I know how to put it in and hook it up but I was wondering how do I get windows on there and all that? Do I use the system reformat disk? Or Do I have to buy windows? Or what?
The Windows OS CD does all that for you. Once the hard drive is connected, just put the Windows CD in the DVD burner and reboot. Everything else is pretty automated and there are several prompts that you need to input, that's it.
Well, you need that to install Windows anyways so you might as well buy one. It has all the install features on there like partitioning, reformatting, FAT32 or NTFS, Recovery Console, etc.
Most new retail hard drives come with a floppy that contains a utility that will format the drive and copy the entire contents of an old drive to the new drive. If your's does not have that disk, you can download the utility from the drive manufacturer's website.
^really? I posted a question just like that a couple days ago, well I guess rebuilding my machine wasn't necessary, i'm gonna go look for that utility...
Give it a try after the hard drive is installed in your PC. Just pop the Recovery CD or DVD into the DVD drive and restart. It should act as a boot disc.