Win7 H D D Replacement - License Issues?

[lomatopo]

I have a real, legitimate Windows 7/64 Pro license, in MS packaging from a gigantic retailer in the U.S. I am thinking about replacing my system HDD (WD ‘Raptor for a Crucial SSD; prices being very attractive – Mardi Gras sales).

Will this change affect my license in any way (re-activation, updates, etc.)? Has anyone done this recently?

Reviewing my license, 17+ pages – not exactly consumer - friendly, it is very difficult to determine if this change causes my license to be invalid. The MS-sponsored forums indicate that this may be acceptable; with a MB swap being a sure trigger for “manual intervention”.

There is no OEM, per se. I built the system, and installed the OEM SW; on the edge perhaps, but not over as far as I can tell.

It seems like MS tracks some set of ~ seven (7) system criteria, with the MB being the most important, and the HDD, while included, somewhat less important.

Any first-hand experiences?

[bkksw]

You'll need to call in.. just tell them your motherboard went bad and you replaced it with a new one. I've done this several times.

[Supernova]

There is no OEM, per se. I built the system, and installed the OEM SW

^ Not sure what you mean by this. Windows 7 comes in two flavors: (1) Retail, and (2) OEM. The only difference between them is the licensing. OEM-SLP keys cannot be transferred to another machine.

Since you're replacing the hard drive (not the motherboard), you should have no problems reactivating Windows 7 using the same product key.

[ETatBKK]

There is no OEM, per se. I built the system, and installed the OEM SW

^ Not sure what you mean by this. Windows 7 comes in two flavors: (1) Retail, and (2) OEM. The only difference between them is the licensing. OEM-SLP keys cannot be transferred to another machine.

Since you're replacing the hard drive (not the motherboard), you should have no problems reactivating Windows 7 using the same product key.

if you build your own computer, you should use the retail licence; not OEM not volume licence.

you could rebuild your system HDD ( on what ever media ) or OS on your system, as long as 1 sytem 1 licence. you need to re-activate the new installation anyway.

my system gets some problem these days, I am going to rebuild it this week too.

[gosompoi]

Clone your drive in your machine to the new drive. I assume you have a laptop, then First off, what you need to do is buy an external usb 2.0 to sata connector. Second is connect your new drive to the usb to sata connector and clone your old drive to the new one. If you have desktop or tower then just connect your new drive to an empty sata port. You might need to resize your drive first if your new drive is smaller than the older one. To resize your drives partition size if the new drive is smaller, I like EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition which you can get from download.com. To clone your drive once connected to your computer use EASEUS Disk copy also from download.com. When you are done cloning just put the new drive in the computer where the old drive was connected. I own norton ghost 15 pro, so I prefer it for cloning drives but the other two programs are free and work fine. I have done this more than a 1,000 times, you do not loose anything including your windows registration and activation information. 100% safe and simple.

Edited March 8, 2011 by gosompoi

[bkksw]

There is no OEM, per se. I built the system, and installed the OEM SW

^ Not sure what you mean by this. Windows 7 comes in two flavors: (1) Retail, and (2) OEM. The only difference between them is the licensing. OEM-SLP keys cannot be transferred to another machine.

Since you're replacing the hard drive (not the motherboard), you should have no problems reactivating Windows 7 using the same product key.

They're not supposed to be, but Microsoft will do it with an adequate reason. Each time I've replaced the motherboard I told them and they did the transfer with a smile on their face.

US licensed OEM software only requires a single part of a computer be sold at the time to qualify for OEM purchase. Newegg.com and Mwave.com both have the policy and requirements listed on their site. I'm not sure if it's different here.

And starting with Win7.. they don't automatically flag a system for reactivation for only a hard drive. Vista did this requiring call-in's each time.. but so far I've restored my system drive image to 4-5 different SSD's without reactivation being required.

[lomatopo]

Thanks for sharing the experiences, the tips and comments.

The cloning recommendation is brilliant for transitioning to a new HDD, in fact Crucial include SW for this purpose in some of their SSD retail packs. However Windows does detect a new HDD so this would not address the 'new hardware threshold' issue.

I have been buying Windows 7/64 Pro OEM licenses for new, personal builds for the past year. I do buy from Newegg when they have a sale and have been paying $99 - $109, no sales tax - that loophole will be closing soon I suspect, and free shipping. They do not link a OEM license purchase to any other HW purchase as I have ordered the SW only, on a single invoice. (I return to the U.S. often so it is easy for me to bring things back.)

As I mentioned, this practice is discouraged, somewhat but I suspect Microsft sees the thousands of units of sales of OEM licenses through Newegg and understands what is happening. The 'no support' and 'one-pc' rules are understood by most.

The Crucial C300 Sata 3 (6 gB/s) 128 GB HDD goes on sale often, currently $225, and since my MB supports Sata 3 I am considering moving from the 'Raptor to an SSD. It sounds like this will not affect my Win 7 activation/license.

[bkksw]

Thanks for sharing the experiences, the tips and comments.

The cloning recommendation is brilliant for transitioning to a new HDD, in fact Crucial include SW for this purpose in some of their SSD retail packs. However Windows does detect a new HDD so this would not address the 'new hardware threshold' issue.

I have been buying Windows 7/64 Pro OEM licenses for new, personal builds for the past year. I do buy from Newegg when they have a sale and have been paying $99 - $109, no sales tax - that loophole will be closing soon I suspect, and free shipping. They do not link a OEM license purchase to any other HW purchase as I have ordered the SW only, on a single invoice. (I return to the U.S. often so it is easy for me to bring things back.)

As I mentioned, this practice is discouraged, somewhat but I suspect Microsft sees the thousands of units of sales of OEM licenses through Newegg and understands what is happening. The 'no support' and 'one-pc' rules are understood by most.

The Crucial C300 Sata 3 (6 gB/s) 128 GB HDD goes on sale often, currently $225, and since my MB supports Sata 3 I am considering moving from the 'Raptor to an SSD. It sounds like this will not affect my Win 7 activation/license.

1. I wonder if the reactivation factor might also include the imaging software. I use Norton Ghost 15 and with Win7 none of my SSD images have tripped the reactivation. Vista did with each one. In any case, you'll only need to call in and reactivate. There is a local Thai number to dial and it's a pretty quick process.

2. I suspect Newegg and the others change their policy depending on current politics. I noticed you can get the OEM by itself on Amazon too.

3. An SSD is a huge improvement, but you're looking at old stuff. I have two Crucial C300 256gb SSD's and reviewed them here. They're a lot faster than the 128gb version which many assume is as fast as the 256gb version.. but it's not. If you have an extra PCIe x4 or better slot then the Revo drive feels so much faster than the C300 it's not even funny. Cheaper too. I reviewed the Revo, and a Revo 2 is in transit to be reviewed.. should have it soon. In any case, the new OCZ Vertex 3 is the current speed king, almost twice as fast as the C300.. and the new Intel 510 is somewhere between the two. I should have both of those in soon too..

[lomatopo]

Thanks, I did notice the difference in Sequential Access - Write speeds between the 128 GB and 256 GB models.

128 GB model:

Sequential Access - Read

355MB/sec (SATA 6Gb/s)

265MB/sec (SATA 3Gb/s)

Sequential Access - Write

140MB/sec (SATA 6Gb/s)

140MB/sec (SATA 3Gb/s)

256 GB model:

Sequential Access - Read

355MB/sec (SATA 6Gb/s)

265MB/sec (SATA 3Gb/s)

Sequential Access - Write

215MB/sec (SATA 6Gb/s)

215MB/sec (SATA 3Gb/s)

I am more of a "value" consumer, and an average PC user, so have really never needed to have the best, latest, most expensive or fastest components. I'm not even sure I need this "old stuff" SSD? My WD 'Raptor seems to address all of my current requirements.

[Pib]

I have Win 7 Home Premium (Retail) and replaced my laptop hard drive via cloning (used Acronis), and no reactivation was required.

I also have Windows XP (Retail version I guess...came with computer) on another laptop, also replaced the hard drive via cloning (used Acronis), and no reactivation was required.

Years back when replacing another hard drive on a laptop running Vista (retail), I did have to call Microsoft to reactivate...I told them I had just bought a new hard drive which failed within days, I took the failed hard drive for a replacement, was reinstalling Vista on the new/exchange hard drive when the reactivation issue appeared (all a true story). For whatever reason on installing the first hard drive (the one that failed within days) the activation problem didn't appear, but when installing on the replacement hard drive a few days later the activation issued appeared. Expect Microsoft spotting multiple loads on the same basic computer within a close interval or the number of installs was exceeded. But as mentioned, when I called and told them I was just changing hard drives in the same computer, they said OK and gave me a new activation number.

[bkksw]

Thanks, I did notice the difference in Sequential Access - Write speeds between the 128 GB and 256 GB models.

I am more of a "value" consumer, and an average PC user, so have really never needed to have the best, latest, most expensive or fastest components. I'm not even sure I need this "old stuff" SSD? My WD 'Raptor seems to address all of my current requirements.

I'm glad you noticed, many feel burnt after ordering the 128gb model and finding out later. Even when they put it plainly in the specs.

The thing is, all past SSD's are now a generation behind because they're rolling out the new generation. Same or lower price points (after they catch up), almost twice the performance. A couple are out now, many more will follow in the next few months.

Will you notice a big difference? No. You'll notice a HUGE difference over your Raptor. You won't believe you waited so long to upgrade.

If "value" is key, consider Seagates Momentus XT Hybrid. A 2.5" format, 500gb mechanical coupled with 4g of SSD. For $104 on Amazon it's a bargain for anyone with a laptop who doesn't want to spend the big bucks for an SSD but still wants a significant performance boost. It performs faster (marginally) than a desktop Raptor.. but in a laptop.

Good luck, and I really wouldn't sweat the reactivation. Just tell them you got a new drive and they'll reissue your activation.

[innerspace]

google "Pendrive linux" and download the multiboot software.

It will allow you to create a USB drive with all kinds of operating systems, tools and recovery programs.

There are a couple of disk cloning utilities which will allow you to make an exact copy of your installation onto the new disk.

Once done simply plug the new disk into the sata/ide port that the old disk was previously in and boot up.

You (should) then have your computer running on the new disk, all programs and settings saved and no need to reactivate.

Sometimes this method does hit problems, but if that occurs you simply reinstall from scratch which you would have done anyway.

Saves a whole lot of time reinstalling programs and configuring the machine as you like it.

Worst case if you need to start from scratch, not really a problem.

I have moved OEM windows on self build PC's a few times, often to completely different hardware without any problems.

You normally need to phone up Microsoft to activate normally but simply say your HDD died and its fine.

Sometimes the first reactivation will go through automatically, however there a limited number of times you will get away with reactivating.

[astral]

I can't speak for W7, but under XP I have replaced my HDD several times

and the sw has always been able to re-authenticate.

[NanLaew]

I have Win 7 Home Premium (Retail) and replaced my laptop hard drive via cloning (used Acronis), and no reactivation was required.

I also have Windows XP (Retail version I guess...came with computer) on another laptop, also replaced the hard drive via cloning (used Acronis), and no reactivation was required.

Years back when replacing another hard drive on a laptop running Vista (retail), I did have to call Microsoft to reactivate...I told them I had just bought a new hard drive which failed within days, I took the failed hard drive for a replacement, was reinstalling Vista on the new/exchange hard drive when the reactivation issue appeared (all a true story). For whatever reason on installing the first hard drive (the one that failed within days) the activation problem didn't appear, but when installing on the replacement hard drive a few days later the activation issued appeared. Expect Microsoft spotting multiple loads on the same basic computer within a close interval or the number of installs was exceeded. But as mentioned, when I called and told them I was just changing hard drives in the same computer, they said OK and gave me a new activation number.

Pretty much my experience with o/s from Win2K through Vista; when cloning a hardrive to upgrade in the same machine, no reactivation is needed. I once did a clean install (recovery) on an XP driven laptop and this did require calling in for a revalidation; pretty much same excuse as Pib and accepted without argument.

I also got rather adventurous when a buddy tasked me with upgrading his office PC's after I had just built a machine for him. So, rather than fork out for 4 new copies of XP, I just built four more IDENTICAL machines and cloned his HD once it was loaded with o/s and programs. All worked without validation issues and as far as I know, still haven't been caught by the dreaded Windows Validation tool. Only a matter of time I reckon!

[Ping]

I had a notebook with Vista and the HDD died. I replaced it and reinstalled the OS and other software without a problem. I should think that Win 7 would be the same.

[bkk_mike]

There is no OEM, per se. I built the system, and installed the OEM SW

^ Not sure what you mean by this. Windows 7 comes in two flavors: (1) Retail, and (2) OEM. The only difference between them is the licensing. OEM-SLP keys cannot be transferred to another machine.

Since you're replacing the hard drive (not the motherboard), you should have no problems reactivating Windows 7 using the same product key.

It depends... I have Retail Windows 97, bought in the UK, from Amazon 2 years ago, and had to do the phone activation when I changed the hard disk - AND needed human intervention as it's the 3 user pack and the phone activation wasn't properly set up for the 3 user packs.