Moving OS to SSD from HDD (prebuilt HP)

[Nuski]

My moms computer has been going really slow and she needs it for college, I want to buy her an SSD to help speed her computer up. She bought her computer from Best Buy about 3 years ago so it came with Windows 7 already on it. Would I have to buy Windows 7 to have the disk to install it on the SSD, or is it possible to move the OS off of the HDD and to the SSD?

She also has a lot of documents and pictures saved on her hard drive that she doesn't want to lose.

 

[terry4536]

Yes you would have to update the OS to do that.

You may be able to speed it up with a new CPU & RAM.

 

[Bezzell]

Clone the drive to the ssd. Done. Tons of good free drive clone software out there.

 

[terry4536]

You should be able to use the hard drive as is (just delete the old Windows) after installing the new SSD. When you install it, unplug the hard drive until after the new OS is installed.

 

[orlbuckeye]

You have a choice.

1. Clean Install - create the system restore disks and you can do a clean install on the new drive. You would lose all data not backed up.
2. Clone the drive. requires cloning software and a drive enclosure for the new destination drive.

Your Windows is OEM and its tied to the motherboard and not to hard drives.

 

[terry4536]

I would note that you may have to reactivate Windows with Microsoft. And there is a good possibility of system errors on the cloned version of Windows.

I've never done it myself. But I have the Windows installation disc.

Here is some information on that.

http://superuser.com/questions/820014/windows-7-no-longer-genuine-after-cloning-failing-hard-drive-to-new-hard-drive

 

[orlbuckeye]

I've cloned Windows 7 twice and Windows 8 once and you don't have to reactivate. It's a clone (exact copy at a specific state) . Windows only need to be re-activated if re installed. In all cases the Windows partition I cloned was smaller then the SSD I cloned it to. The drive your cloning can be smaller but the data your cloning must fit onto the destination drive. I didn't ever have to remove the other non-OS drives either.

 

[terry4536]

It is a point system . And cloning does contribute to amount of system change that would require reactivation by Microsoft.

 

[orlbuckeye]

The pc I'm using now was cloned 3 weeks ago and there was no need to activate. The other 2 times I've cloned didn't require to activate Windows.

A clone is a direct copy, bit for bit, so that the data stored on the cloned drive is identical to the data on the original drive. From the operating system to the hidden directory files, from your desktop to the device drivers, everything is copied identically. Swap the old drive out for a freshly made clone and there should be no functional difference. You can also use the cloned drive in another PC, and aside from some potential missing drivers due to hardware differences, it should work just like your old system, making it an ideal backup in the event of a damaged PC. The downside to this, however, is that a direct bit-for-bit clone will usually be the only thing on the backup drive.