is this something doable? How do I go about doing it? Any help is greatly appreciated as I really don't like Windows 10.

I should note that I have HDD backups of all the files I have on the SSD. Essentially I just want to be able to use Windows 7 on this new PC but would prefer it if I could just completely clone my old system on this one.

 

[Calculagator]

If your copy of windows 7 came bundled with another computer, you cannot transfer the license to your new laptop. If you bought windows 7 separately, you can transfer it, but if not, you would need to buy a new license.

Regarding how/whether it will work, it depends on how similar the two laptops are. Sometimes, you can just move a drive over and it will work. Most likely, however, your new laptop is different enough that your old windows 7 drive won't contain the necessary drivers to run. You would also need to disable the secure boot feature that is probably present in your new laptop. You can try just moving the drive, but I would recommend doing a clean install of windows 7 and then moving your files over.

 

[Starboard_Bound]

If your copy of windows 7 came bundled with another computer, you cannot transfer the license to your new laptop. If you bought windows 7 separately, you can transfer it, but if not, you would need to buy a new license.

Regarding how/whether it will work, it depends on how similar the two laptops are. Sometimes, you can just move a drive over and it will work. Most likely, however, your new laptop is different enough that your old windows 7 drive won't contain the necessary drivers to run. You would also need to disable the secure boot feature that is probably present in your new laptop. You can try just moving the drive, but I would recommend doing a clean install of windows 7 and then moving your files over.

OK, so I can buy a license of Windows 7 and install that, then just migrate my files from my backup to my SSD used to boot this PC? Should I format my SSD and boot from a USB then?

 

[Calculagator]

I would first check forums and Dell's support site to be sure that Windows 7 will actually run. You may have to hunt down some drivers first. Once you are sure that Win7 will actually install, I would install it to a clean SSD and then restore your backup files.