i'm having an issue with my three years old laptop ( msi gl 62, windows 7 64-bit) drive which seems to die very soon. I'm a poor student so i can't afford a new laptop at this time. If i buy an external usb drive (like wd passport) and clone my whole drive into that, will i be able to boot from it and use it instead the old broken drive? I've read something about cloning software like Macrinum or Clonezilla but i'm not sure if it does what i want. Also things like Rufus or Win2Usb, does it actually work? If yes, which one would you recommend? Thanks in advance.
Asked
Active
Viewed 2,494 times
1 Answers
0
You're overthinking it. Just replace the drive and clone old one onto the new one. It will be cheaper than an external one and you can keep your laptop.
Now, regarding your idea. It could work... maybe. But it's against the license.
Windows can boot from external disks if you install it as Windows To Go. Conversion of a regular installation is possible, but there's only the hard way and the paid way.
You most likely have Windows 7 installed using the license that came with the laptop. It's probably Windows 7 Home and certainly an OEM license. OEM licenses can't be moved to other devices and Windows To Go is officially only available for Enterprise editions. So by doing this you're voiding the license and your installation may deactivate anytime.
gronostaj
- 58,482