Ported laptop disc to new machine

[Senior Paper Monitor]

OK - need some guidance here please ...

laptop died - failed motherboard.

Recovered drive (SATA) added to USB cradle and plugged into machine filtched from elsewhere (can read no problem - supporting theory of dead motherboard)

Current plan is to obtain a new laptop and simply swap drive in to that

But in the mean time I want to work on the temporary machine, using the software and files on the old drive.

I assumed that opening a file on the old disc would simply associate with the old software on the old disc - it doesn't

I also assumed I could open applications on the old disk via explorer and away I would go - response is 'incorrect FSI.DSL. Re-install software.

What am I doing wrong ?

[M.Mouse]

When you install an application it is not just a question of the program executable file just sitting there and when you click it it runs, except in a few cases with very simple programs. What actually happens is the installation routine adds various files into the operating system and entries in the Registry so that the operating system knows how to run the program. What you are doing will never work.

You can access your data files e.g.. documents, music, etc. and they will open on another machine but using the appropriate progam already installed on that machine.

You say you will put the drive in a new laptop. That too will not work unless it is an identical laptop to the failed one. You can transfer your data files on to a new machine and reinstall your software but not just fit the old disk and expect everything to work.

[Senior Paper Monitor]

Thanks - that's ruined my day :( :(

Was hoping for a shortcut solution - looks like I'll have to do the work !

Now to decide whether to go for the new machine immediately or do the work twice

[Mike-Bracknell]

Go for the new machine immediately.

[Milo Minderbinder]

You may hit an additional problem when you connect the drive to the new machine.
The Windows 7 security modem makes it harder to do this: yo find you can't access anything in the old user profile until you either change the permissions on the files, or change ownership of the files. Seems to vary from machine to machine - some go easy, some don't

[Saab Dastard]

Transferring compatible SATA disk from one laptop to a new one may be quite feasible, without re-installing anything, depending on OS.

I've moved a HD from an intel PC to an AMD PC and the OS (Win 7) just pondered for a while, loaded a bunch of drivers and woke up happy. I had to re-install video drivers and some chipset, network and audio drivers, but it's all working fine.

I've done the same with server 2008 R2, which has a similar kernel to Win 7, I believe.

If you've got the OS DVD and the necessary drivers for the new PC on a CD or USB, it should be achievable.

SD

[Milo Minderbinder]

just watch out for SLP Windows activation - if the disk is from a different make of machine you will run into activatin / "not genuine" problems

[Saab Dastard]

Milo,

That's a good point - but I didn't have any activation / reactivation problem at all.

The only common features of the donor and recipient PC were the RAM, disks, DVD drives and the case!

New mobo, new processor, new graphics card (moved from AGP to PCI-e).

It is a full retail copy of Win 7, not an OEM license, perhaps that was the reason.

SD

[Mike-Bracknell]

Milo,

That's a good point - but I didn't have any activation / reactivation problem at all.

The only common features of the donor and recipient PC were the RAM, disks, DVD drives and the case!

New mobo, new processor, new graphics card (moved from AGP to PCI-e).

It is a full retail copy of Win 7, not an OEM license, perhaps that was the reason.

SD
Given you took the disk with you, it would have had the license key already inserted. What probably happened is it re-authenticated in the background without telling you - you can check this in the event log. Do this too many times and it hits a threshold and starts complaining.

[Mr Optimistic]

Why do you want to swap the drive into a new machine? Laptops have recovery partitions and instant media partitions which means you have to be a bit careful messing with partitions and imaging across. Why not just use the new machine, with its new hard drive, with the old drive in a cradle which can later be used for off machine back-ups ?