Kent777,
My daughter has an HP 2000 2b09WM laptop with Win 8 that is slower than a Commodore 64. It has 2 GB RAM and a 5400 RPM HDD. My question is: can I use the 7200 rpm HDD as is with Win 7 in the HP 2000? If not, do I have to wipe it clean, clone and install?
One definite reason why you cannot do this and one other that may have a bearing on the matter;
1: The drivers on the HDD will be different for the two notebooks, when the computer tries to boot the incompatible drivers will be loaded and trip Windows up.
2: As the computer is a brand name the OS may have been pre installed under VLK (volume licence key) conditions, this means that the OS concerned is tied to the original computer that it was installed on and the product key not transferable.
Regarding #2 above, you can download a Windows 8.1 ISO and do a clean install, see here make sure that you have the Windows product key written down before any clean install and if you use the USB thumb drive option you may need to disable secure boot first, steps below;
Power up the notebook while tapping the key that gains you access to the BIOS;
Select Security -> Secure Boot, and then Disabled.
Select Advanced -> System Configuration, and then Boot Mode.
Change UEFI Boot to CSM Boot.
To save the change and exit the BIOS setup, press F10.