Laptop HDD in new build desktop

[kris.scott91]

Hi everyone,

 

I am new here so please excuse the possibly stupid question. I am in the process of building my first ever desktop computer on a budget. 

My question is, I have a old Emachines laptop which has a Western Digital WD1600BEVT 160gb HDD in it with Windows 7 home OS installed and nothing else. Can I use this as my main boot drive for my new build instead of having to go out and buy a new OS? 

Would this cause me any issues and if so is it just easier to go and buy the OS?

I am trying to save some money so I can spend it on better components instead of having to compromise to keep within my budget.

 

Thank you in advance for your help.

Kris.

[wyattzx]

Using the HDD from your laptop might throw up issues in Windows regarding drivers and such, so I wouldn't advise it. However, you can get Windows 7 / 8 (and 8.1) for as cheap as $15, though legitimate sources. If you're interested, PM me. I don't think /r/microsoftsoftwareswap is against the rules here, but just in case, I'll keep it to PMs. 

[Hans Christian | Teri]

The copy of Windows that's installed on your HDD is most likely an OEM copy, so other than having to deal with driver issues it's just not going to work. Even if it wasn't an OEM copy it's still going to throw you errors because your Windows installation is linked to the Emachine. If you boot it with different hardware it's going to think you're doing something fishy and throw the authentication.

[Lehti]

14 minutes ago, NonaHexa said:

Using the HDD from your laptop might throw up issues in Windows regarding drivers and such, so I wouldn't advise it. However, you can get Windows 7 / 8 (and 8.1) for as cheap as $15, though legitimate sources. If you're interested, PM me. I don't think /r/microsoftsoftwareswap is against the rules here, but just in case, I'll keep it to PMs. 

That's actually not true at all. Laptop drives are perfectly fine on a desktop. You're trading off capacity and performance for a smaller form factor, but there's no reason why they shouldn't work.

[don_svetlio]

2 minutes ago, Lehti said:

That's actually not true at all. Laptop drives are perfectly fine on a desktop. You're trading off capacity and performance for a smaller form factor, but there's no reason why they shouldn't work.

There is - the preinstalled OS won't work as the rest of the system is changed. The OS was probably configured to run on the OEM BIOS/Board and a custom one would screw it up.

[Lehti]

4 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

There is - the preinstalled OS won't work as the rest of the system is changed. The OS was probably configured to run on the OEM BIOS/Board and a custom one would screw it up.

I misread the OP's question. However, if he's a college student he possibly can take advantage of Dreamspark Premium (or ask a friend who can to give him a spare key).

[don_svetlio]

51 minutes ago, Lehti said:

I misread the OP's question. However, if he's a college student he possibly can take advantage of Dreamspark Premium (or ask a friend who can to give him a spare key).

Or just get a proper HDD for 30$? I mean, 160GB HDDs are OLD and SLOW so using it is kinda counterproductive if you want a new, up-to-date, system.

[kris.scott91]

So the general advice is get a new HDD/SSD and get a fresh copy of windows?

 

thank you for your help I really appreciate it.

[Mark77]

Windows 10 without a SSD these days is a crime against humanity.

 

Yes the HDD will work.  No, you shouldn't do it.

[Captain_WD]

23 hours ago, kris.scott91 said:

~snip~

Hi Welcome to the community! 

 

As the guys suggested, you cannot really use the old OS on the new computer, though you can still reuse the drive itself with a new OS on it. 

 

My two cents here: consider what are you going to use the system for and see how demanding towards the storage it will be. A SSD will truly grand you far better responsiveness and smooth feel while working with the computer but it's far from mandatory. A regular office/school computer can easily perform quite well and problem-free with a good regular HDD inside. It all depends on what you are going to use the system for.

 

My suggestion would be to consider how much would your budget allow you to spend on the storage part and then consider how much storage space you'd need. After that see if you can afford a SSD at least for the OS and see what HDDs can the rest get you and then start balancing between the capacity of the SSD and the capacity and features of the HDD and see where's the sweet spot for you.

 

Giving us more info about the purpose of the build would enable us to give you a more accurate recommendation so post back with more details! 

 

Captain_WD.

[kris.scott91]

1 hour ago, Captain_WD said:

Hi Welcome to the community! 

 

As the guys suggested, you cannot really use the old OS on the new computer, though you can still reuse the drive itself with a new OS on it. 

 

My two cents here: consider what are you going to use the system for and see how demanding towards the storage it will be. A SSD will truly grand you far better responsiveness and smooth feel while working with the computer but it's far from mandatory. A regular office/school computer can easily perform quite well and problem-free with a good regular HDD inside. It all depends on what you are going to use the system for.

 

My suggestion would be to consider how much would your budget allow you to spend on the storage part and then consider how much storage space you'd need. After that see if you can afford a SSD at least for the OS and see what HDDs can the rest get you and then start balancing between the capacity of the SSD and the capacity and features of the HDD and see where's the sweet spot for you.

 

Giving us more info about the purpose of the build would enable us to give you a more accurate recommendation so post back with more details! 

 

Captain_WD.

Hello,

 

thank you for your help. I think I will get a 60gb ssd and a fresh copy of windows 10 which is a cost of around £110/$155.

in regards to the build it is my first build kind of a test build 1 to see if I can actually do it and 2 as a basis to get some more knowledge about building to make a bigger better one in the future. My intentions for it are to try my hand at cpu overclocking, some general work stuff / storage and editing of my photographs and some gaming along the lines of gta5 with mods. I'm not looking for 4k 120hz graphics at the moment as my budget cannot stretch that far.

Any help or input would be great thank you  

Kris.

[Captain_WD]

54 minutes ago, kris.scott91 said:

~snip~

You are most welcome!

 

Well, in regard to the storage, if you are playing AAA open-world games with mods, doing editing and other more demanding things, it may be a better idea to get a larger SSD. Editing software does work smoother when installed on a SSD and MMO and open world games do have their surrounding textures loading smoother and faster (though the FPS and graphics quality remains the same). I would consider a larger SSD as a 60GB one would hardly be enough for the OS, the updates and some basic apps, let alone editing software, projects and demanding games. 

 

I would consider a larger SSD at this point and either use an old HDD for backups and secondary storage or get a rather smaller one so it's enough for the time being and add more down the road.

 

Captain_WD.

[kris.scott91]

1 hour ago, Captain_WD said:

You are most welcome!

 

Well, in regard to the storage, if you are playing AAA open-world games with mods, doing editing and other more demanding things, it may be a better idea to get a larger SSD. Editing software does work smoother when installed on a SSD and MMO and open world games do have their surrounding textures loading smoother and faster (though the FPS and graphics quality remains the same). I would consider a larger SSD as a 60GB one would hardly be enough for the OS, the updates and some basic apps, let alone editing software, projects and demanding games. 

 

I would consider a larger SSD at this point and either use an old HDD for backups and secondary storage or get a rather smaller one so it's enough for the time being and add more down the road.

 

Captain_WD.

thank you for the advice.

I should have have mentioned that I was only planning on using the 60gb SSD to store the OS. I was planning on getting a larger SSD (around 250-500gb) in the future to store applications and games and a large HDD (2tb) to store photographs and documents etc.

Would this be a good route to go down or just go SSD all the way?

[Captain_WD]

18 hours ago, kris.scott91 said:

~snip~

SSD isn't really needed for massive storage for photos, movies, music and other simple data. Most games also don't need to be on a SSD for a normal performance. Have in mind that if you get a smaller SSD now and then get a larger one and would like to move the OS on the larger one (larger SSDs tend to be faster than smaller ones) you would either have to clone your old drive (which involves some risks) or do a complete fresh install of the OS and all applications and games with it (due to the new registry). 

 

Having a larger SSD (for the Os and the more demanding applications) and a HDD for everything else seems quite good and popular these days so it sounds like a good plan.

 

Captain_WD.