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I am going to be moving a HDD from one computer to another identical one. Can I just switch out the hard drives, or will I have to dd the old one onto the one that is already in there?

MaQleod
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user316519
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  • That depends. Is this your Windows system disk (usually "C:")? If so, I don't think it will work (Windows does not include "every" driver, and switching hardware like that will usually trigger a "license check"). – Elliott Frisch Apr 23 '14 at 14:41
  • possible duplicate of [What would happen if I take my hard drive out of my current PC and put it in a new PC?](http://superuser.com/questions/412498/what-would-happen-if-i-take-my-hard-drive-out-of-my-current-pc-and-put-it-in-a-n), [How to change computer but retain hard disk](http://superuser.com/questions/197680/how-to-change-computer-but-retain-hard-disk) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Apr 23 '14 at 14:45
  • @ElliottFrisch Did you not read where he wrote TO ANOTHER IDENTICAL ONE – barlop Apr 23 '14 at 14:49
  • @barlop serial number on the backplane and video card and CPU change. Not to mention differences in stepping. – Elliott Frisch Apr 23 '14 at 14:51
  • @ElliottFrisch serial numbers don't have to be the same on the motherboard, more like model number or more accurately, just the chipset. similarly video card. i haven't heard of cpu stepping being an issue, have you experienced an issue in that situation? you can change cpu to another one and windows doesn't need a special update. – barlop Apr 23 '14 at 14:59
  • @barlop I've experienced Windows activation issues. And yes, actually Windows ties itself to the hardware with some pretty draconian [DRM](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/03/20/winxp_beta_testers_still/). – Elliott Frisch Apr 23 '14 at 15:01
  • @ElliottFrisch purely effecting activation? does this affect anything else? if so, what? – barlop Apr 23 '14 at 15:07
  • @barlop Depends on the version of Windows. Different versions behave differently. – Elliott Frisch Apr 23 '14 at 15:11
  • let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/14091/discussion-between-barlop-and-elliott-frisch) – barlop Apr 23 '14 at 15:24

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If the Motherboard has the same chipset then it will work.

Otherwise, apparently Acronis TrueImage has a setting that makes things work for a different motherboard chipset.

If you think about it philosophically, if two computers are identical, the hard drive won't know the difference will it. If you could put, even your heart, into an identical you, and your heart has a brain(but doesn't know location) it's not going to know the difference. In practice, the two computers might not be completely identical, e.g. different serial number on a device, but the motherboard is the same model(I assume given you say identical), and same model mbrd then obviously same chipset. It may be worth checking the MBRD model.

barlop
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  • Additional detail: Both of these computers are the same model, bought on the same day, a few years ago. All parts are identical (except for serial numbers, apparently), so I assume it'll work. Marking your answer as helpful. – user316519 Apr 23 '14 at 15:58