betty Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 Whilst staying at friends, we have been offered the use of a computer minus hard drive.Can we use our hard drive without any problems or reprogramming?We have Vista, they have Windows 7.For a return favour to them, would it work the other way round? I.e. Win 7 h/d in a Vista pc.I understand that both drives are SATA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rjpfrancais Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 NoUnless the two PCs have virtually identical hardware specifications(unlikely), when you put your Vista disk in your freinds PC, it will most probably just display an unintelligible error message on a blue screen and not go any further.And depending upon on the type of licence you have for Vista, it may not be strictly legal, although I doubt the Gendarmes will come around to arrest you :-))The same answer goes for putting the Win 7 disk in your PC running Vista.Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 Someone the other day tried to put the best bits of two computers running XP in one box. Result neither computer will reinstall with a genuine XP disc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sid Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 I would have thought the other pc didn't have Windows at all if there's no hard drive in it? How could it be W7?I tend to agree that it probably won't work!Sid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 Probably best way round is to set up user accounts on both computers severely restricting access to the parts you don't want them in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 Windows XP, Vista and 7 all need to be activated to enable them to be used. All three products use a key which is then 'connected' to the hardware like the CPU (which has an internal serial number as do many other chips such as video, HDD and especially network cards). If you make too many changes to a computer (as mentioned earlier) then it will not function. You can only install one copy of software on one PC. There are only two ways to get round this legally, you can deregister your copy or use a corporate copy (the latter only if you have a corporate site licence). So no this cannot be done legally. There is hack software that may allow you to do this but it is illegal and I would not trust it. Of course the worst case is if it is an OEM version designed for a particular machine make (Dell for example) in which case you can't install it on anything else other than a Dell. Again there is software that produces a 'patch' that can get round this but it is illegal to do so under the licence for that OEM software.To quote from MS "You can reinstall Windows on the same computer as many times as you want because activation pairs the Windows product key with information about your computer hardware. If you make a significant hardware change, you might have to activate Windows again."Further information can be found HERE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 What on earth have you got on your hard drive that is so sensitive that you would not trust a friend to use it? The swapping of hard drives is a particularly silly idea and is doomed to failure. I would forget it and buy yourself a laptop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty Posted October 17, 2010 Author Share Posted October 17, 2010 [quote user="Jay"]What on earth have you got on your hard drive that is so sensitive that you would not trust a friend to use it? The swapping of hard drives is a particularly silly idea and is doomed to failure. I would forget it and buy yourself a laptop.[/quote] What on earth have you got on your hard drive that is so sensitive that you would not trust a friend to use it? Personal. Would you let your friends have unlimited access to your hard drive? I would forget it and buy yourself a laptop. I wish I could but some of us pensioners are struggling as it is without splashing out on luxuries. My thanks to others who gave sensible advice and suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 Why not simply back the information up on to a DVD, CD or even a memory stick and delete it from your HDD. You can then take it to the 'other place' and your friend could do the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sid Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 On balance I have to say that the most sensible advice was the laptop suggestion. [;-)]Sid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty Posted October 17, 2010 Author Share Posted October 17, 2010 [quote user="sid"]On balance I have to say that the most sensible advice was the laptop suggestion. [;-)]Sid[/quote]Perhaps you will buy one for me at Christmas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 Touché. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sid Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 Ouch! But I resisted the sarcastic reply myself. I didn't ask where you were travelling to and from as poor pensioners, or how you bought your computer in the first place! A laptop would provide for your computing needs both at home and away.Some people don't want to be helped, but please don't tell me about managing on a small pension.Sid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty Posted October 19, 2010 Author Share Posted October 19, 2010 [quote user="sid"]Some people don't want to be helped, but please don't tell me about managing on a small pension.Sid[/quote]Where did I tell you that?You need glasses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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