I would clean install 7 on the new hard drive, take the Vista drive out and use it for a paperweight
But seriously, disconnect it while you install 7 to the new drive, then you could reconnect it, format it, then store disk images on it.
Clean Install Windows 7
And look for a faster Core 2 Duo that`s compatible with the MB.
Plug in the 1tb hard drive to partition in Disk Mgmt as a data drive. Save your backup image and User folders to it.
Unplug it to do the Vista Upgrade or Clean install.
You can get Home Premium online for $89 at tiger Direct. You can downloAd the 32 bit installer from reinstall tutorial below to use with key you buy. The other steps will also assure a perfect install.
Also, why not consider a 64 bit install to make use of all the available RAM?
And I just realized that I'm an idiot. :P
With 4gb RAM I use 32 bit for better performance.
The RAM is all used because as stated some is always apportioned to hardware.
You can view this on your system by typing Resource Monitor in Start Search box, clicking on Memory tab.
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