Migrate from another computer with SSD

[weidake]

Hi all,

    Im trying to replace my old PC with this Envy 750-114.  I have a SSD on my old PC and would like to just transfer the SSD to my new Envy as the primary drive.

    I could not find any Motherboard driver online and I dont want to clone the harddrive on my new PC as I would like to keep all files on my old SSD intact.

    is there any way to boot from my old SSD?

   Thanks!

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

weidake

Hello;

Allow me to welcome you to the HP forums!

I read your post about wanting to migrate an SSD from one PC to another and wanted to help.

To just boot the second PC from an SSD from the first -- NO.  IF the PCs had identical hardware, then maybe, but with different hardware, the needed drivers will be absent and the PC will not boot.

There is a way to actuall "migrate" from the old PC to the new one, using the same drive -- but it involves considerable work and expense.

Macrium Reflect allows you to image and restore PCs, and they have an option that you can do just what you want -- basically migrate everything from your old PC to the new one -- it's called Redeploy, and it's not available in the Free version.  You have to buy the Home version.

The way it works, in your case, is that you buy MR, install on a PC, and use the option to create Rescue Boot Media.

Then, you put the old SSD in the new PC, insert the Rescue Boot Media, and boot into MR.

Once it is up and running (it can take a few minutes to load), follow the instructions in this thread (starting with step 3): http://www.macrium.com/help/v5/How_to/Redeploy/ReDeploy_a_system_to_new_hardware.htm

MR will then read drivers (from media you provide) and replace the drivers on the SSD with the drivers for the new PC.

NOTE: if you don't have the drivers for your new PC saved in a single location, then download and install DriverBackup -- you can use this to save all the drivers into a single folder.

But ... this is only PART of the solution (I said some work is involved!)

The old SSD had Windows activated using the license on the old PC -- and OEM licenses are not transferrable from one PC to another.

If the new PC came with Win8x or newer preinstalled, then you can retrieve the license info following these instructions  (based on the version PREINSTALLED):

1) For Windows 8x: Product Key - Find for Windows 8

2) For Windows 10: Download Windows OEM Product Key Tool - MajorGeeks

You will then have to manually enter the product key found by the tool to reactivate Windows on the new PC.

Good Luck

I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor do I represent, HP.
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[weidake]

thanks very much for your advise. I was just looking for an easyway out but I guess that is not an option in this case.