The Choice to Move the OS Drive From One Computer to Another

  There comes a time that we face the need to move a drive from an aging or underperforming computer to new hardware. There is also the option of imaging the source comptuer's hard drive and then restoring that image to the new. I just recently used another popular option of virtualizing the older computer's drive and then having access to it as a virtual machine in VMWare Workstation and have also performed the same task using VMWare ESXi.  

Virtualization is not always an option for everyone for any number of reasons. But regardless of whether the failing drive or system is going to virtualized or not, the issue of activation is most always prevelent and inescapable. 

OEM Product Keys 

The largest determining factor is the type of product key that is in use on the source computer installation.  If the source computer’s product key for the operating system has the letters OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer), then you could very well have a problem moving the drive and OS. Transplanting the drive with OS into a new system may not be successfull. When moving a hard drive to another computer the operating system will have to be re-activated. If the key was a regular retail key for Windows 7, XP, Vista, and it does not have the letters OEM in the product key , then moving the OS drive stands a good chance of success.         

A Call to Microsoft May be Required

Occasionally there is a problem with activating windows. I had mostly good luck with this recently and did not have to call but have also had the experience of having to call in and explain what I was doing. So there is a chance of a problem re-activating online. A call to Microsoft’s license clearing house is in order as this point. It's a toll free number and the call does not last long. Most problems can be solved through the automated system but should an agent be required and gets on the line, you simply tell them what you are doing. The hard-drive with the Windows Operating system was moved form one computer to another.

Why Is Re-activation Required

Built-into the operating system and the product activation process and sustainment is a counter, a trigger, of a certain number of hardware changes permitted before a de-activation of the OS automatically occurs. This process started with XP as Microsoft discovered windows 2000 comptuers, and of course 98 and 95 that preceeded Windows 2000, were being copied and re-used over and over. 

Suggestion for Making the Hard-drive Move Less Painless

Expect the first boot-up of the hard drive once mobved to a new comptuer take a little time. That's becaiThe target computer should be on the hardware compatibility list anuse plug-n-play will detect all the new devices. New devices including the mother-board and all it's integrated omcponenes and chipsets.

From experience it is highly recommended to download nad have ready before moving the drive the NIC drivers,  at least,  for the target machine. Doing so can save time and reduce some fustration. This is especially imprtant if the comptuer the drive is beign removed from is the only computer that available with Internet access (home users, in an office here are usually more than one comptuer with itnernet access). . The reason for this recomendation of obtaining the NIC drivers before the move is to enable Internet access on the target computer. Once connected to the Internet, additional drivers requried for the new hardware can be downloaded and installed.  other drivers such as sound, video , etc.

From Hardware Transfers such as System Drives to Updates

The above describes issues surrounding the transferment of moving a system dirve containign the operating system, n this case Microsoft Windows 7, but can be an isue with other operating systems as well that join the hardware with the activation process. To my kowledge Linux based operating systems and SCO unix system don't hvae such a inate conenction with the hardware they are wporking on. Although they can be more difficult to work with than windows for the avergare users, the activation process wholy differs fro mthe Mcirosoft;s . Other issues that seem to be mostly for Microsoft based systems are in regards to upgrades. These upgrades however wre due in part to the wide use of windows. Microsoft operating systems for both t the desktop and the server level are the most widely used operating system in the world. 

Browser Upgrades on Desktop and Server Windows Based Operating Systems

Upgrades in browsers have more often than not come in to be a major benefit to suers rather than a problem. The biggest changes come with the secureity settings and new standards be applied to web server pages and the browser to read and render those new standards to achieve the best user experience. IE9, the latest browser at the time of this writing, posed some new and imporved security updates for the user. The default settings for example however changed too. One of those changes was regardign the handling of cookies. Out of the box, IE9, clamps down security so that even cookies are not written to disk without explicit permition. IE9 also introduced the Welcome and Meet Your New Browser Tabbed Welcome page and tab that if one is not careful can pose soem interesting problem expescially in muti user environements such as Windows Server 2008 RDS (terminal services) or Xenapp installation with RDS. Tech support department and organizations can receive support calls reagding this issue and use remote support software to remotey access the system to solve the issue through the network. In the end, this is a solvable problem caused by simple automatic opening of a tabbed welcome page. 

Mirosoft Office has also Undergone Drastic Changes. 

For decades many were most familiar with Microsoft's Menu basr. It was found and fondly familiar for many years, nearly two decades. The menu bar and the appearance of said manues have nto changes too much over the years and were most familiar to those who were i nthe comouting industry the longest. With the latest release of Microsoft Ofifce, the menu bar had changed to a ribbon in the entire Microsoft Office suite of applciations for business and productivity. The most hard hit and felt are the apps most veryone uses such as Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Word. Excel also of course shares very wide usage but more often it's for people are number crunching or building charts and graphs. So with the ushuring in of the latest realeas of the Office uite of nbusiness apllications, the traditional menu bar goes out and is replaced with a "ribbon". Has this led to confusion and increased number of general tech support and remote support calls, yes. The comfortable and familiar navigation menu was dropped and replaced for a ribbon perhaps to permit more one click access to most commonly used items or it was an attampt to just change up the look of the well known computer applciations used by millions. 

The Latest Hardware trend in Harddrives that has been long Overdue. 

The hard-drives we have been using for decades upon decades is the spindle based drive. Given than name because they are spinning platters similar to the old vynal record players. Although that's where the similarity ends. The platters of hard-drive rotate at a much faster rate than vynal did. The more expensive SAS enterprise drives rotate at an alarming 15K RPM. Good for regular suer apps and for remote acces support programs. The tide of need for speed changes has increasing brought about the developement and use of solid state drives. SSD drives are basicaly in two major flavors of SLC and MLC. Keep in mind there is a huge price difference in these two techinilgies and I believe their controllers and developement are still at the infancy stages for reliability - at least for the desktop grade SLC drives. They will fail no doubt faster than a spindle drive so one must be aware of that little piece of trivia. Controller card advances however are being designed to increase the longevity of SSD drives but essentially what you get with an SLC drive a flash USB stick of much larger proportions. They have an x number of write cycles and that's it. Unlike the platterand spindle drives whose media does not deteriorate.