New HD for my HP Pavilion DV5. Win7 formatting questions

dannyual767

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Fernandina Beach, Florida
My HP's HD is bad (WD Scorpio Blue 5400 rpm, 500GB) and I'm about to buy a new replacement (WD Scorpio Black 7200RPM, 500GB.) When the laptop was brand new, I burned both the "System Repair" disc (1 dvd disc) as well as the "System Image" discs (7 total dvd discs.)

1. After I install the new hard drive, I'm going to assume that I use the System Image discs, right?

2. Will I have any activation concerns?

3. Can I use a smaller capacity HD like a 320GB?

I did do some research on this and I'm still not 100% comfortable. I don't want to spend money on a new hard drive and then have to buy another copy of Win7. I'll just buy a new laptop instead of spending all of that money. Thank you for any advice/answers you can give me.

Danny
 
1. Yes you'll want to use the System Image discs.

2. You shouldn't have any activation issues if you use the System Image discs.

3. Yes, you should be able to use a smaller capacity drive, as long as it has room for the OS and all of your programs that you will want to install.
 
1. Yes you'll want to use the System Image discs.

2. You shouldn't have any activation issues if you use the System Image discs.

3. Yes, you should be able to use a smaller capacity drive, as long as it has room for the OS and all of your programs that you will want to install.

Thank you, carnage! I'm going to order the HD up today.

Danny
 
I just wanted to finish out this thread just in case someone does a search on this topic.

I received my new WD Scorpio Black 500GB hard drive Thursday evening and proceeded to successfully reinstall the operating system from the discs that I had burned when my computer was brand new.

I first installed System Image disc 1 but the computer could not read it or said it was the wrong disc. Not knowing what else to do, I ejected the disc and inserted the System Repair disc. Voila! That was it. The computer recognized that disc and then after a bit, it asked me to insert the FINAL "System Image" disc in my series of 7. Didn't make sense to me but I did what it asked. After reading it for a while, it then asked me to insert disc 1 and the rest of the operating system load up went without a hitch!

In fact, I'm using the HP laptop right now to post this.

Thank you again for the help, carnageX :big_smile: !
 
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