Switching from laptop to desktop

[TheyCallMeTurtle]

This is mainly theoretical, but I was wondering about the possibility of pulling out the drives on my laptop (or imaging onto a new storage device), then slapping onto a new rig and going from there, taking care of any necessary drivers and software. The idea is so that I wouldn't have to go through and download everything all over again. Would there be any issues or complications with swapping like that? Current specs are on my profile.

 

Thanks :)

[TheBahrbarian]

1 minute ago, TheyCallMeTurtle said:

This is mainly theoretical, but I was wondering about the possibility of pulling out the drives on my laptop (or imaging onto a new storage device), then slapping onto a new rig and going from there, taking care of any necessary drivers and software. The idea is so that I wouldn't have to go through and download everything all over again. Would there be any issues or complications with swapping like that? Current specs are on my profile.

 

Thanks

You're only issue might be with whatever drive windows is installed on. I don't know the details of how it works but depending on how you purchased your windows key (its on a laptop so i assume it was included with it when you bought it) it's limited to 1 device. And if windows detects enough hardware changes it would consider it a new device (obviously it would in this case). So you might need to buy a new key. But otherwise you should be able to just move the drives over I believe.

[spectr3x]

I mean, I haven't tried that before, but theoretically, it could work. Windows, is just Windows, and no matter what, it will probably detect your hardware as feasible and will work, theoretically.


The only thing I'm worried about for your build is your laptop's 2.5in drive. They are usually slower speed than their desktop counterparts, and you should really consider getting an SSD for your boot drive. I think their are some software that you can use to copy Windows from one drive to another though, look it up and it's actually pretty easy.

[spectr3x]

1 minute ago, TheBahrbarian said:

You're only issue might be with whatever drive windows is installed on. I don't know the details of how it works but depending on how you purchased your windows key (its on a laptop so i assume it was included with it when you bought it) it's limited to 1 device. And if windows detects enough hardware changes it would consider it a new device (obviously it would in this case). So you might need to buy a new key. But otherwise you should be able to just move the drives over I believe.

But other than that it would work. Just remember that 2.5in drives are slower than 3.5in ones, so his boot times could be slower if he is running on a hard drive, not an SSD.

[TheyCallMeTurtle]

Just now, spectr3x said:

But other than that it would work. Just remember that 2.5in drives are slower than 3.5in ones, so his boot times could be slower if he is running on a hard drive, not an SSD.

I have 2 SSDs that I put on myself: An M.2 Patriot 128GB SSD and a Kingston 960GB SSD

[spectr3x]

4 minutes ago, TheyCallMeTurtle said:

I have 2 SSDs that I put on myself: An M.2 Patriot 128GB SSD and a Kingston 960GB SSD

So is your Windows on one of your SSDs? If not, then you will suffer a lot of performance on boot up and on launch. Then, I would recommend using some drive software to migrate your Windows to the SSDs. If not, and they are already on the SSDs, great! You'll suffer no performance loss, and you will have a new desktop computer to use! Yes, it will work, so just give it a shot.