New hard drive what to do?

[sze5003]

Has anyone upgraded from windows 7 to windows 8 pro and running successful but then needed a bigger hard drive ? Is the key only good for one hard drive ?

Getting a new SSD soon but I already did a clean install of windows 8 upgrade using my product code that I received when I bought the upgrade.

Was wondering what will happen when I pop in a fresh hard drive and boot from my upgrade media that I made ?

 

[Steltek]

You shouldn't have a problem - Windows product keys are tied to the motherboard, not the hard drive.

 

[sze5003]

I built this pc myself and I previously had windows 7 which was activated and fine before I upgraded to windows 8. I'm seeing reports online that if you try installing the windows 8 upgrade boot image to install on a brand new drive that never had an OS , it will install but not activate because the key is for an upgrade not a clean install.

It will be a pain to install windows 7 again then reboot and install windows 8

 

[SimMike2]

Why don't you use cloning software like Acronis Trueimage 2012 to transfer your OS to your new SSD? You really have nothing to lose trying. If you don't like it, keep the cloned OS on your new SSD and do a pseudo clean install to the Windows 8 you want to overwrite.

 

[sze5003]

Yeah I got acronis but I'm not sure how to clone the drive as I dont have a external sata to USB enclosure. I'll try and figure it out and worst case ill have to quickly install windows 7 then boot the upgrade media and format and install 8.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

By the way. I could stick what follows here in a "new thread," but it doesn't seem necessary.

I'm not that up-to-date on the nature of "disk-imaging." Cloning? That's something else. So over the years, I'd used Disk Commander, Partition Magic, and now I have "Acronis Disk Director" -- which fits my needs perfectly, as far as I can see.

So what does Acronis True Image offer me that Disk Director doesn't?

 

[sze5003]

More advanced features. But I realized I can do a registry work around with just installing on the new hard drive and not having to worry about cloning. I've never cloned because different hard drives have different settings each time you install windows going from SSD to HDD then back and forth.

 

[corkyg]

Disk Director is a disk management package - an up to date Partition Magic if you will. It does not do cloning or backup imaging. I have both DD and TI 2013 from Acronis - they complement each other but do not replace one another.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I did this exact thing. Installed w8 upgrade on a hd, then decided to get an ssd and reinstall it. My 1st installation didn't activate, but I just did the reg. hack when I installed it on my SSD. The key that I got, initially was for an upgrade (that's what I paid for), but I contacted support and they said the key was for a full installation. Install it on the new ssd, follwo the directions on the hack and you should be good. Of course this was about 2 wks ago so I'm not sure if the hack is still valid.

EDIT: I burned the ISO to cd and installed that way, not sure if it makes a difference.

 

[sze5003]

It should still work plenty of people recommend it on the MS help site. Only the actual MS people on there are saying reinstall windows 7 then activate it and then reinstall windows 8.

 

[sze5003]

It will be a pain trying to find my windows 7 install media I moved and its a mess.

 

[ViRGE]

It will be a pain trying to find my windows 7 install media I moved and its a mess.

Just download it from Digital River. We have the links somewhere in this subforum.

 

[sze5003]

I'll be installing the OS on the new hard drive tonite so well see what happens. I will most likely need to do the registry work around.

 

[makken]

I'll be installing the OS on the new hard drive tonite so well see what happens. I will most likely need to do the registry work around.

Yup.

I had to when I moved my copy from my laptop to my desktop on a new disk. You'll also have to call Microsoft to activate.

 

[sze5003]

Yup.

I had to when I moved my copy from my laptop to my desktop on a new disk. You'll also have to call Microsoft to activate.

I don't think I will need to call. The registry work around plus command prompt to re arm is what Microsoft does when you call them.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Disk Director is a disk management package - an up to date Partition Magic if you will. It does not do cloning or backup imaging. I have both DD and TI 2013 from Acronis - they complement each other but do not replace one another.

Then how is it that I chose to purchase Acronis DD because it allows me to clone disks? That's what I've been using it for. From what you're telling me together with what I know, the cloning function is common to both DD and TI.

 

[sze5003]

I didn't clone my drive. Put the fresh one in, put my key in, installed windows 8 and then booted and changed the registry value, ran command to rearm and rebooted. After that, windows was activated.

 

[Paperlantern]

You shouldn't have a problem - Windows product keys are tied to the motherboard, not the hard drive.

Windows product keys aren't "tied" to anything (For Retail). I can buy a copy of windows and use it on 18 completely different systems if I so choose. As long as it is only installed on one at a time.