New Computer with Old Hard Drive

[michaelferris_]

I have an old laptop that stopped working due to motherboard issues. The hard drive was replaced with a SSHD right before it died and it had Windows 8.1 and some of my old files on it. If I took this hard drive and put it in a new PC build, would Windows boot up and work without me having to put in the license key again? I don't want to have to pay for a whole new operating system.

 

[kanewolf]

Almost definitely it would NOT boot. The registry of that Windows installation had the "knowledge" of the laptop it was configured for. It wouldn't work in a different computer. The Windows license is also associated with that laptop and can't be reused. You could connect that old drive up AFTER you built a new computer to pull data off of it.