Switching laptop harddrives

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GregRedd

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Hello all

I have 2 absolutely identical laptops (same model, same specs, same age, etc.) I use 1 on the road for work and the other stays at home for the family use stuff.

The road machine's power socket has worked loose over time and the plug no longer sits securely. As a result I often don't realise that the machine is not connected to the power and the battery lands up draining.

The home machine, which never moves, is fine and I want to start using it instead and leave the damaged one at home.

My question then: I'm thinking of simply swapping the 2 hard drives over and was wondering if I'm missing anything? It seems like too simple a solution. Or am I just being paranoid?
 
you can have the PSU jack repaired.

You also need to be more gentle when plugging in/out the PSU cable.

.........

If all the internal hardware are EXACTLY identical then there should be no problem swopping the HDDs..
 
What OS? Newer versions of windows 'might' see different hardware but if it's the same manufacturer and running OEM OS it's will probably be ok.

Just swap the drive and try it out, it's a quick and painless procedure.

The faulty jack is easily repaired either by just resoldering it to the MB or replacing it.
 
If it is exactly the same model as you say, then it should work just fine.
It might ask you to re-activate Windows though since the hash keys generated by the OEM Windows versions are not only based on hardware configuration but also on part serial numbers.
Windows will know it is a different laptop.
 
Garyvdh said:
If it is exactly the same model as you say, then it should work just fine.
It might ask you to re-activate Windows though since the hash keys generated by the OEM Windows versions are not only based on hardware configuration but also on part serial numbers.
Windows will know it is a different laptop.
Click to expand...

+1
It will work just fine, you'll just have to re-activate windows which shouldn't be an issue.
 
ponder said:
What OS? Newer versions of windows 'might' see different hardware but if it's the same manufacturer and running OEM OS it's will probably be ok.
Click to expand...
Garyvdh said:
It might ask you to re-activate Windows though since the hash keys generated by the OEM Windows versions are not only based on hardware configuration but also on part serial numbers.
Windows will know it is a different laptop.
Click to expand...

Ahh, never realised that there is a link between the OS and the hardware at all. Thanks for mentioning it - Both are on Vista but I think one of them needs a couple of additional updates installed. I'll get them as close as possible before trying the switch. Both are geniune OEM installs, so reactivating them after shouldn't be an issue.
 
Thansk to all for the tips and suggestions. As I mentioned above, I'm going to try to get both OS installs as close as possible in terms of updates and patches, and then give the drive swap a bash. Will let you know the results soon as I've done it...
Thanks again.
 
BlaBlaGreg said:
Ahh, never realised that there is a link between the OS and the hardware at all. Thanks for mentioning it - Both are on Vista but I think one of them needs a couple of additional updates installed. I'll get them as close as possible before trying the switch. Both are geniune OEM installs, so reactivating them after shouldn't be an issue.
Click to expand...

If the laptops are identical then it wouldn't be a problem since the drivers already installed would work on the same hardware in the new laptop. BUT, even if they weren't, it wouldn't be a problem as long as the other laptop are more or less similar. Windows XP, Vista & 7 (and Linux for that matter) automatically installs a crap load of commonly used drivers. The only drivers he may need to re-install would be graphics, network (both / either WiFi & LAN) and maybe (but probably not) sound. The rest would be fine.
 
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