Windows 10 Activation On Desktop with Swappable Hard Drives

Discussion in 'Windows 10' started by bluealien, Aug 7, 2015.

  1. bluealien

    bluealien MDL Member

    Mar 2, 2010
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    I have a desktop with Swappable Hard Drive Bays. The question is, I have 2 hard drives that both have windows 8.1.
    One drive has a capacity of 1TB and the other is only 500gb, the 1 tb is a clone of the other, done thru acronis. I use both, one as back up in case the other fails. Can I upgrade both of them to windows 10? If so, would swapping them occasionally affect activation? Would it affect the HWID if I swap them once in a while to transfer files and for maintenance and updates? Thank you.
     
  2. mad_cow

    mad_cow MDL Novice

    Jul 4, 2010
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    Nobody really knows the criteria M$ use for the HWID.

    Try it yourself and let us know the results.
     
  3. ElDiabl0

    ElDiabl0 MDL Junior Member

    May 31, 2011
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    Yes, you can and no it shouldn't affect the activation status.
     
  4. xtcrefugee

    xtcrefugee MDL Novice

    Jan 31, 2014
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    I can confirm it will work as well. You can do a fresh install on a completely different drive and it will still activate.
     
  5. bluealien

    bluealien MDL Member

    Mar 2, 2010
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    Thank you all for your replies. I will do the upgrades tomorrow and will find out for sure. Thanks.
     
  6. riahc3

    riahc3 MDL Addicted

    Jul 29, 2009
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    AFAIK, HDD swapping have never had activation issues. At most your NIC and/or motherboard have the best bet at crying foul when actvation comes up.
     
  7. MrKaon

    MrKaon MDL Senior Member

    Jan 23, 2011
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    It is base on Mother board and BIOS S/N.
    Changing RAM, hard drive, CPU or GPU wouldn't deactivate system.
     
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