Replacing Hard Drive; no Windows Recovery Disk

    • Replacing Hard Drive; no Windows Recovery Disk

      I bought a used Dell Laptop nearly two years ago, and ever since I got it the hard drive has been making clicking noises and the computer has been freezing quite a bit.

      So I've decided to shell out some money to purchase a new hard drive, but had a question. When I purchased the computer, it came with Windows 7 Enterprise, but did not come with any Windows 7 recovery disk.

      So I'm wondering, if I put a new hard drive in, will I need to purchase another copy of Windows 7? Or would I be able to make a system restore on my laptop which would transfer Windows 7 to the new hard drive?

      Thanks
      [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    • Re: Replacing Hard Drive; no Windows Recovery Disk

      When you put a new hard drive in, it'll be empty.
      You can download a copy of Windows 7 enterprise, burn it on to a disk, and install it on the new hard drive using the old key.
      Otherwise, you can consult some computer shops to see if they can completely mirror the data from your old hard drive to the new one.

    • Re: Replacing Hard Drive; no Windows Recovery Disk

      you have 3 options:

      1. take your old product key download a windows 7 ISO and use your old product key to activate it
      2. make an ISO of your current system and install onto your new hard drive
      3. get an already activated copy of windows from a torrent online

      and BTW your hard drive could die at any time so try and get everything done ASAP hard drives are very delicate and this probably happened due to the computer being dropped and scratching the hard drive the click of death is very unpredictable
      17/straight/single

      The post was edited 1 time, last by jost4318 ().

    • Re: Replacing Hard Drive; no Windows Recovery Disk

      Hipster wrote:

      When you put a new hard drive in, it'll be empty.
      You can download a copy of Windows 7 enterprise, burn it on to a disk, and install it on the new hard drive using the old key.
      Otherwise, you can consult some computer shops to see if they can completely mirror the data from your old hard drive to the new one.
      The laptop originally had Vista from its previous owner, but was upgraded to Windows 7. I was never given the key.

      However, can I just use the Windows ID found under the control panel/system directory?
      [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]