Laptop Hard drive in desktop?

[oscartamv]

Hi guys, I'm in desperate need of a hard drive so I decided to take out a hard drive out of my laptop and put it in my new gaming desktop. The laptop hard drive has windows 7 on it with a bunch of other stuff. Will I encounter any software problems? My friend said that windows don't like their OS being transferred between multiple computers, and I might have problems.

Please help

 

[jimpz]

Window will not run, basically, it has all the drivers & hardware info from the laptop. Your desktop is completely different.
As just a storage drive, you will be fine.

 

[IInuyasha74]

Yes you will have problems. It isn't that Windows doesn't like it's OS being transferred, but the hardware inside of the system is radically different and requires specialized programs to run and manage the hardware. This is what will create the difficulties.

 

[oscartamv]

Yes you will have problems. It isn't that Windows doesn't like it's OS being transferred, but the hardware inside of the system is radically different and requires specialized programs to run and manage the hardware. This is what will create the difficulties.

So what will I have to do to make it run games and programs

 

[jimpz]

you would have to do a fresh install of windows. But being the HD came out of a laptop, I would the laptop is a 'prebuilt OEM', i.e HP, Dell, etc.
If so, Windows is tied to the mobo of the laptop & cannot be put on another computer, in this case you need to buy a new copy of windows.
If the copy on hte laptop is a retail copy you bought seperately, then you can use the discs to re install it on the desktop.

 

[oscartamv]

you would have to do a fresh install of windows. But being the HD came out of a laptop, I would the laptop is a 'prebuilt OEM', i.e HP, Dell, etc.
If so, Windows is tied to the mobo of the laptop & cannot be put on another computer, in this case you need to buy a new copy of windows.
If the copy on hte laptop is a retail copy you bought seperately, then you can use the discs to re install it on the desktop.

Is it possible for me to erase all the contents of the hard drive and install linux on it

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

It is not a good idea to take a old relativly small hard drive from a laptop and put it in a new PC
Laptop hard drives are usually slower and smaller than those in PC's

new hard drives are faster than old drives as the data is packed tighter on each track so data is read significantly faster.

Again hard drives have a limited life and a new hard drive is best for a new PC

Of course you could use the 2.5" drive in a desktop if you realy cant afford a new one and you no longer want to use the laptop.

You need a modern case to find a 2.5" mounting or an adapter to mount the 2.5" drive in a 3.5" mounting.

Check if you have a Recovery DVD set for Win 7 for your laptop before you erase the disk in case you change your mind.

regards
Mike Barnes

 

[APassingMe]

If you run sysprep on the drive before moving it to the new machine... it might work out, I would give it a try. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just google it.

You're looking for the "generalize" option. You will have to re-enter the license code and re-activate the code, if you're changing systems you will need a new OS license anyway to be legal.

 

[APassingMe]

you would have to do a fresh install of windows. But being the HD came out of a laptop, I would the laptop is a 'prebuilt OEM', i.e HP, Dell, etc.
If so, Windows is tied to the mobo of the laptop & cannot be put on another computer, in this case you need to buy a new copy of windows.
If the copy on hte laptop is a retail copy you bought seperately, then you can use the discs to re install it on the desktop.

Is it possible for me to erase all the contents of the hard drive and install linux on it

Yes you can format the HDD and install linux, it probably won't be much good as a gaming machine though.

 

[APassingMe]

you would have to do a fresh install of windows. But being the HD came out of a laptop, I would the laptop is a 'prebuilt OEM', i.e HP, Dell, etc.
If so, Windows is tied to the mobo of the laptop & cannot be put on another computer, in this case you need to buy a new copy of windows.
If the copy on hte laptop is a retail copy you bought seperately, then you can use the discs to re install it on the desktop.

Is it possible for me to erase all the contents of the hard drive and install linux on it

Yes you can format the HDD and install linux, it probably won't be much good as a gaming machine though.