Repurposing a laptop HDD

[mister_robot]

So I am in the middle of doing my first build, but I don't want to spend money on more storage when I have a broken (screen) laptop with a perfectly fine hard drive. Is it possible to repurpose that drive into my new build? Would this also save me money on an OS since Windows is already downloaded onto my laptop drive? Is this method usually frowned upon?

Thank you for your time.

[forthe48]

12 minutes ago, mister_robot said:

So I am in the middle of doing my first build, but I don't want to spend money on more storage when I have a broken (screen) laptop with a perfectly fine hard drive. Is it possible to repurpose that drive into my new build? Would this also save me money on an OS since Windows is already downloaded onto my laptop drive? Is this method usually frowned upon?

Thank you for your time.

 

 

Yes, you can use the drive in a full PC build. It will be 2.5" size most likely, around the size of most SSDs, so you will likely want a 2.5" to 3.5" bay adapter.

 

You may be able to re-use the OS, but I doubt it. If you plug it in and Windows boots up, then you can install the drivers for all your new hardware and be good to go, I think.

 

You could also look and see what kind of License your Windows 7 is on the laptop. The Product Key for it may be even printed on the bottom, and then you could just use a Windows 7 installer to clean-install a legal copy of Windows.

 

The drive itself is re-usable definitely, though. If you plug it in and it boots, then download your drivers and call it good. If it doesn't boot, don't waste your time trying to make that particular copy of Windows boot, do a clean install.

[mister_robot]

1 minute ago, forthe48 said:

 

 

Yes, you can use the drive in a full PC build. It will be 2.5" size most likely, around the size of most SSDs, so you will likely want a 2.5" to 3.5" bay adapter.

 

You may be able to re-use the OS, but I doubt it. If you plug it in and Windows boots up, then you can install the drivers for all your new hardware and be good to go, I think.

 

You could also look and see what kind of License your Windows 7 is on the laptop. The Product Key for it may be even printed on the bottom, and then you could just use a Windows 7 installer to clean-install a legal copy of Windows.

 

The drive itself is re-usable definitely, though. If you plug it in and it boots, then download your drivers and call it good. If it doesn't boot, don't waste your time trying to make that particular copy of Windows boot, do a clean install.

Awesome! Thanks for your input. You mentioned that there is a key that I could potentially use to install windows. Where would I find that key? On the bottom of the laptop or on the bottom of the drive? Because I would much rather have a clean install and boot the OS off a SSD.

[marshmallowbam]

2 minutes ago, mister_robot said:

Awesome! Thanks for your input. You mentioned that there is a key that I could potentially use to install windows. Where would I find that key? On the bottom of the laptop or on the bottom of the drive? Because I would much rather have a clean install and boot the OS off a SSD.

the key is usually installed on the bottom of the laptop but recently they have stopped that method in order to make you buy a new product key. however if it is not on there there are programs you can download to extract the cd key

 

edit: just make sure to write it down clearly and properly and store it somewhere safe

 

[forthe48]

Just now, mister_robot said:

Awesome! Thanks for your input. You mentioned that there is a key that I could potentially use to install windows. Where would I find that key? On the bottom of the laptop or on the bottom of the drive? Because I would much rather have a clean install and boot the OS off a SSD.

Depending on the age, make, and model of the laptop, it would be on the bottom of the laptop. I've never known any device to come with a Windows key printed on the hard drive.

 

It would look something like this.

 

If the key isn't printed on the bottom, it may be embedded in the BIOS. I don't know anything about reading keys from the BIOS, or if you can extract them. That would be a question in and of itself, and something you'd have to google. I think embedding the key is the way a lot of OEMs go now.

[marshmallowbam]

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html go to this link and scroll all the way down and click on " Download ProduKey with full install/uninstall support " run the program and viola. if it produces 2 codes then write them both down and try them both upon reinstalling.

 

edit: i have used it multiple times but every now and then something does not work properly so run the program 2-3 times and make sure the codes match properly before jumping in.

[Electronics Wizardy]

6 minutes ago, marshmallowbam said:

the key is usually installed on the bottom of the laptop but recently they have stopped that method in order to make you buy a new product key.

Its built into the bios now. You just intstall the os and it will activate

[marshmallowbam]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Its built into the bios now. You just intstall the os and it will activate

well i say this cause the 1st service pack for 8 had the product key installed in the recovery partition of the harddrive. and i lost out on a whole os because of their inability to phrase things correctly.

[marshmallowbam]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Its built into the bios now. You just intstall the os and it will activate

i know with windows 10 you just skip the cd key method and proceed and it will automatically activate once it does it check online. not sure if its microsoft servers registering the components or if that actually managed to implant the key into the bios on a mass scale without bricking over 4million devices.

[mister_robot]

Thank you all for your help. Believe me, I needed it!