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I got a new laptop. It's a Gateway NE56R41u, that originally came with Win8. I upgraded it to Win8.1 and then to Win 10 (So I don't have Win10 license per se).

Now, before this one I've been using a Toshiba laptop, for which I had bought a 1.5TB hard drive, that I don't want to lose. There's a lot of data on that hard that I can't backup anywhere, bc of the size.

I want to "migrate" the Win10 installation, along with the license and oem data to that 1.5 HDD. No programs or anything, Just the OS, with license and OEM.

Ideally, I'm looking for a way to make Windows install/upgrade media from my current installation.

George Hovhannisian
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2 Answers2

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Your BEST option (if you are worried about the data) is to back it up. See if you can get a 30 day cloud storage trial on OneDrive, Dropbox, Amazon or something. Back up your data, then reinstall windows on the larger drive. Then recover your data.

I have made the mistake of trying new things on "production" devices and losing out. When in doubt, back it up.

If you can spare $10, Google Drive is only $10 per month for 1 TB of storage. Or if you can't spend any money, you could create create like 100 Gmail accounts which each come with 15 GB of free cloud storage! :P

Joshua Shourds
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  • Can't. I live in a country where I (for various stupid reasons) cannot buy anything (Product or service) unless I can pay for it in cash. So, a transaction to Google (or anyone else is not an option). That's also why I need to keep my license, I have no way to buy a new (legal) WIn10 DVD. – George Hovhannisian Jul 19 '17 at 15:46
  • Keeping your license shouldn't be a problem. You can download a Windows 10 install tool for free from Microsoft (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10) and if you don't know your license key, you can recover it using a tool like Belarc advisor (https://www.belarc.com/products_belarc_advisor)

    As far as the backup goes, you may just need to get creative.

     – Joshua Shourds Jul 19 '17 at 16:03
  • I know how to get my license key, but it's an oem key, so it won't work with a fresh install, right? Sorry, I don't know much about oem. Also, the OEM folders (the boot logo and whatever else there is) would be lost. – George Hovhannisian Jul 19 '17 at 16:07
  • Boot logo comes from BIOS. The OEM key is tied to the motherboard, so using a fresh image on a new HDD is not an issue. The OEM folders would be lost, but they usually just contain drivers. You should be able to find the drivers on the manufacturers website if Windows doesn't find them automatically – Joshua Shourds Jul 19 '17 at 16:13
  • My C:\Windows\oem contains a folder named Identity Card, and my C:\Windows\System32\OEM contains a bunch of bat and vbs scripts a subfolder named Logo with 2 bmp Gateway logos, which I assumed are the logos I see on boot, and a few other subfolders. So, I ussumed these were important... Not sure if they really are, though – George Hovhannisian Jul 19 '17 at 16:19
  • Your computer will survive without them. But to be safe - back up the folder and copy it back to the new image in the same spot. – Joshua Shourds Jul 19 '17 at 16:20
  • New image? You mean the new drive? – George Hovhannisian Jul 19 '17 at 16:26
  • Yes, sorry, new image meaning the new install of Windows on the new drive. – Joshua Shourds Jul 19 '17 at 16:28
  • OK, apparently Win 10's Recovery option (Control Panel -> Large Icons -> Recovery) Writes the entire content of the recovery partition to a Flash drive. I'll start doing this tomorrow (my shift starts now and I need the old laptop), utilizing this recovery USB and I'll write a step-by-step guide of what I did when I'm done. @JoshuaShouds, please post an answer mentioning the license being in the BIOS, so I can mark it as an answer. – George Hovhannisian Jul 19 '17 at 20:24
  • Here is some evidence of OEM Windows licenses auto-installing onto a newly imaged HDD https://superuser.com/questions/497660/will-a-clean-install-of-windows-8-recognize-an-oem-license-product-key – Joshua Shourds Jul 21 '17 at 16:26
  • Regarding your intentions, use EXTREME caution! My guess is that the recovery steps will WIPE your 1.5 TB drive. Let me know how it goes. – Joshua Shourds Jul 21 '17 at 16:26
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Redo Backup can do Try This full Image to another HDD

If the machine(Laptop) comes with pre-Installed windows you dont need to do any

Download the Media Creation Tool for Windows 8.1 from Microsoft and Download the OS came(SL/Home/Pro) with the Laptop and Download the Media Creation Tool for windows 10 and Download the OS Supported to Your Laptop(it means Home/Pro) You can install windows 8.1 first and then upgrade with Windows 10

KMKMAHESH
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