Recently my laptop's processor fan stopped working! Of course laptop had to be sent to authorized service point and I had to wait for it a couple of weeks. Sadly I couldn't take these couple of weeks off, so before sending the laptop to be repaired I removed the hard disk so that I could have access to my files. Until my laptop was repaired I had to use a desktop PC instead, and since the laptop's hard disk was SATA, I could easily plug it in to the desktop case. SATA data and power cables are the same both for laptop and desktop machines.

In the beginning I was thinking to use my laptop's hard disk as secondary drive, i.e. my Vista operating system wouldn't be used. I would have to work on a temporary environment, perhaps reinstall some tools there etc.etc. Really annoying stuff! The second thought was that I should give it a try to see how Vista would operate in this extreme scenario that the complete hardware was changed. So, I removed the desktop's hard disk completely, I plugged-in the laptop's hard disk and switched it on!

And... surpise-surpise

Vista launched normally! A window popped-up that displayed the progress of installing the new hardware. Of course that window included everything. From the processor and motherboard, to the graphics adapter and the USB mouse. After a few minutes Vista requested a restart and after that it was up and running! Of course activation was necessary due to many hardware changes, but apart from that the system was functioning and was performing better than before!!!

And there is more...

Today I got my laptop back from service. I plugged the hard disk back in, switched the laptop on, and Vista booted in 30 seconds without displaying any window about hardware changes and drivers being installed or re-enabled. Currently I can plug-in my hard disk to both my laptop and desktop PC and Vista works.

This is what I call a plug-n-play operating system!