Transferring an SSD from laptop to desktop

[DrQuickDroqqed]

Just finished my new system and I was planning on just putting my laptop ssd into the desktop. but, after doing some research, apparently there are bad things that could happen if I do so such as deactivation. The laptop's hardware is pretty old like 3rd gen processor and a gt series gpu, but the ssd I put in myself to replace the older, slower hard drive. Does anyone know how I could do a transfer if possible and would I be able to keep all games and files on my ssd when I use it on my desktop. Thanks!

Edited March 12, 2020 by DrQuickDroqqed
mistake

[Bombastinator]

A lot of those weirdnesses you mention are hardware specific.  Like, say, on macs.  Without knowing the hardware it’s hard to say.

[DrQuickDroqqed]

1 minute ago, Bombastinator said:

A lot of those weirdnesses you mention are hardware specific.  Like, say, on macs.  Without knowing the hardware it’s hard to say.

What do you mean?

[Bombastinator]

1 minute ago, DrQuickDroqqed said:

What do you mean?

What is old system?

what is new system?

[DrQuickDroqqed]

Just now, Bombastinator said:

What is old system?

what is new system?

The old system has an i7 3rd gen, gt930 or something idek, motherboard unknown

The new system has a ryzen 5 1600af, gtx 1060 6gb, 500w psu, Asrock b450m pro4 motherboard

[Pickles von Brine]

If it is windows 10 it SHOULD figure itself out and get the chipset drivers working. "Should". If it isn't then you need to reinstall everything. 

You will be required to reactivate windows though. 

 

Going Intel to AMD or AMD to intel is not recommended. It will work, but you could get issues and have to reinstall everything. 

 

[DrQuickDroqqed]

1 minute ago, Lord Xeb said:

If it is windows 10 it SHOULD figure itself out and get the chipset drivers working. "Should". If it isn't then you need to reinstall everything. 

You will be required to reactivate windows though. 

 

Going Intel to AMD or AMD to intel is not recommended. It will work, but you could get issues and have to reinstall everything. 

 

All I need to know is if the ssd will break. When you say reinstall everything, do you mean the drive will be wiped?

[Pickles von Brine]

2 minutes ago, DrQuickDroqqed said:

All I need to know is if the ssd will break. When you say reinstall everything, do you mean the drive will be wiped?

You will have to back everything off the drive and save it to another drive, then reinstall Windows yourself. 

SSD will not break. Sata is sata. 

[DrQuickDroqqed]

1 minute ago, Lord Xeb said:

You will have to back everything off the drive and save it to another drive, then reinstall Windows yourself. 

SSD will not break. Sata is sata. 

How do I reactivate

[Pickles von Brine]

5 minutes ago, DrQuickDroqqed said:

How do I reactivate

By using a new key you purchase. Settings > Update and Security > Activation.  If the key you have right now on your laptop is not specific to dell, HP, etc then you could try using it. You may have reactivate via phone by following the process in the activation screen. When it asks how many computers you have used it on, say one. 

If it says anything about an OEM manufacturer on the old sticker (or there is no sticker at all), then you cannot use your old key.
 

[homeap5]

Windows will work, no problem at all, you may just boot your system.

But activation... May work or not, but it still will not be legal system since it's oem from prebuilt laptop and is legal only with hardware you buy with this system.

[Pickles von Brine]

4 hours ago, homeap5 said:

Windows will work, no problem at all, you may just boot your system.

But activation... May work or not, but it still will not be legal system since it's oem from prebuilt laptop and is legal only with hardware you buy with this system.

Which is why he may have to purchaase a new key. 

[homeap5]

1 hour ago, Lord Xeb said:

Which is why he may have to purchaase a new key. 

Yes, but he may enter that key to existing installation after hardware swap if he wants to keep all settings, programs etc. Sometimes it's better solution than start from zero, especially for people who made lot of work on computers and who don't like to spend days to restore everything.

[Pickles von Brine]

On 3/12/2020 at 12:27 PM, homeap5 said:

Yes, but he may enter that key to existing installation after hardware swap if he wants to keep all settings, programs etc. Sometimes it's better solution than start from zero, especially for people who made lot of work on computers and who don't like to spend days to restore everything.

Yes, but it sounds like he wants to keep everything. Personally, when going to a new system best bet is to start over anyways. You can introduce some odd issues. 

[homeap5]

43 minutes ago, Lord Xeb said:

Yes, but it sounds like he wants to keep everything. Personally, when going to a new system best bet is to start over anyways. You can introduce some odd issues. 

It's your opinion, I think different. Starting from zero every time you change hardware is huge waste of time. And it's more myth from win98 era than real system need. Believe me.

[Pickles von Brine]

I have had my fair share of issues relating to changing hardware. Generally caused by driver issues and other problems. Sure, you may think it is a waste of time, but it is also a waste of time dealing with the issues that can come of it. 

 

[Alan G]

I tried this the other day with my new workstation build.  I was moving from a Z97 to a Z390 board, GPU was new as well.  Windows didn't like this new set up, probably driver conflicts.  I was prepared for this and just went ahead and did a fresh install and then added the programs back.  All my data is on separate HDDs so there's never the issue of data loss.  Win10 installs so quickly and if you use Firefox, it's easy enough to copy your profile to your data drive and reinstall the profile so the browser is just like it was on the old machine.  It took about two hours to do the Windows and program installs and get things configured.  I had no difficulty at all activating windows to the new PC.

[homeap5]

For me switching from 7 to 10 takes about a week or longer, but hey - I'm different because I needed a lot more than copying Firefox profile. Sure - if single configuration file is all you need to be happy, then it's fine to install Windows from zero, even every week.