Will changing hardrive will transfer data

Great_Mihir · March 3, 2019

If I swap hard drive of two pc will all of the data and windows installation will transfer too?

Hardrive is my boot device

ahuckphin · March 3, 2019

Yes but doing this can risk corrupting a windows installation

Enderman · March 3, 2019

No, you'll run into issues soon, if you even manage to get it to boot.

You should always clean install windows when hardware is going to change.

https://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/

SupaKomputa · March 3, 2019

If the specs of the PC are the same (same chipset, same processors etc) you can swap it without problems.

As for the windows installation, you have to reactivate with the windows key from the other pc.

Windows activation is linked to the motherboard ID.

Mira Yurizaki · March 3, 2019

You can swap the drives and Windows will boot. However, depending on the hardware configuration, expect basic drivers to be used and possible issues. And the activation mechanism may kick in depending on the license type. OEM and system builder licenses are tied to the motherboard.

* I booted a Windows install from another machine to verify a boot loader fix worked. While I didn't use it for more than necessary, I plugged the drive back in the original machine and as far as I could tell, it went on as if nothing happened.