replacing a Windows 7 laptop HD

[crono_logical]

I'm thinking of buying a Win7 laptop. What I'd like to do after receiving it is swap out the 500 GB conventional disk and replace it with a SSD instead, if possible. (The laptop I'm looking at doesn't offer SSD pre-installed.)

I'm thinking this will be a 2-step job, 1) shrink the Win7 partition sufficiently, then 2) duplicate it to the new HD, before installing the new disk. I guess I might need to be careful copying the MBR as well so the new disk can boot properly. I might duplicate the system restore partition as well, depending on space.


But before I attempt this, I'd like to know would the Win7 activation break if I did this? Or anything else break? Would it break after both steps, or would it continue working happily even with the system partition resized? I've not really played with Vista or Win7 much in this manner, so don't know how picky their activation is. At least if I know that it's ok with step 1, then I can repatition the 500 GB the way I'd like if I'm stuck with it.

 

[Perris Calderon]

I'm thinking of buying a Win7 laptop. What I'd like to do after receiving it is swap out the 500 GB conventional disk and replace it with a SSD instead, if possible. (The laptop I'm looking at doesn't offer SSD pre-installed.)

I'm thinking this will be a 2-step job, 1) shrink the Win7 partition sufficiently, then 2) duplicate it to the new HD, before installing the new disk. I guess I might need to be careful copying the MBR as well so the new disk can boot properly. I might duplicate the system restore partition as well, depending on space.


But before I attempt this, I'd like to know would the Win7 activation break if I did this? Or anything else break? Would it break after both steps, or would it continue working happily even with the system partition resized? I've not really played with Vista or Win7 much in this manner, so don't know how picky their activation is. At least if I know that it's ok with step 1, then I can repatition the 500 GB the way I'd like if I'm stuck with it.

the actual activation might have to go into a live verification but you should get through it easily enough once you get human contact which isn't too hard to accomplish

 

[dreamliner77]

No, unless you bought a laptop with XP downgrade rights.

Have you updated your video drivers?

 

[Johnny]

I am thinking it is the video driver as well.