laptop harddrive swapping question

[Pete M]

the mechanicals of a 'puter are nothing new to me, but those dang 1s and 0s are made from magic and pixie dust.  

so if I take a harddrive from a toshiba laptop and stick it into an Acer laptop, will the windows7/office from the toshiba continue to work without any extra work from me?  or will the Microsoft witchcraft give me a big thumbs down?  My pop's laptop has died (from my diagnoses it's either a boot-up failure or a motherboard issue) and I'm looking at getting a used Acer like mine and they are much cheaper without an HD.

[Dzimm]

No it will not.  The drive from the Toshiba is 'locked' to the motherboard in the Toshiba and will not work properly on the Acer.  You can however use a sata to USB adapter (link below) to plug the drive into another working computer, and it will show up similar to a flash drive in file explorer.  Within the Windows files of the drive, you will find the 'users' folders where you can drag and drop any files or pictures onto the working computer that you want to save from the dead one.  You CANNOT transfer any programs though so Windows, Office, Photoshop, etc will not transfer.  If the Office is 2013 or newer, it will be registered with your office.com account and can be re-downloaded.  If it is older than that, you must have the install disc and product key.  

 

As for the drive, after you pull any files/pictures off you need, you can wipe the drive and use it as an external HDD to store things on if it still works properly.  It could also be wiped and installed in the Acer with a fresh copy of Windows.

 

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501464265&sr=8-1&keywords=sata+to+usb+3+adapter

!!!THIS ADAPTER WILL ONLY WORK FOR LAPTOP DRIVES!!!

 

What is the price difference for the laptops you are looking at that come with and without a HDD?

 

Laptop drives can be bought new for around $50 for a 1TB.  Or use the one from the Toshiba if it still works and is wiped clean.

Windows 10 is around $100

You can still find Windows 7 product keys online but beware they are sometimes fake.

[Dzimm]

Also Office is fairly expensive these days so if you can't recover the old Office, you can use something called Open Office that is currently owned by Apache.  It is free and looks and works very similar to Office.  It will open any Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. file and allow you to edit it and save it in a format that will work with both Office and Open Office.  I use this myself and the only thing I have run into is that you must pay attention to the file extension when you save it so that it works for both Office and Open Office and some of the newest features that Microsoft has implemented to Office don't work.  So like the newest fancy fonts in Word and the newest slide transition noises won't work properly.  But really who uses slide transition noises in a Powerpoint anymore.  

 

Here is a link to the download page if you want to give it a try (this link doesn't start the download, just brings you to the page)

https://www.openoffice.org/download/index.html

[Pete M]

thanks. :thumbsup:  I figured it was more complicated than I had hoped. :(

 

I do have an '07 office disk and was looking at buying a win7 from a reputable ebay seller that "resells" win7 + keys (can I just reuse the key from my dad's laptop?).  my sata-to-usb cable is on the way.  just seems like a good thing to have around!  

 

price for an empty 'top was about $55, a similar loaded one $130-150 but it's ebay so those might change in the coming days

[Dzimm]

If you have the windows product key from the old laptop you can give it a try but at some point during the Vista or early Win7 days (can't remember which) they started registering the product keys in a database. This means that the key is associated with the serial number of the motherboard and that is saved to a server. This will cause an activation issue with windows if it is running on the wrong motherboard. But it is worth a shot to save a few bucks if you can. I have had some keys not be affected by this.

 

Good thing you saved the Office disc. A lot of people lose them or throw them out and then kick themselves when this happens.

 

Did the loaded laptops come with windows pre-installed and everything? They must have bought a huge supply of leftover manufacturer windows keys if they are selling the whole shebang for that cheap.

 

Yeah those adapters are handy to have. Just know that this one only works for laptop drives. There is a different one for desktop drives since they require more power than a USB port can provide. They have a separate power brick.

 

Also I want to mention that official support for Windows 7 ends the beginning of 2020 so when that time comes you'll have to migrate to at least windows 10 (Windows 8 already lost support and 8.1 is losing it quickly too).

[Pete M]

they can have my win 7 when they pry it from my cold hands. :D  

 

ebay is chock full of ex-lease laptops.   :yes:  my pop doesn't need anything special.  a simple dual core, 8g/500g, atomic powered laptop will do. :D  

[Dzimm]

Lol that's what a lot of people would say about windows 7. It's one of the best versions of Windows, second only to XP.

 

Oh yeah those can be had at a good deal for sure.

[Blue88Comanche]

If you have the windows product key from the old laptop you can give it a try but at some point during the Vista or early Win7 days (can't remember which) they started registering the product keys in a database. This means that the key is associated with the serial number of the motherboard and that is saved to a server. This will cause an activation issue with windows if it is running on the wrong motherboard. But it is worth a shot to save a few bucks if you can. I have had some keys not be affected by this.

 

Good thing you saved the Office disc. A lot of people lose them or throw them out and then kick themselves when this happens.

 

Did the loaded laptops come with windows pre-installed and everything? They must have bought a huge supply of leftover manufacturer windows keys if they are selling the whole shebang for that cheap.

 

Yeah those adapters are handy to have. Just know that this one only works for laptop drives. There is a different one for desktop drives since they require more power than a USB port can provide. They have a separate power brick.

 

Also I want to mention that official support for Windows 7 ends the beginning of 2020 so when that time comes you'll have to migrate to at least windows 10 (Windows 8 already lost support and 8.1 is losing it quickly too).

 

if the key was a "system builder key" yes there will be issues  I have plenty of issues with those ebay keys.  Ive never has issues with a retail version of Windows 7 Ultimate, the same key has been used on 3 different PCs when one bit the dust or was replaced.

 

One perk to the embedded keys, if you drop your laptop and toast the HDD, when you get a new HDD just download windows 10 from Microsoft and install it, once installed it will automatically activate windows with the embedded Key.  handy for these new laptops without separate recovery discs.

[Dzimm]

 

 

If you have the windows product key from the old laptop you can give it a try but at some point during the Vista or early Win7 days (can't remember which) they started registering the product keys in a database. This means that the key is associated with the serial number of the motherboard and that is saved to a server. This will cause an activation issue with windows if it is running on the wrong motherboard. But it is worth a shot to save a few bucks if you can. I have had some keys not be affected by this.

 

Good thing you saved the Office disc. A lot of people lose them or throw them out and then kick themselves when this happens.

 

Did the loaded laptops come with windows pre-installed and everything? They must have bought a huge supply of leftover manufacturer windows keys if they are selling the whole shebang for that cheap.

 

Yeah those adapters are handy to have. Just know that this one only works for laptop drives. There is a different one for desktop drives since they require more power than a USB port can provide. They have a separate power brick.

 

Also I want to mention that official support for Windows 7 ends the beginning of 2020 so when that time comes you'll have to migrate to at least windows 10 (Windows 8 already lost support and 8.1 is losing it quickly too).

if the key was a "system builder key" yes there will be issues I have plenty of issues with those ebay keys. Ive never has issues with a retail version of Windows 7 Ultimate, the same key has been used on 3 different PCs when one bit the dust or was replaced.

 

One perk to the embedded keys, if you drop your laptop and toast the HDD, when you get a new HDD just download windows 10 from Microsoft and install it, once installed it will automatically activate windows with the embedded Key. handy for these new laptops without separate recovery discs.

Yes this is true. A retail off the shelf key can be reused, a manufacturer key that comes with the laptop cannot be transferred.

 

That Windows 10 trick I forgot about. It worked every time when it first came out but became less reliable as time went on.

[Blue88Comanche]

Also I want to mention that official support for Windows 7 ends the beginning of 2020 so when that time comes you'll have to migrate to at least windows 10 (Windows 8 already lost support and 8.1 is losing it quickly too).

I Know they still over a free upgrade to windows 10 from 8 or 8.1, are they still offering it for 7?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Dzimm]

 

Also I want to mention that official support for Windows 7 ends the beginning of 2020 so when that time comes you'll have to migrate to at least windows 10 (Windows 8 already lost support and 8.1 is losing it quickly too).

I Know they still over a free upgrade to windows 10 from 8 or 8.1, are they still offering it for 7?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The official upgrade period ended July 16th (iirc) of 2016. However the upgrade tool on Microsoft's website still works. Basically you just don't get the annoying pop-up on your desktop. It should still work for Windows 7.

[Blue88Comanche]

 

 

Also I want to mention that official support for Windows 7 ends the beginning of 2020 so when that time comes you'll have to migrate to at least windows 10 (Windows 8 already lost support and 8.1 is losing it quickly too).

I Know they still over a free upgrade to windows 10 from 8 or 8.1, are they still offering it for 7?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The official upgrade period ended July 16th (iirc) of 2016. However the upgrade tool on Microsoft's website still works. Basically you just don't get the annoying pop-up on your desktop. It should still work for Windows 7.

I can confirm 8/8.1 will upgrade for free to 10 using the recovery tool on Microsoft.com (did that last week on my wife's laptop), haven't tried 7 to see if it will upgrade.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pete M]

all good info.   :thumbsup:  ended up going with one of the cheaper all-included ones rather than trying to piece it together (original owner too rather than a lease return).  I figure it'll be faster to get him back up and running this way.