Solved Backup Win7 image from external HDD

[mrjohnson22]

Hi everyone. I've been dealing with some booting issues with my notebook and have narrowed the problem down to the hard drive. The notebook always freezes during boot when the hard drive is in the internal HDD slot, but I was thankfully able to recover all of my files from it by taking it out & using a SATA-to-USB converter, effectively turning it from an internal to an external drive. I'm about to buy a new hard drive, but before I do, I'd like to know if it's possible to create a Windows 7 OS system image when the OS in question is on an external hard drive.

If I ever have the drive inserted in an internal HDD slot, it can't be booted from (whether it's in my notebook or another one I've tested with), so I can't enter the Windows on the drive and do a Windows Backup from there. Is it possible for Windows Backup (or another utility) to create an image from a version of Windows that isn't the currently-running OS, stored on an external drive? I want to be able to install the version of Windows 7 I already have onto whatever new HDD I end up getting, instead of having to buy a new copy of Windows.

Also, I never received a Win7 installation disk; it came pre-installed on my notebook. If I had a disk I would gladly just reinstall it on the new HDD.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Also, I never received a Win7 installation disk; it came pre-installed on my notebook. If I had a disk I would gladly just reinstall it on the new HDD.

You can download a legit Windows ISO file, burn it to a DVD, do a clean install from it, and activate with the Product Key which you should find on a sticker somewhere on the notebook.

 

[mrjohnson22]

Ah, perfect! Thanks a whole lot.