Moving existing SSD with Win 8.1 to new hardware

[cannaley]

I have a Dell XPS 430 with a 128GB SSD running Win 8.1. I'm ditching the old hardware and building my own setup, but intend to keep the existing SSD and the 1TB hard drive that has all my files on it. What will the existing OS install do when I fire up the SSD on the new hardware, and what do I need to do beforehand to make this work? I was hoping to avoid a clean install, but will do whatever is necessary.

Thanks in advance

 

[MC_K7]

Probably get a blue screen, or if you're lucky it will detect the new hardware and adjust, but your registry will be a mess with a mix of old\new drivers and old\new hardware footprints, so it probably will not run optimally.

I strongly suggest a clean install if you have a new motherboard and new hardware.

 

[USAFRet]

Moving to new hardware, I always suggest a new OS install. It might work (for various values of 'work'). You might be chasing driver issues for weeks.

Or it might not boot up at all.