Can I move Windows?

A

Ace465

New Member
So I have am currently running Windows Vista 64-bit with a 500 GB hard drive. Recently got another hard drive that was in a different computer, and it have Windows 7 64-bit on it. That hard drive is barely used, about 35 GB. I was wondering if there is a way that I can get that Windows 7 on my original hard drive to replace Vista which is on it. When briefly looked up how to do this, there was a lot of mention about cloning. But the problem is that I have a lot of stuff on my hard drive that I don't want to move. And as I understood it, cloning the new hard drive and placing it on my old one would replace all the stuff on it. So does anyone know if there is a way to just get Windows 7 on my original hard drive? I am not opposed to having to re-install all the stuff on my original drive, I would just rather not. And if someone could describe cloning a little bit more in depth that would be great too. Thanks!
 
You can't take an operating system installed on a different hard drive that was made for a different computer and put it on yours. You would have a hard time booting up and then the license would have to be reactivated which microsoft won't allow. You will have to purchase windows 7 and install it.
 
johnb35 said:
You can't take an operating system installed on a different hard drive that was made for a different computer and put it on yours. You would have a hard time booting up and then the license would have to be reactivated which microsoft won't allow. You will have to purchase windows 7 and install it.
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That's right you can't do it. The closer solution is to upgrade your vista with the windows 7. Only this the way to keep your files and programs.
 
Okay so I've gathered that I can't do it legally, but apparently cloning it is an option. I still don't think that I fully know what cloning is. Can someone explain it to me, or is it not allowed to be discussed because it's not actually legal?
 
Ace465 said:
Okay so I've gathered that I can't do it legally, but apparently cloning it is an option. I still don't think that I fully know what cloning is. Can someone explain it to me, or is it not allowed to be discussed because it's not actually legal?
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It's not really legal to do that. You just have to purchase a copy of Windows and install it on your PC.
 
Cloning is legal. However, putting another computers operating system on your hard drive isn't. It all has to do with licensing of the operating system.
 
Okay, so just to confirm, even though I would be keeping the hard drive in my computer if I were able to move windows, and just use it for extra space, it's still not legal? It's not a problem if this is the case, I can just survive with Vista for a while.
 
You would have to format the drive, that way there would be nothing on it and you utilize the whole drive for storage.
 
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