Moving OS drive to new hardware question


  1. Cgamon
    Posts : 6
    Windows 10 64 bit
       New #1

    Moving OS drive to new hardware question


    Hello everyone. I was wondering if It was possible to move my SSD (boot drive) onto new hardware. I'm upgrading my pc a bit, one of the things being the motherboard. I really don't want to purchase windows if I don't have to, so i'm wondering if it can be moved properly.

    Things to note.. this pc is like 5-6 years old.. so when it was built, it was Windows 8.1 and I received the Windows 10 update later on.

    My current W10 version is 1903.

    Also my current MB is an MSI board and the new one is also MSI. Thanks in advance.
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  3. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #2

    Yes it can be moved to new hardware. The typical show stoppers are legacy BIOS v. UEFI, and SATA controller mode (IDE, AHCI, RAID). Changing from Legacy BIOS to UEFI and/or changing the SATA controller mode require some adjustments to boot partitions and drivers - the SATA controller issue must be handled before the SSD is moved - UEFI v. Legacy BIOS can be dealt with after the SSD is moved. As far as Windows activation, see here:
    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530
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  4. Cgamon
    Posts : 6
    Windows 10 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    NavyLCDR said:
    Yes it can be moved to new hardware. The typical show stoppers are legacy BIOS v. UEFI, and SATA controller mode (IDE, AHCI, RAID). Changing from Legacy BIOS to UEFI and/or changing the SATA controller mode require some adjustments to boot partitions and drivers - the SATA controller issue must be handled before the SSD is moved - UEFI v. Legacy BIOS can be dealt with after the SSD is moved. As far as Windows activation, see here:
    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530
    Thank you for the info!
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