"Transplanting" M4 OS SSD to a New MB

[bilco]

So last time I moved my SSD from my x58 MSI Platinum SLI board to an EVGA FTW 3 x58 board the EVGA I had read I should have been able to just put the new board in and hook up the SSD and it would boot into windows 7 with little to no problems.

Turns out I couldn't get the installation of windows 7 on the SSD to be seen so having thought everything would have worked out nice and peachy I didn't back anything up and ended up losing all data on the SSD being forced to reformat the drive and reinstall windows.

Well as it turns out I was able to get a good deal on an ASUS P8Z68 delux motherboard with an i7 2700k. What I am wondering is if I should be able to just transplant the SSD and be able to boot right up into windows?

If not is it even possible to do with some prep work // drive cloning software in order to do this on an SSD? I am not all to familiar with boot sectors and how they index operating systems as viable boot options.

What I am looking to avoid is having to reconfigure windows 7 and all my associated applications as it can be a headache and take about a week to a month remember every little tweak program installation to have it back to the way it is now.

 

[tomatthe]

There are 100's of post with this exact question on here. Search through the many other posts about different peoples experience with this.

IMO do a clean install once you move the drive over, spend the week it takes to reconfigure things, and you will end up with the most stable OS with the fewest problems.

 

[WyomingKnott]

I agree with tomatthe.

However, if you want to plop the drive into the new motherboard and run, do two things
1) Make a backup copy of the drive, just in case!
2) Put the drive in and boot from the installation DVD. Do a Repair Installation, boot to Windows, and run Windows Update. This is a fairly reliable method, although not guaranteed.

 

[geofelt]

Some time ago, my son had a X58 motherboard failure. He had a hard drive with lots of files and apps which would have been a pain to redo, just like your situation.
I built him a replacement pc with a 1155 based motherboard.
I was prepared to do a clean windows install, but tried to boot with his old hard drive, and it was successful!!
I installed the new chipset drivers, and everything else worked. Your results may vary, but give it a try.

My plan "B" was to boot from the windows dvd and attempt a repair install. I suspect that this would have worked also.

Before you alter the old drive, use windows easy transfer to export all of your files and settings to a second device.
If you need to do a clean install, you can recover all of your files and settings. Only the apps will need to be reinstalled.

 

[unksol]

If you must try this remove the original motherboards drivers before you do. A clean install is a much better option. Also if its an OEM version of windows you CAN'T do this and your copy of windows will be invalid.

 

[bilco]

Everything worked perfectly this time, no hiccups what so ever. Thanks for all the replies.

 

[gerry410]

Everything worked perfectly this time, no hiccups what so ever. Thanks for all the replies.

What method did you use?