Transferring Windows 8 to my new SSD

I own a GT70 0NE-452, and decided to buy a new 240GB mSATA SSD to replace the current 128GB SSD. I want to move Windows 8 to this new SSD, but this is apparently far more difficult than I anticipated. My computer did not come with any Windows 8 DVD (just a DVD of drivers), and I can't find any legal way to download a Windows 8 installation ISO without paying for one. Here is what I have at my disposal:

My Windows 8 product key
An 8GB USB flash drive
A 1TB HDD secondary drive in the computer that is staying there.

How can I get Windows 8 on my new SSD without buying it again?

 

On another note, should a Windows 8 DVD have been included with my computer? I bought it used, so it's entirely possible that something like that was missing.

 

How to create installation media for a PC refresh or reset

before you install the system make sure u only leave the 240Gb mSATA ssd in the laptop to prevent the bootsector being written on other drives, this means by the time you install windows 8 all you can have connected to your computer is: the installation USB flash drive and the SSD you want to have the system in, and NOTHING ELSE(guess how much trouble i've had with the bootsector written in the mechanical drive, especially when it starts showing red on crystal disc info)

old fashioned back up with system image:
Using Windows 8′s “hidden” backup to clone and recover your whole PC | Ars Technica

 

I tried following the instructions, but got this message: "Sorry, Windows 8 isn't available for online purchase in the country/region you're in." Even though I'm in the US. Anyway, I think the issue is that I have an OEM license. Any other possibilities?

 

try running it with compatibility mode (XP service pack 3)

 

Upgrade to Windows 8 with only a product key - Microsoft Windows

I think I gave you the upgrade assistant by accident lol, this is the one that works, forgot that I was on win 7 when trying the assistant but now on windows 8 this link definitely works

 

I've tried using that but it doesn't work for me. My product key is for OEM Windows, so that version of windows doesn't recognize it as valid.

 

so you've tried both links?

 

Yes, and no luck with either.

 

just to be sure u entered a 25 character product key right? through belarc advisor or similar product to obtaining the product key

 

Yeah I used belarc. I called Microsoft and they said that since it's OEM it won't work. I need a different approach.

Has anyone else done this with a OEM license? I'm sure I'm not the first person to upgrade a factory-installed hard drive.

 

Windows 8 ISO Download

By using this iso the user take full responsibility ...etc... Use it at your own will as I tried providing you with the safest official links, simply mount it and copy to a flash drive, alternatively try the windows system image method I provided you with, it requires no installation and imo the fastest way to get things done, except of course you dont get to make an installation drive to fix total failures

 

Thanks this looks promising. It'll take a while to download but I'll report back tomorrow.

 

good luck with that, keep me posted and if it still doesnt work try the system image back up method or use EASEUS Todo Backup to clone the whole OS drive to your SSD

 

I just noticed this is the Enterprise edition of Windows 8, so after 90 days it would stop working, and apparently I'd have to do a clean install of regular Windows 8 then.

I'm going to try EASEUS. I previously tried FileZilla and Parted Magic, but they kept crashing on me at boot up. Hopefully I'll have more luck with this one.

 

i thought with whatever version of windows 8 you are running by the time its trial period ends, and by the time you key in the serial code, it will just lock up all features not included in windows 8, but continue working

 

Nope, not according to this: Download Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation

"Following the evaluation period, you will need to replace the operating system on your test computer and reinstall all your programs and data. It is not possible to upgrade the evaluation to a licensed working version of Windows 8. A clean installation is required."

Though to be honest, I might just use this and postpone worrying about this problem until 3 months from now.

 

one last hope for you, try if the generic key: XKY4K-2NRWR-8F6P2-448RF-CRYQH starts the download on windows8-setup.exe

 

I should have tried that. Well anyway, it turns out students at my school can download windows 8 for free, so I used that. I successfully installed windows on the new drive and it runs, but there are still two issues. First, the wireless doesn't turn on. I tried hitting fn-f9 but no luck. Second, the OS doesn't start automatically. I needed to hit f3 and choose recover first. Any ideas?

Ok the wireless issue I was able to fix by installing drivers from the main CD. The boot issue remains though. The msi screen will appear, then go back to black, then reappear, and so on until I hit f3. At that point, a screen will appear saying there are issues and windows must be repaired. The only way out is for me to choose the recovery option, which then gives me two windows 8 options. Only the first one will actually boot windows. The other will take me back to square one.

 

this is because you have 2 copies of windows 8 in 2 different drive, like I said, when you install the OS make sure no other drives are present in the laptop, now just kindly boot without the spare OS SSD (physically remove it) to test if the MBR is correct. After you got into the OS check under Computer management(search function) that on the same physical drive there exist partition(s) that contain the status of Boot and system, this means the boot partition and system partition is on the same physical drive, doesnt need to be on the same partition though. Now once you confirm everything is correct, boot with the spare OS drive connected to the laptop, enter the bios and set default startup disk to be your MAIN OS drive, if it still gets you the dual boot screen enter either one of it and check under computer management which disk contains the system and boot partition(there is only one system and boot partition on each boot so the spare OS will not be marked), once you booted into the correct OS(the one with the 240Gb SSD) format the spare SSD so the boot record and system will not be detected anymore, the error should come from you system detecting two different boot record and system

your main target should be to format the spare SSD, but before that you have to make sure the new SSD gets all the system files written to it, this is why I have recommended that you install the OS without any other HDD and SSDs present in the machine, just so all the essential files for booting are not written in unwanted place, if you cant boot with the new SSD only in the laptop with all other drives removed your boot record is written to some other places, this will require you not to recover the system but to save time reinstall the system, it sometimes take more time to diagnose a faulty system(many reboots required) than to just reinstall to fix all issues

 

Great, I was able to remove the alternative boot, wipe it from my other hard drive, and have everything boot smoothly. I have just one last question -- when I cloned the old SSD, there were two small partitions (600MB and 100MB) that were full, but I had no idea what they were for. I copied them over to my new SSD just to be safe. Any idea what they are?

 

check computer management, the status of system should be under on of those partitions, that should be the MBR, but hey since ur using UEFI as I suppose, these two partitions might be the UEFI alternative to the BIOS MBR, i'd advice you not to touch them, at all, even if disk management marks one of the partition as active/primary/logical, I dual booted windows 7 and 8 and under windows 7 my windows 8 partition is marked as primary only which is format-able, but of course you dont want to, so basically dont touch these partitions, alternatively if the drive is hidden/ no files present in the drive but space are used up(hidden folder) this also gives you a hint that the stuff inside is pretty important

 

Okay I'll leave them alone. I guess I'm all set then. Everything boots fine, even with my HDD removed. Thanks for your help!.