It's been almost 15 years since I was a computer tech, and obviously things have changed drastically since then! I would like to take the HDD out of my Dell laptop and put it into my HP Elitebook that has a failing drive. However, I seem to remember when upgrading to Windows 10 that the OS installation is now "registered" to the hardware ID... or something like that.

So the big question is, can I simply move the HDD from one laptop to another and it'll still work? Obviously I'd need to download and update the drivers, but will the Windows install function properly?

Thanks in advance!

I can't speak to the Windows-specific issues, but you might have more basic problems. In that, the connection of the drive to the drive controller must be compatible. For example, you are not going to be able to put a PATA drive into a SATA system. There are other more subtle possible conflicts as well, for example older HDDs require a lot more power than those built in the last few years, and the EliteBook may not be prepared to deliver the watts.

WRT "will I be able to install Windows?" Why would you want to? There are any number of open source OS variants that will give you a better experience, be free of initial out-of-pocket cost, cost significantly less in the long run, and come without annoying questions of this type. If you have any IT experience at all, the learning curve should be trivial.

I attempted this recently between 2 dell laptops, 1 generation apart and it failed miserably (It was even worse than I expected).
It booted, updated, rebooted, but then it acted all kinds of weird. The plan was to get a few files off the old drive & then nuke & pave with a fresh install, and I barely got the files off.
Drivers 'updated' but hardware wasn't functioning, mouse would go nuts, just all kinds of stupid problems that probably shouldn't happen.
I would have likely been better off live-booting mint or ubuntu to get the files off, but it still didn't take that long, just incredibly annoying.
As far as windows vs anything else, it's getting closer to being enough BS to switch, but I have to use windows at work - I also deal with slackware (unraid), Raspian, ubuntu and other distros just enough to not remember the nuances of each.
How do you install a program? If the answer is 'What distro?', you've failed.

I'd just get a new SSD, they are not expensive as bigeinkcmo stated, you won't mess up your dell and you can just reinstall your operating system on the HP.

As Architect stated, with a clean drive just install a copy of linux and give it a try, probably find it's easier to deal with than the swap...

I'd just get a USB enclosure from Amazon or Newegg for 10-15 bucks and put the SSD in that rather than try to make it work in the laptop. Then just get another new compatible drive for the laptop.

How hard is it to try the swap. You'd have your answer in about 15mins (or less). And likely it wouldn't work for the concerns mentioned.

I third the advice of SSD. Gave new life to my old (2007) Dell D830 Latitude laptop and is still running strong in 2021. The SSD fit into the Dell laptop and replaced the HDD with no problem. The upgrade difference was night and day. Did a search on the "Crucial" site to find a compatible SSD but recommend a Samsung 850 EVO if it will work with your system.

I third the advice of giving Linux a try. Been using Linux Mint (Mate) since about 2009, on my laptop and desktop, when microsoft ended support for XP. I do keep a small netbook with windows for the rare times I need something to run *.exe programs such as camera and other electronic devices firmware update.

You'll be miles ahead if you simply acquire a SSD drive, install it, and then install a fresh version of Windows 10 on it. Then image that drive just in case you ever have a need to replace it.

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So the big question is, can I simply move the HDD from one laptop to another and it'll still work?

No.
The MS Digital license is not transferrable.
Additionally, HAL may be different and fail there too.
However, you could clone your existing drive to your new one.
Preferably to a SSD.
If the original drive is not physically capable of the clone procedure then you could just install the new drive and reinstall the OS, apps, data.
Additionally, if you have a back up software that also does bare metal restores you could also go that route too.
Veeam Microsoft Agent is free and a great minimal backup software package that could do it.
Back up the system, create a startup disk (utility is in Veeam), take out the old drive put in the new in unformatted drive, boot to the startup CD (or create with USB), restore completely to the new drive.
Many ways to skin that cat.

Not likely to even fit.

I just had a SSD fail in one of my HP elitebooks.

It was a 350 GB HP covered under warranty.

I didn't want to wait for the replacement so I took it to my local computer store and they replaced it one day for around $100.

I didn't have the tools or the patients to take the laptop apart. The drive was pretty deep inside.

It was replaced with a 500GB M.2 SSD • PCIe NVMe Gen 3

If your current drive meets those specs it will work.

They 500 gb are only $60, and the 1TB are a little over $120.

HP also sent a 500gb as they no longer had any smaller than that in stock for repair parts.

Mine is a elitebook 1040g3 and my other EliteBook x360 1040 G6 takes the same type of drives.

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Not likely to even fit.

What makes you think that?
It might not but yes it is wise to check it out first.

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Not likely to even fit.

3.5" vs. 2.5" vs. M2 form factors? Depends on how new the "new laptop" is, and, probably, what model within the line.

Prob. best for capacity, performance, and longevity to buy appropriate new SSD-based storage, and install from scratch, then connect the "old" drive via an external USB enclosure or cable thingy and transfer user data.

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Originally posted by architect:

quote:

Not likely to even fit.

3.5" vs. 2.5" vs. M2 form factors? Depends on how new the "new laptop" is, and, probably, what model within the line.

Prob. best for capacity, performance, and longevity to buy appropriate new SSD-based storage, and install from scratch, then connect the "old" drive via an external USB enclosure or cable thingy and transfer user data.

Unless it is pretty new the standard is pretty much 2.5" SATA III.
If it is a m2 nvme then it most likely is still under warranty.
You can still do all of the above in my previous post but it will take some extra work and adaptors.
In those cases backup restore would be my recommendation.
Yes, there were some oddball sized m2 non-nvme, diffent keyed, SATAII, etc out there but that was not all that common.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
<<snip>>

Prob. best for capacity, performance, and longevity to buy appropriate new SSD-based storage, and install from scratch, then connect the "old" drive via an external USB enclosure or cable thingy and transfer user data.

After reading all comments and feedback, I'm thinking this is probably my best option, so I will pursue it instead of swapping drives from another computer. Thanks everyone!

Damn it, Jim. I'm a programmer, not a hardware guy!