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How to Change a Disk Serial Number

By Paul Molina
Software applications can identify a disk drive through its serial number.
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Whenever your Windows OS formats a hard disk drive, it assigns a new generated serial number to the drive. This serial number, as opposed to the hardware serial number the disk drive was manufactured with, is used by software applications to identify the drive and is sometimes used prevent multiple activations of the same software on other computers. If you're trying to replace your old hard drive with a new one, however, the different serial numbers may create with software association. Using a serial number changer, you can quickly change your new drive's serial number to match your old one's and avoid software association issues.

Retrieving old serial number

Click the Windows or "Start" icon and click "All Programs," and then "Accessories." Click "System Tools" and then "System Information" to open the system information window.

Expand "Components," then "Storage" and click "Drives" to open the information page for the system's drives.

Write down your old drive's serial number, represented by 8 HEX symbol and found next to the "Volume Serial Number" category.

Changing your new drive's serial number

Download a serial number changer. A link to a free serial changing tool can be found in the Resources. Open the changer once the download is complete.

Select your current drive's letter from the "Drives" category and replace the serial number with the one you've written down. Click "Change" and then "Yes" on the prompt that pops up.

Reboot your computer. Your new drive's serial number now matches the original's.

References

Tips

  • You can use a serial number changer to change a drive's serial number to any combination of 8 HEX symbols. You can also use it to change the serial numbers of individual drive partitions.

Writer Bio

Paul Molina began writing professionally in 2010. He holds an Associate of Arts in biology and tends to focus his writing on various health and science topics. Molina is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Florida International University.

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