Booting one drive on multiple PCs

[SekcAli]

My initial question was whether or not a drive can be booted into if plugged into a different PC.

After looking it up, I now understand that you can't plug a drive into Computer-X and boot into it if the OS was installed while the drive was connected to Computer-Y.

 

The only question I have now is: ...why?
 

Why can we not plug drives into different PCs and boot into them?

[Thermite]

My initial question was whether or not a drive can be booted into if plugged into a different PC.

After looking it up, I now understand that you can't plug a drive into Computer-X and boot into it if the OS was installed while the drive was connected to Computer-Y.

 

The only question I have now is: ...why?

 

Why can we not plug drives into different PCs and boot into them?

It is dependent on the type of operating system. windows is bound by the type of processor it was installed on, but linux doesn't have this issue. This isn't a hardware issue, but a software issue. Windows locks itself to what ever type of architecture the cpu is when it is installed.

[Thermite]

My initial question was whether or not a drive can be booted into if plugged into a different PC.

After looking it up, I now understand that you can't plug a drive into Computer-X and boot into it if the OS was installed while the drive was connected to Computer-Y.

 

The only question I have now is: ...why?

 

Why can we not plug drives into different PCs and boot into them?

Baisically what this means is that if you have an amd fx processor on the 990 platform you won't be able to switch over to a intell 2011 platform without reinstalling windows. Ubuntu and every other linux distro (i think) can do this without even a second thought.

[SekcAli]

Windows locks itself to what ever type of architecture the cpu is when it is installed.

Okay here is a theoretical situation.

 

If I have a Windows 7 system running on an i5 4690K machine and try to boot the drive on another system running the same processor (i5 4690K), will it boot?

[Thermite]

My initial question was whether or not a drive can be booted into if plugged into a different PC.

After looking it up, I now understand that you can't plug a drive into Computer-X and boot into it if the OS was installed while the drive was connected to Computer-Y.

 

The only question I have now is: ...why?

 

Why can we not plug drives into different PCs and boot into them?

Let me know if you need more information.

[Thermite]

Okay here is a theoretical situation.

 

If I have a Windows 7 system running on an i5 4690K machine and try to boot the drive on another system running the same processor (i5 4690K), will it boot?

yes but be careful of driver issues. Like using different graphics cards and other types of hardware incompatibilities. Linux being linux can usually work around these issues with drivers.

[Aniallation]

Okay here is a theoretical situation.

 

If I have a Windows 7 system running on an i5 4690K machine and try to boot the drive on another system running the same processor (i5 4690K), will it boot?

Yes, but be wary of drivers.

 

Welcome to Linus Tech Tips btw

[79wjd]

Baisically what this means is that if you have an amd fx processor on the 990 platform you won't be able to switch over to a intell 2011 platform without reinstalling windows. Ubuntu and every other linux distro (i think) can do this without even a second thought.

AFAIK its tied to the motherboard, not the cpu. not that you'll always have an issue, only sometimes; and its more OEM versions that cause issues as they usually look for a particular bios (dell/hp/etc...)

 

Yes, but be wary of drivers.

 

Welcome to Linus Tech Tips btw 

I thought it was tied to the motherboard? 

 

@SekcAli, in any case, its not a great idea anyway since drivers aren't likely to be the same. 

[DigitalHermit]

You'd want to look at a thin client style setup... Not sure how it works, but basically you have multiple machines but only one machine has all the critical data...

[Aniallation]

Baisically what this means is that if you have an amd fx processor on the 990 platform you won't be able to switch over to a intell 2011 platform without reinstalling windows. Ubuntu and every other linux distro (i think) can do this without even a second thought.

I moved my HDD from a P4 to an Athlon X2 to a Core 2 Duo and now a first gen i3. I haven't had issues with Windows 7 booting

[Aniallation]

AFAIK its tied to the motherboard, not the cpu

I thought it was tied to the motherboard? 

I don't think it's tied to anything. I've moved HDD's across different platforms and booted successfully, so has Linus. Back in the day he would use one HDD for testing lots of different hardware, so much different hardware to the point that in his videos it would say Windows wasn't genuine because it wasn't worth it to reactivate Windows every time he switched platforms.. 

[Thermite]

AFAIK its tied to the motherboard, not the cpu. not that you'll always have an issue, only sometimes; and its more OEM versions that cause issues as they usually look for a particular bios (dell/hp/etc...)

 

 

I thought it was tied to the motherboard? 

 

@SekcAli, in any case, its not a great idea anyway since drivers aren't likely to be the same. 

Are you sure it is tied to the motherboard I know you will need a new liscence key when switching motherboards, but is that really the limiting factor. I thought windows locked to the socket type of the cpu.

[79wjd]

I don't think it's tied to anything. I've moved HDD's across different platforms and booted successfully, so has Linus. Back in the day he would use one HDD for testing lots of different hardware, so much different hardware to the point that in his videos it would say Windows wasn't genuine because it wasn't worth it to reactivate Windows every time he switched platforms.. 

Like I said, its not always an issue, but I've had issues when changing motherboards in the past. 

[Thermite]

I don't think it's tied to anything. I've moved HDD's across different platforms and booted successfully, so has Linus. Back in the day he would use one HDD for testing lots of different hardware, so much different hardware to the point that in his videos it would say Windows wasn't genuine because it wasn't worth it to reactivate Windows every time he switched platforms.. 

yea but i've tried this before and when I switched from an i5 to amd cpu shit hit the fan.

[Thermite]

Okay here is a theoretical situation.

 

If I have a Windows 7 system running on an i5 4690K machine and try to boot the drive on another system running the same processor (i5 4690K), will it boot?

 

 

AFAIK its tied to the motherboard, not the cpu. not that you'll always have an issue, only sometimes; and its more OEM versions that cause issues as they usually look for a particular bios (dell/hp/etc...)

 

 

I thought it was tied to the motherboard? 

 

@SekcAli, in any case, its not a great idea anyway since drivers aren't likely to be the same. 

 

 

You'd want to look at a thin client style setup... Not sure how it works, but basically you have multiple machines but only one machine has all the critical data...

Can everyone at least agree that the best operating system for this would be linux? The man needs an answer and this is the most stable one we've got.

[SekcAli]

I've had issues when changing motherboards in the past. 

I've also had issues which is why I made this post.

I once tried to boot a drive on an Intel system that I installed the OS with using an AMD system. It failed miserably.

[Aniallation]

yea but i've tried this before and when I switched from an i5 to amd cpu shit hit the fan.

I switched from a Pentium 4 to an Athlon X2 to an i3 on the same install on the same HDD, and all I had to do was reinstall drivers and reactivate Windows, so I guess it varies depending on the specific hardware you're moving to and from

[79wjd]

Can everyone at least agree that the best operating system for this would be linux? The man needs an answer and this is the most stable one we've got.

I actually haven't used Linux for any extended period of time....I've been meaning to grab a second hdd and connect it to my computer; and then install Linux on it's own separate drive...but I just haven't gotten around to it. 

[Aniallation]

My initial question was whether or not a drive can be booted into if plugged into a different PC.

After looking it up, I now understand that you can't plug a drive into Computer-X and boot into it if the OS was installed while the drive was connected to Computer-Y.

 

The only question I have now is: ...why?

 

Why can we not plug drives into different PCs and boot into them?

Well, if they allowed this to happen, everyone could just download an HDD image of Windows 7 to use on many different computers with the same activation, aka piracy

[Thermite]

I actually haven't used Linux for any extended period of time....I've been meaning to grab a second hdd and connect it to my computer; and then install Linux on it's own separate drive...but I just haven't gotten around to it. 

Its easy to switch using a bootable usb drive, but i've never tried to do it with a full install. I'd expect it to be easy though because of how awesome linux is.

[Thermite]

I've also had issues which is why I made this post.

I once tried to boot a drive on an Intel system that I installed the OS with using an AMD system. It failed miserably.

Did all our answers clear your problem up buddy?

[DigitalHermit]

Can everyone at least agree that the best operating system for this would be linux? The man needs an answer and this is the most stable one we've got.

 

Agreed... It's also the easiest to setup when it comes to stuff like this...

 

Boot the OS from a flash drive and SSH into the machine holding all the data... That's how we did it back when I was studying engineering...

[Thermite]

Agreed... It's also the easiest to setup when it comes to stuff like this...

 

Boot the OS from a flash drive and SSH into the machine holding all the data... That's how we did it back when I was studying engineering...

Another great solution if you want to keep all your data with you is to partition the usb dirive. This allows you to keep all your files in another part of the drive without screwing up the linux install on your usb drive. You can do this with Gparted on ubuntu linux.

 

I'd suggest a flash drive with at least 32 gigabytes, but smaller can be used. (just don't expect to keep a lot of files if you only use an 8GB drive)

 

Also use an x86 bit iso to boot from, this will allow you to boot the flash drive on both x64 and x86 bit computers. As x86 is compatible on x64 but not x64 on x86.

Edited September 22, 2014 by Thermite

[Thermite]

My initial question was whether or not a drive can be booted into if plugged into a different PC.

After looking it up, I now understand that you can't plug a drive into Computer-X and boot into it if the OS was installed while the drive was connected to Computer-Y.

 

The only question I have now is: ...why?

 

Why can we not plug drives into different PCs and boot into them?

Make sure to pick an answer so that the thread is finished.

[SekcAli]

I switched from a Pentium 4 to an Athlon X2 to an i3 on the same install on the same HDD, and all I had to do was reinstall drivers and reactivate Windows, so I guess it varies depending on the specific hardware you're moving to and from

One final question. If I buy windows 7 and activate it using a key (probably included in the box) then swap the drive into another rig, will the same key work again to reactivate it as genuine?

 

 

Did all our answers clear your problem up buddy?

Aside from the above stated question, yes. thank you all very much for helping me. I'm very happy to see that everyone was so quick to jump onto this thread, hardly took a minute for my question to be answered