I recently upgraded my gaming laptop's NVMe drive from a 512GB SSD to a 2TB Acer Predator GM7000, and now I'm building a new gaming PC. I'm considering taking the boot drive from my laptop and connecting it directly to the motherboard of my new PC. I'm worried about potential driver issues, BIOS compatibility, or anything getting messed up in the process. Would it be better to do a clean Windows install instead? I'm planning on backing up my important files on a USB drive and reinstalling my games. Here are my current specs:
**New PC Specs:**
- i5-14600KF
- ASUS ROG Strix B760-I Gaming WiFi
- Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR5 CL30 RAM (2 x 16GB)
- Palit GeForce RTX 5070 Infinity 3 SFF 12GB
**Current Laptop Specs:**
- i5-12450H
- MSI Prestige 14H
- 16GB DDR5
- RTX 2050
What do you all recommend?
3 Answers
It shouldn't cause major issues, but it's definitely not the best approach. If you can, do a clean install. Also, don't forget to use something like Hirens to grab your Windows license key, as you might need it after changing hardware!
You can definitely use your laptop's boot drive in the new PC! However, I'd recommend doing a clean reinstall of Windows using a USB stick. This way, you’ll have a stable system right from the start. After that, just copy over your personal files, and you’ll be good to go!
Sounds like a solid plan! I really want to avoid any hiccups, so I think I’ll go for the clean install.
Switching between Intel platforms should be fine, and your Windows 10 or 11 should recognize the new hardware without major issues. I’ve upgraded a few times, and it worked smoothly for me! Just keep in mind that it's not always the most ideal method.
Yeah, I'm building everything from scratch, so I should be fine on the license front!