Windows 7 Can I use my sata2 hdd on dual drive dual boot system and then seperate them later

[Wmtelsr1]

I have a older athalon xp system with win 7 and 2 gb of memory i wish to upgrade so I can take advantage of sse2 instruction set for AutoCad training 2011. I am short funds to upgrade now. I have a sata2 hdd 250 WD. I want to make my wife's computer use the second hdd as a dual boot for win 7. as a temp fix. Will i be able to remove it later and hook it up to my new mobo ? My wife said only temp!

Sorry, I don't know a shorter way to explain the problem.

Thank you for looking at my post.

William

 

[zigzag3143]

I am confused. SSE2 (or 3) are cpu extended instruction sets. What does the HD have to do with them?


Ken J

 

[Wmtelsr1]

I need to upgrade my cpu and mother board my amd athalon xp doesn't support the sse2 I want to put my win 7 in a computer that has the sse2 compliance for now until I am able to update my computer with a cpu that will. I don't wish to buy another OS package and move the AutoCad files if I can operate as a dual boot dual drive for a temporary period.

William

 

[Digerati]

Technically, this can be done. But legally, I doubt it. The Win7 license MUST be a "retail" license - one purchased separately at a retail outlet and not an OEM or upgrade version that came with or was purchase for another computer (like your old XP computer). And it can only be used on one computer - not yours and the wife's.

A "retail" license is the ONLY license that can be transfered to another computer. OEM and upgrade licenses can not, under any circumstances, be transfered to a new computer. Those licenses are tied directly to the "original equipment" for which they were purchased for.

If, and only if the Windows 7 license is a full "retail" version, then if this were me, I would use a removable drive bay. When the wife was using the machine, you slide her drive into the boot drive position. When you are using the machine, you remove her drive, and slide your drive into the machine (shutting down and unplugging from the wall before each swap). In this way, the two operating system do not interfere with each other, or the boot process. And only one OS is installed at a time. Then when the new computer arrives, you permanently install the Windows 7 disk into the new machine.

Note when the new computer arrives, it would be best to start over and reinstall Win7 from scratch because just putting the Win7 drive into the new computer will likely cause Win7 to choke when it sees a different motherboard, which is really many different hardware devices in one.

 

[Wmtelsr1]

Digerati,
the win 7 software is not oem, my pc was using xp pro when win 7 beta came out. I had RC on it and then purchased
win 7 retail not an upgrade. I it is on my ied drive in 32 bit mode. I want to upgrade the CPU and then later upgrade my
hdd to sata 2 i will only be using the lic on one computer at a time.

Also, I was hopping to use the AutoCAD under win 7 64 not 32.

I hope this clears things up. I think it looks pretty muddy now.

I want to thank you for the tip about removable HDDs I was not sure about it until now.

 

[Digerati]

With a retail license, on one machine only, you are good to go. As far as the rest looking muddy, I can't really help with that. I still think the removable drive bays are the best bet.

 

[Wmtelsr1]

thank you for your replies

William