Windows can't start when swapping harddrives

[Storms of Superior]

I'm going though this with my gaming rig now. I took a HD out of an older computer to swap with another, junky HD. They both have the same version of Windows (Vista), but there may be some hardware discrepencies between the two rigs that is causing Windows to fail to load. Headaches abound. Any help for this? Thanks, folks.

[gregathit]

You can't just dump a new drive with a different installed OS into your machine like that (yes, I realize they are both versions of vista, but the key is going to be different and other things in the registry and elsewhere).  A storage or gaming drive you can, but not the OS drive.  You'd need to clone the old drive and copy it to the new one.  You can also just reinstall and be done with it.

[Storms of Superior]

Is it possible to put the old HD in with the junky HD, boot the junky HD, then do a factory restore while choosing the old HD as the destination, or is Windows not that streamlined?

[spoonsinger]

You can't just dump a new drive with a different installed OS into your machine like that (yes, I realize they are both versions of vista, but the key is going to be different and other things in the registry and elsewhere).  A storage or gaming drive you can, but not the OS drive.  You'd need to clone the old drive and copy it to the new one.  You can also just reinstall and be done with it.

 

They could try:-

 

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/292068-make-windows-7-bootable-after-motherboard-swap.html

 

[Storms of Superior]

 

You can't just dump a new drive with a different installed OS into your machine like that (yes, I realize they are both versions of vista, but the key is going to be different and other things in the registry and elsewhere).  A storage or gaming drive you can, but not the OS drive.  You'd need to clone the old drive and copy it to the new one.  You can also just reinstall and be done with it.

 

They could try:-

 

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/292068-make-windows-7-bootable-after-motherboard-swap.html

 

 

 

The last time I tried to burn an ISO image, it took 13-14 dvds and after writing all of them to a fresh HD, it didn't work; the computer told me there was no bootable device, as if I didn't even have a HD.

 

[Sladen2019]

One way to do it is using Microsofts own tool called Sysprep. It basically removes all hardware drivers from your install and makes your hardrive installable into a new pc. 

http://superuser.com/questions/938264/how-do-i-move-a-windows-installation-hdd-to-a-new-computer

http://www.utilizewindows.com/introduction-to-sysprep/

 

I personally have never used this method before but I plan to when I eventually get a new pc.

From my Googling, it seems to be the best and easiest way.

 

 

[spoonsinger]

 

 

You can't just dump a new drive with a different installed OS into your machine like that (yes, I realize they are both versions of vista, but the key is going to be different and other things in the registry and elsewhere).  A storage or gaming drive you can, but not the OS drive.  You'd need to clone the old drive and copy it to the new one.  You can also just reinstall and be done with it.

 

They could try:-

 

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/292068-make-windows-7-bootable-after-motherboard-swap.html

 

 

 

The last time I tried to burn an ISO image, it took 13-14 dvds and after writing all of them to a fresh HD, it didn't work; the computer told me there was no bootable device, as if I didn't even have a HD.

 

 

 

You can stick it on a USB stick. (Got one in my wallet for emergencies)

 

 

[Storms of Superior]

One way to do it is using Microsofts own tool called Sysprep. It basically removes all hardware drivers from your install and makes your hardrive installable into a new pc. 

http://superuser.com/questions/938264/how-do-i-move-a-windows-installation-hdd-to-a-new-computer

http://www.utilizewindows.com/introduction-to-sysprep/

 

I personally have never used this method before but I plan to when I eventually get a new pc.

From my Googling, it seems to be the best and easiest way.

 

In that case, all pictures are kept intact?

 

In all honesty, I would rather continue using Windows 7.

[Storms of Superior]

I found a page for Seagate SSHD. The smallest capacity is 1tb. The page said it's a gaming drive. I found it on Amazon. Is a SSHD any good?

[Sladen2019]

 

One way to do it is using Microsofts own tool called Sysprep. It basically removes all hardware drivers from your install and makes your hardrive installable into a new pc. 

http://superuser.com/questions/938264/how-do-i-move-a-windows-installation-hdd-to-a-new-computer

http://www.utilizewindows.com/introduction-to-sysprep/

 

I personally have never used this method before but I plan to when I eventually get a new pc.

From my Googling, it seems to be the best and easiest way.

 

In that case, all pictures are kept intact?

 

In all honesty, I would rather continue using Windows 7.

 

All non hardware data will be intact. The hardrive you are trying to put into your windows 7 pc, would need to be put back into the pc you originally took it out of. You would need to do the sysprep process on that pc, before you take it back out .

[Storms of Superior]

I have an Idea.

 

If I get the SSHD, can I just write my Windows 7 to it using the windows 7 computer that I'm using? I mean like formatting a secondary HDD with the same OS and all of that that I already have. After that, I would want to use Sysprep to begin the transfer process.

[bjornk]

Boot in safe mode, uninstall all the old drivers. Should work, not ideal though. Best thing to do is to create a disk image of each drive on an external drive and then rewrite each drive with the disk image of the other drive.