How do I transfer windows 8 from one harddrive to another?

I am currently using windows7 in a 1 tb harddrive. I have another internal harddrive that im not using that has windows 8 on it but is only 150gb. How do i bring windows 8 to the 1tb harddrive i am using to replace windows 7?

Cian567 said:

I am currently using windows7 in a 1 tb harddrive. I have another internal harddrive that im not using that has windows 8 on it but is only 150gb. How do i bring windows 8 to the 1tb harddrive i am using to replace windows 7?

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Welcome to the Windows Eight Forums, Cian.

Is this an OEM or did you install Windows 8 on the 150 GB drive? And, are you dual booting?

BTW, could you go back to your profile and give us your complete system setup? Brand name, HDDs, RAM, Video Card, etc. We can help you much better if we know your system specs.

I installed windows 8 myself. Ubuntu is also on the same harddrive but i dont use that harddrive at all. Ill fill in my profile now. Thanks

Cian567 said:

I installed windows 8 myself. Ubuntu is also on the same harddrive but i dont use that harddrive at all. Ill fill in my profile now. Thanks

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OK, but is this a dual boot system?

Y'know, if it were me, and if I could easily get to either/or Win 8/Win 7 (or even Ubuntu), I'd leave things like they are. If Windows 8 should crash, your files are on another drive and won't be affected.

However, should you decide to change to the Windows 7 drive, there are several things to consider, especially if this is a dual boot system, not the least of which is your boot file. I'll leave that for someone with more experience about boot stuff.

Since you want to clean install Windows 8 over Windows 7; that is the only option you have. You cannot bring an OS from one drive to another. Once you've installed Windows 8 on the Win 7 hard drive, be sure everything works first, and then delete Windows 8 from the secondary drive. If you're not going to use Ubuntu, I would simply format the 150GB hard drive and use it for my data; that way if the unspeakable happens, you will have your files intact.

After installation you may be told you have to re-activate, which should give you options on changing the Product Key or calling Microsoft via phone. Of course, you don't want to change the Product Key, so you would need to call Microsoft and explain that this is the same computer (they'll probably know that) and that you just changed hard drives. Microsoft's licensing says you must have no more than one copy of your licensed product installed, even if it's on the same system, so I would get rid of the old copy of Windows 8 before I called MS.

This might sound like a stupid question but how do i install w8? I downloaded it from the installer you get from the microsoft website.

Cian567 said:

This might sound like a stupid question but how do i install w8? I downloaded it from the installer you get from the microsoft website.

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Oops! When you said you'd installed Windows 8 yourself, I assumed you had a DVD to install from. My bad.

Download or Create ISO may help you: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/18309-windows-8-windows-8-1-iso-download-create.html

Or, Update from Windows 8: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/32995-windows-8-1-update-windows-8-a.html

And, here's the Windows 8 Tutorial Index: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/6795-windows-8-tutorial-index.html

I don't know if it's possible, but when you start your install of Windows 8.1 from the Windows Store, try to put the update on the Windows 7 drive. Like I said, I'm not sure you can do that, but if you can . . .

Also, if you succeed in creating the ISO (it will most likely have to be Windows 8.1), you should be able to then create a clean install.

As everyone here have said many times over, BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP your data, and create a backup of your complete system, both hard drives before you begin.

One more thing . . . if you're reluctant to go to Windows 8.1, I will say it's much, much better than Windows 8. Microsoft has finally listened to us and given us options! And, it's free!

Thanks. Ill try that