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Windows 10 Cloning / transfer to new hardware w/o reformat?
Hi all,
Pardon the rambling nature of this post. Also, yes, I do know I could just do a full reinstall...maybe?
OK, explanation - my brother's desktop is dead. All signs point to the motherboard as it restarts constantly and randomly within 30 seconds to 2 minutes after boot. Different RAM, NO RAM, a different power supply, blowing out all the dust and reseating everything makes no difference.
Long story short, we're looking into ordering a new CPU/RAM/motherboard for his desktop PC and re-using the rest of his parts. His current main HDD is an IDE and his secondary is a SATA.
The new machine would have to have a SATA main HDD, which is fine as I have one laying around I can use (newer mobos don't have IDE ports anymore, of course). Would I be able to clone his exact Win10 install to the new drive and boot into it successfully? His Win10 copy was a 'free upgrade period' install upgraded from Win7 and it is a legitimate copy, of course. He has the copy linked to his MS account, so I've read I should be able to reactivate it if I get the new parts and boot into it...?
Does Win10 have the same issues as older copies of Windows when swapping the hard drive into different/new hardware that is drastically different like a motherboard?
Long story short...I guess I want to know if I should be able to clone the install to a new drive and then boot straight into Windows and reactivate it as if nothing ever happened? I know I will, of course, have to reinstall drivers for the new motherboard....but is the fact the old drivers for the old motherboard, etc will still be there going to screw things up?
Any thoughts or help is appreciated! :) Also, before I get the aforementioned 'why don't you just reformat it' comment, he has some old software he has lost the install media for and has no way to get it back, so a reformat would mean he loses that needed software...
Thanks so much in advance! :)