Windows 7: Hard Drive has failed! Install Windows 7 on new HD from Recovery disk

Ok, my wife's hard drive is toast. Can't read at all. I even removed it, put it in an external enclosure with USB connection and tried to read it on my computer, nada. Tried Spinrite on it. Nada. So, it's gone, and I can't recover anything.

I'm buying a new HD. The OEM version of Windows 7 was pre-installed by HP on the laptop. So I have no disks. I do have the 3 Recovery Disks my wife created when we bought the machine. But when I was trying to revive the harddrive one of the recovery screens said Windows 7 had to be already installed on the hard drive for that to work.

So, is there anyway for me to get Windows 7 on the new HD short of buying a new copy? The laptop does have a sticker on it with a product key.



Steve

spthomas,
HP and Compaq Desktop PCs: Looking for Recovery Discs? - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

HP Compaq dc7700 Convertible Minitower PC*-* HP Support document - HP Business Support Center

Yes.

Download a Windows 7 ISO from mydigitallife.info. Burn it to a disk. Install. Activate with the Product Key you now have.

Download the same version that the HP originally had--Home Premium 64 Bit English or whatever it may have been.

The new install won't have all that HP stuff you originally had and you may be better off for it.