Using old HDD as boot drive?

[boey]

So, I’m helping my friend build a new PC, but, we want to try to save money and not buy windows 10, but use an old HDD from an old PC as the boot drive. I plan to delete useless stuff from it so it has less data on it than the 240gb capacity of the ssd i’m going for, then cloning the files to the new SSD, and removing that drive all together. But, I suspect there may be a virus on it and he does not have antivirus software. If i do clone the files, the virus may affect the new drive. Should I do this or just buy windows 10?  

 

[DezGalbie]

The windows key is usually tied to the motherboard rather than the HDD. So if you want a legit activated copy of windows then you would either need to transfer the key to the new motherboard or buy a new key to activate on the new machine. (Sometimes the key attaches itself in other ways, but I think I'm right in saying that it's the motherboard 99% of the time).

There is an option to transfer by going into your microsoft account but I forget exactly how that's done. I think I did this before with the help of a YouTube tutorial.

Or you could just buy another key from one of these people/websites which sell bulk OEM keys for pretty cheap. I got a Windows 10 Pro key for £1.97 that way.

[DVA]

You can reformat it and wipe it so there will be no virus. Look up windows install driver tool and download it. Grab a USB drive with at least 8gb of free space. Or even wipe that too. 

 

After you downloaded windows into the USB reformat and wipe the HDD. 

 

You will still have Windows 10, but it will be without a key. After you build your pc and have everything set just buy a key from Kinguin for like 30 bucks

[boey]

Just now, DezGalbie said:

The windows key is usually tied to the motherboard rather than the HDD. So if you want a legit activated copy of windows then you would either need to transfer the key to the new motherboard or buy a new key to activate on the new machine. (Sometimes the key attaches itself in other ways, but I think I'm right in saying that it's the motherboard 99% of the time).

There is an option to transfer by going into your microsoft account but I forget exactly how that's done. I think I did this before with the help of a YouTube tutorial.

Or you could just buy another key from one of these people/websites which sell bulk OEM keys for pretty cheap. I got a Windows 10 Pro key for £1.97 that way.

Well, my friend isn’t very good with tech, that’s why I’m helping him build a PC. He says he has a hard drive, but in the event that somehow he has a decent SSD as a boot drive on the old PC, should I use that as a dedicated boot drive?

[boey]

2 minutes ago, DVA said:

You can reformat it and wipe it so there will be no virus. Look up windows install driver tool and download it. Grab a USB drive with at least 8gb of free space. Or even wipe that too. 

 

After you downloaded windows into the USB reformat and wipe the HDD. 

 

You will still have Windows 10, but it will be without a key. After you build your pc and have everything set just buy a key from Kinguin for like 30 bucks

I’d rather not, as I’ve heard stories of people getting used keys on Kinguin. Also, besides customization features being restricted and the watermark, what are the downsides of not having a windows key?

[boey]

6 minutes ago, DezGalbie said:

The windows key is usually tied to the motherboard rather than the HDD.

I’ve seen people like linus use a drive with windows already on it on multiple builds? Like after building a new pc he grabs a drive with windows 10 already on it and it boots up a legit copy of windows 10 without the watermark

[DezGalbie]

1 minute ago, _d0nut said:

Well, my friend isn’t very good with tech, that’s why I’m helping him build a PC. He says he has a hard drive, but in the event that somehow he has a decent SSD as a boot drive on the old PC, should I use that as a dedicated boot drive?

Yeah, if he has an SSD then definitely go with that for the boot drive. I would do a fresh install of windows 10 on the SSD, download whatever anti virus program you want to use and only then hook up the HDD and scan it with your anti virus.

The watermark and the lack of customisation are the only drawbacks of an unactivated windows install as far as I can tell. But the watermark definitely gets annoying. It's worth spending the small fee to get an OEM licence and get rid of it.

Yeah, you can grab a drive with a windows install on it and you might not have the watermark right away. But the watermark can come and go. It's not there 24/7 (at least not with me when I had an unactivated copy).

 

[boey]

2 minutes ago, DezGalbie said:

Yeah, if he has an SSD then definitely go with that for the boot drive. I would do a fresh install of windows 10 on the SSD, download whatever anti virus program you want to use and only then hook up the HDD and scan it with your anti virus.

The watermark and the lack of customisation are the only drawbacks of an unactivated windows install as far as I can tell. But the watermark definitely gets annoying. It's worth spending the small fee to get an OEM licence and get rid of it.

Yeah, you can grab a drive with a windows install on it and you might not have the watermark right away. But the watermark can come and go. It's not there 24/7 (at least not with me when I had an unactivated copy).

 

Hm, ok. Slightly off topic, would you recommend downgrading a 1070Ti to a 1070 to add a legit copy of windows 10 + an ssd upgrade?

[DezGalbie]

1 minute ago, _d0nut said:

Hm, ok. Slightly off topic, would you recommend downgrading a 1070Ti to a 1070 to add a legit copy of windows 10 + an ssd upgrade?

If that was genuinely the only way he could have an SSD in his system then, yeah, I would have to say go with the 1070 instead.
But I don't think that's necessarily a choice that needs to be made because like I mentioned - you could always go down the route of transferring the old key to the new motherboard which costs nothing. And you can get a small boot SSD for about £20 here in the UK. (Not sure of prices in Singapore).
 

[boey]

22 minutes ago, DezGalbie said:

If that was genuinely the only way he could have an SSD in his system then, yeah, I would have to say go with the 1070 instead.
But I don't think that's necessarily a choice that needs to be made because like I mentioned - you could always go down the route of transferring the old key to the new motherboard which costs nothing. And you can get a small boot SSD for about £20 here in the UK. (Not sure of prices in Singapore).
 

prices here are pretty similar. ill look into the microsoft account method. thanks a lot

[DezGalbie]

1 minute ago, _d0nut said:

prices here are pretty similar. ill look into the microsoft account method. thanks a lot

No problem