How to install O.S on new Hard Disk ?

[skorpinok]

I i have a sony vaio E Series laptop with core i3,3 GB RAM,320GB HDD,Windows 7. I would like to Replace the existing 320GB Hard disk to 500 GB, please tell me how to install windows 7 & all its drivers in this new hard disk? any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

[budz]

just transfer the os from the old hard drive to the new drive one using the software that came with the new hard drive. be very careful because on most laptops there is restore partition on the 320gb hard drive that stores the os & drivers....

[Bjs]

You should find in the program group from the start button a program which will produce backup recovery media .

With these created you can simply turn the laptop off , swap the drives , upon powering up press the required media startup option "refer to operators manual" ... slip the first disc of the recovery set in and select the optical drive and follow the prompts.

Keep the old drive somewhere safe ... or if you intend to use it for any other purpose then look up Paragon Back & Recovery 2011 ... there's a free home edition ... create a master back of the entire drive and put it somewhere safe ... you can now use the original drive for other use's.

[jollyjohn]

I always clone the HDD

[Nelson37]

Nice suggestions, folks, but very few laptops allow for more than one hard drive to be connected.

Make, find, or obtain the OS installation disks. Make sure you have the license number, or use software to get it from the existing install. Download the latest drivers from the Sony website, put those and all important files on a USB stick.

Put in the new drive, put in the install disk, boot, read the screens, press enter a few times, select your time zone, etc. Install the drivers, copy your files, install any needed programs, done.

You will also have a clean install with only the software you choose to load.

[fritzi93]

Why not use Acronis to create an OS drive recovery image on a (large) flash drive? You can make it bootable as well. Or make a recovery CD and use the image from flash drive or external hard drive. The hard drive manufacturers offer a free version; Seagate calls theirs DiscWizard, Western Digital calls theirs Acronis WD Edition. Look different, but same under the hood.

I just tried it with a flash drive on one of my computers and it worked.

[Cornucopia]

Or Norton Ghost to DVD-Rs (and back) would work here also.

Scott

[freebird73717]

This is where one of those usb hard drive adapters come in handy. Use a disc cloning cd (I've used Easus Disc Copy sucessfully in the past) plug in the usb adapter to your new drive. Boot the computer to the cd. Clone the drive.
After cloning replace old hard drive with new hard drive. Boot computer to new hard drive. Open Disk managment. Expand the drive to use all available space (you have to do this because the clone does an exact clone i.e. 320gb and leaves the rest un-allocated). After expanding you are done.

No loss of programs or data.

All depends on what your end wants are. Nelsons way will certainly give you a much cleaner machine. This way everything will be the same you just get more space.

edit
if you check out the link on expanding the drive ignore the part about deleting the partition. when cloning with easus it just leaves the empty space un-allocated.

[CobraPilot]

Using Western Digital (WD) drives, this has always worked for me when upgrading to larger HDs. I use WD's DataLifeguard software, previously supplied with 3.5" desktop drives. (I think it works ONLY with WD drives.) It has never been supplied with the 2.5" (or smaller) HDs I've purchased; the literature says such upgrades should be left to "qualified technicians." Hogwash!

WD now provides Acronis True Image WD Edition Software for its drives.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&wdc_lang=en

o Install DataLifeguard software on laptop (old HD). (Probably the Acronis version now.}
o Attach new HD to laptop via USB adapter.
o Start [Data Lifeguard or Acronis] software.
o Software asks if the newly found (USB-attached) HD will be used as a boot disc [cloning the original HD] or a data disc.
o Choose "boot disc."
o Left software go to work cloning your old hard drive. In my upgrades, ALL available space will be made usuable when you swap the drivers.
o When completed, turn off laptop, remove old drive, install new drive.
o Boot system. With minimal luck needed, you should boot okay, with the only difference being a larger hard drive.

Good luck and PLEASE let us know what worked for you, in the spirit of mutual "VideoHELP"!