Laptop HDD surgery?

[MrWazoo]

I have a cheap Acer ~300 dollar laptop, and recently decided to take the plunge and build my own pc. I was wondering 2 things.

1. Would it be possible to remove the hdd from my laptop, migrate the os to my ssd, and then wipe the disk clean and reformat it. 

OR

2. mount my msata ssd within the current laptop, copy the os to the msata ssd, then remove the ssd and use it to boot my new system.

Any help is appreciated.

[scottyseng]

I have a cheap Acer ~300 dollar laptop, and recently decided to take the plunge and build my own pc. I was wondering 2 things.

1. Would it be possible to remove the hdd from my laptop, migrate the os to my ssd, and then wipe the disk clean and reformat it. 

OR

2. mount my msata ssd within the current laptop, copy the os to the msata ssd, then remove the ssd and use it to boot my new system.

Any help is appreciated.

 

Usually the OS key is tied to the laptop motherboard. You can't just throw it onto a different motherboard (My experience at least).

 

I would recommend clean installing the OS anyway...migration and cloning can present problems with different drivers and devices between the motherboards.

[KraftDinner]

Scotty's right, the key for the OS is actually embedded into the BIOS of that specific laptop. Now there is software out there that can find your key and give it to you, that might actually work if you want to migrate the OS.

[GodSpoon]

You'd have to wipe the hard drive and reinstall windows if you want to reuse it 

 

Carrying over a Windows install like that, while possible, generally causes a lot of issues because of drivers and such

 

So TL;DR 

 

Yes you can reuse it, but wipe it and install windows on the m.2 drive 

[MrWazoo]

Hmm, how would i even go about migrating ONLY the OS the the new drive, also what are some of these programs that can do that

[MrWazoo]

okay thank you. Does anyone know if getting windows 10 pro is worth it over regular windows 10

[scottyseng]

okay thank you. Does anyone know if getting windows 10 pro is worth it over regular windows 10

 

Usually it's not...It's very rare for most normal users (even power users) to harness the power of Windows Pro.

 

You might look at the Microsoft Key Reddit thread...you might be able to snag a Windows 7 or 8 Pro key for cheap (Do be careful with using paypal only and picking good sellers) and then just use the free upgrade.

[MrWazoo]

Just another question actually, I was planning on getting a MSI 970 gaming motherboard with 8350 cpu, and an evga gtx 950 graphics card. Will this cause any problems (figured id just check while im here)