Migrating HD to new laptop

[Danijel Gorupec]

Motherboard died on my laptop (lenovo think pad). If I buy new laptop and replace its hard drive with the one from my old laptop, is there a chance that it will boot? Is it worth a try? How to increase my chances?

[StringJunky]

Buy an external hd enclosure that fits your HD, put your drive in that then stick the usb cable in your new laptop. Then you can use file explorer to retrieve your files to your new laptop. Something like this:

https://www.novatech.co.uk/products/novatech-2-5-inch-tool-free-sata-hddssd-enclosure-usb-3-0-black/nov-cad253.html

After you've migrated your files, format the drive and you've then got another storage drive that you can plug in as you please. You can put the files back into the formatted external drive if you want. Best to keep your data off the system drive, as you've just discovered.

 

Edited August 11, 2017 by StringJunky

[Danijel Gorupec]

Yes, this is my secondary option. My prmary is to boot from my old disk as i have some hard to replace software licenses on it.

[StringJunky]

So you want to use that drive? if it's the same windows operating system you could try getting all the drivers for your new laptop from the manufacturers {support section), save them to stick, and then install them after inserting your old hard drive. I think you'll have big problems with windows licensing though unless it's transferable. The key is embedded in the BIOS. If it's an ordinary windows license that came already installed (OEM) your plan won't work. Methinks.

[Sensei]

Trying to boot Windows from disk on 2nd computer on which it was not installed (and have no drivers etc.) typically ends up in blue screen..

 

[StringJunky]

9 minutes ago, Sensei said:

Trying to boot Windows from disk on 2nd computer on which it was not installed (and have no drivers etc.) typically ends up in blue screen..

 

 

He could get the same laptop, couldn't he? I don't know how the licensing would work though, whether it would overwrite the one on the old HD with the one in the new laptop.

[Function]

Won't the registry be incompatible?

[Sensei]

17 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

He could get the same laptop, couldn't he? I don't know how the licensing would work though, whether it would overwrite the one on the old HD with the one in the new laptop.

Perhaps. But he said also " i have some hard to replace software licenses on it. " (not Windows licenses, I think, as new laptop will come with new Windows OEM license anyway).

3rd party software licenses are often locked to unique MAC Address of Ethernet/Wifi on-board cards.

You can check your MAC Addresses by clicking Start menu, then enter "cmd" [enter], then enter "ipconfig /all" [enter]

Edited August 11, 2017 by Sensei

[Danijel Gorupec]

I hope my software licenses (rockwell automation, for example) are tied to hard drve. At least some od them.

Replacing the motherboard may cause windows license problem then, if i underatood correctly? I still have to confirm that i can find mb replacement.

I was trying to find the same laptop. No success for the moment.

 

[StringJunky]

3 minutes ago, Danijel Gorupec said:

I hope my software licenses (rockwell automation, for example) are tied to hard drve. At least some od them.

Replacing the motherboard may cause windows license problem then, if i underatood correctly? I still have to confirm that i can find mb replacement.

I was trying to find the same laptop. No success for the moment.

 

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-re-activate-windows-10-after-hardware-change

[Sensei]

1 hour ago, Danijel Gorupec said:

I hope my software licenses (rockwell automation, for example) are tied to hard drve. At least some od them.

Replacing the motherboard may cause windows license problem then, if i underatood correctly? I still have to confirm that i can find mb replacement.

I was trying to find the same laptop. No success for the moment.

If 3rd party software licenses (ignore Windows one), are tied to NIC/MAC Address replacing motherboard alone or replacing laptop to the same model won't give you anything. Because each motherboard with built-in Ethernet/WiFi card has completely different NIC/MAC Address.

But at least you should be able to boot from the same disk, without having to install anything.

Edited August 11, 2017 by Sensei

[Danijel Gorupec]

Thank you guys for your helpful comments. I solved the problem within 24h by buying a second-hand laptop similar to the one I had (Lenovo; similar specifications; similar age; the dead laptop was 'L' line, the current laptop is 'T' line) and migrating the hard drive into it. Finished successfully, after some manual driver installations.

Windows is working good; all other important licenses also seem to work.

Prior to this, I bought external HD enclosure and made backup (as StringJunky suggested)  just in case something goes wrong. I also tried to boot my HD from a newer (more recently manufactured) laptop, but this did not finish good as this newer laptop model required something called UEFI boot.

I see now that this second-hand laptop that I obtained has a very poor battery... nevertheless, my software is running and I am as happy as a pig

[koti]

14 hours ago, Danijel Gorupec said:

is there a chance that it will boot?

No.

14 hours ago, StringJunky said:

Buy an external hd enclosure that fits your HD, put your drive in that then stick the usb cable in your new laptop. Then you can use file explorer to retrieve your files to your new laptop. Something like this:

https://www.novatech.co.uk/products/novatech-2-5-inch-tool-free-sata-hddssd-enclosure-usb-3-0-black/nov-cad253.html

After you've migrated your files, format the drive and you've then got another storage drive that you can plug in as you please. You can put the files back into the formatted external drive if you want. Best to keep your data off the system drive, as you've just discovered.

 

This ^

I also recommend you get a new laptop with an SSD drive. It's worth it.

[StringJunky]

1 hour ago, Danijel Gorupec said:

Thank you guys for your helpful comments. I solved the problem within 24h by buying a second-hand laptop similar to the one I had (Lenovo; similar specifications; similar age; the dead laptop was 'L' line, the current laptop is 'T' line) and migrating the hard drive into it. Finished successfully, after some manual driver installations.

Windows is working good; all other important licenses also seem to work.

Prior to this, I bought external HD enclosure and made backup (as StringJunky suggested)  just in case something goes wrong. I also tried to boot my HD from a newer (more recently manufactured) laptop, but this did not finish good as this newer laptop model required something called UEFI boot.

I see now that this second-hand laptop that I obtained has a very poor battery... nevertheless, my software is running and I am as happy as a pig

Glad to see you got it sorted. You could used to extract the installation files with some program and make an executable but I forget which and how. I should research some method to keep and be able to transfer your desirable software. Perhaps get another HD and clone or image your old HD to a new one as a spare. You can clone or image with this- imaging uses less space and just copies the data areas whereas cloning is a sector-by-sector copy:

https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

Edited August 11, 2017 by StringJunky