can I remove the boot drive -- insert a windows 7 boot drive -- and boot no problems? { if so, directions, tips to do it ? }
1429800
Yes.... BUT you will have to take a few steps: 1. Befor you insert the win7 hard drive go into the bios and change the UEFI boot over to LEGACY boot... Save settings then shut down. 2. Insert the win7 hard drive and start the computer. 3. Go to MSI.com and get all the windows 7 drivers for the MSI GT70 Dominator (NOT MSI GT70 DOMINATOR PRO) 4. Install drivers restarting between each driver install. 5. After last restart you should be good to go with all devices working properly! Hope I helped... Note: When I first got this computer I did the same thing. But due curiosity I gave win8.1 a try if you have patience with learning your way around a little different version of windows its actually a really good OS so long as you set it to boot to desktop of course :) Not pushing you to try it but just a thought... now Im using win8.1 and its my preference. Enjoy this machine if you get its awesome!
2118962
Yes, the system I was using already had Win 7 with the original drive not working. I didn't have any issue replacing this drive under Win 7 at all. The OS recognized the drive right away. Hope this helps!
2047834
The OS is stored on the hard drive. If you just change the mobo it should still boot right up without any problem. You may have to re validate your Windows installation. If it gives you a message to do this after a period of time it should take your product key. If it won't work then you will have to call Microsoft and they will likely help you with it. This has been a great Motherboard for me. Good luck.
750971
I just installed a new win7 os no problems at all. Then reattached my old drive and removed what I wanted , formatted it and store pictures and large programs on it. I am just sorry I did not buy a bigger SSD.
18139
NOTE: Very important, after installing your old drive in this encasement, plug it in and connect it via the USB to a working computer, and immediately run an anti virus check on it to clean your old drive! I do not believe you can boot from it. (never tried to or had to!) I use this to retrieve data from the old drive installed in it, (it works great) however, it also can be utilized as an external hard drive once installed.
1645
no just follow instructions, put it on drive turn off pc and back on, select boot from disk
2085602
I'e checked it can be formatted to be bootable. Ubuntu boots in less a minute. I think it was reformatted by me about 100 times for testing speed with different fs, I don't see any lost space.
1753237
You may not need to. Do you have ahci enabled in Bios? All I did was make sure ahci was enabled upon the first bootup and it recognized all 3 of my hdds. I also chose to reinstall windows after from scratch that way there were no drivers for my old motherboard to be deleted. It was easier to install windows after reformatting the system drive then it would have been to remove everything for the old motherboard.
1795272
It's not an option with this version. You have to wipe the hard drive and install Windows 7 from scratch. So try and save your data off another drive or usb device.
391512
It's just a drivers/utility DVD. The Windows 7 install DVD must be created via the recovery partiton (4 DVD's to burn!). And it will only restore the partition & Windows to their factory state (all other info on the drive will be destroyed.)
26830
Almost all hard drives are OS agnostic, meaning they can be formatted and schemed to the appropriate OS. The website says its preformatted to NTFS. I've formatted it in several formats (such as HFS/+, FAT32, NTFS, Ext2/3, as well as in both the GUID and the MBR schemes) and they've all operated correctly.As far as booting win8 off it, I have no idea. I use it as a backup/recovery for my mac, and its never failed me yet.
2216696
The machine comes preloaded with Windows 7 Professional 64bit already. You're good to go. The supplied recovery media is for Windows 8, however. Re-installing Windows 7 will be difficult. I'd recommend preforming a complete system backup to an external harddrive as soon as you get the machine.
1761022
I'm actually having issues... I'm not sure if its the MB for the hard drive. After installing the OS and updating Windows crashes and won't boot up. It gets stuck on the update screen and won't change.
1093402
When you boot the system, make sure it's recognized in the bios before Windows loads. Hit the blue ThinkVantage button during boot, or F1 I believe. Also, I sometimes have issues and have to eject the drive before I boot. Then put it in after Windows has loaded. I wouldn't eject the drive tray while powered up though.
1548171
Mmm ,,, What install/set Bios?? ... I put mine in and the system recognized it as drive g: and Done. Could be a bad drive as Andre says ... Try formating. My Sys is Win7/63bit HP Elite. If your replacing C: then use the transfer program from WD Free and works great.
1995148
I removed the 500G drive (it was 7200 RPM, BTW) and replaced it with a 250G SSD. Because of the fixed position of the disk connector a 3.5 to 2.5 adapter doesn't fit. I just plugged the SSD in and secured it with a couple pieces of tape. Since it lies flat, it's not going anywhere. I loaded a pre-release copy of Windows 10 on the SSD and have been running it for a couple months. Not a gaming rig, but a good general purpose unit. Boots fast, very stable. When Win. 10 is released I'll put the 500G disk back and run the upgrade so I'll have a genuine licensed copy.
904132
It is backwards compatible. I'm not sure if you can use a boot source but I am sure with certain programs it is possible.