2 Hard Drives and 1 Windows Pro

darobarts

New Member
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So I recently upgraded pretty much all of the hardware in my computer including a second hard drive. I already had Windows 8 Pro on my other hard drive. Now I just put in the windows 8 CD when booting up my other hard drive and it seemed to install Windows 8 Pro fine. Once I opened it, it said that I needed to activate Windows 8 because my activation key was already in use. I was wondering how to deactivate my old hard drive with windows 8 and just allow my hard drive to use it and let my second hard drive just run through that main one. Your help is much appreciated and if you need more information just ask me. Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Welcome to EightForums.


Reformat the old HD Drive, than use phone activation to active your new install.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
Format the other HD. Bring up charm bar under click on (settings)
Click on (change PC settings) under PC settings click (general) tab
In right hand Colum look for (refresh your PC without affecting your files)
Click on (get started)

This will activate your windows 8…
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7 & Win 8
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
    CPU
    AMD Athlon II X2 245
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H
    Memory
    4096 MB DDR2-SDRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    On bord
So I recently upgraded pretty much all of the hardware in my computer including a second hard drive. I already had Windows 8 Pro on my other hard drive. Now I just put in the windows 8 CD when booting up my other hard drive and it seemed to install Windows 8 Pro fine. Once I opened it, it said that I needed to activate Windows 8 because my activation key was already in use. I was wondering how to deactivate my old hard drive with windows 8 and just allow my hard drive to use it and let my second hard drive just run through that main one. Your help is much appreciated and if you need more information just ask me. Thanks
You could use Acronis True Image (or a similar program) to restore the contents of your first hard drive to the new one. Once you get the new one working properly you can format the old drive. Seems consistent enough with the Win8 EULA to me.

I think you would want to get the Plus Pack if you get Acronis. However, I have restored systems to different drives successfully without having the plus pack (i.e., before the Plus Pack became available). From the Acronis site,

"True Image 2013 Plus Pack is here to make your hardware migration as easy as a click of your mouse. No matter what the make, model or installed components of your computer, easily restore files, programs, or your entire system to different hardware, dynamic disks, and even Microsoft Windows Pre-installation Environments (WinPE)."
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7 Ult on DIY; Win8 Pro on MBP/Parallels; Win7 Ult on MBP/Boot Camp; Win7 Ult/Win8 Pro on HP
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY Rig; MacBook Pro (MBP)/Parallels/Boot Camp; HP Pavilion dv6500t Laptop
    CPU
    Intel i7-2600K (sometimes OC'd to 4.8 GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Rev B3
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 570 SC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gateway
    Hard Drives
    Dual Boot:
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on OCZ Revo x2 and
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on Caviar Black SATA 3's
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master 932 HAF
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Internet Speed
    20 Mbps Download/2+ Mbps Upload
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-ray Burner/DVD Burner
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