Reinstall with an upgrade disk?

[rcmpbllsoup29]

I always format my hard drive ever year so I get a fresh operating system to work with.

I bought a new laptop in August and am eligible for a free upgrade to W7, but I am apprehensive to do because I'm not sure how I will do a reinstall. My computer did not come with restore disks and I don't want to buy them from the manufacturer. Do i need to reinstall xp or vista first in order to reinstall? If, theoretically, i used an activated version of vista, that isn't exactly...genuine (just to reinstall).... would it record that serial key and put my 7 installation at risk?

thanks

 

[gregrocker]

Windows 7 has a flawless Image Backup utility that will copy your entire HDD (including any dual boots) to a primary partition (which it views as a drive) or an external drive. I do both in case the HDD fails. Once you get your Vista upgraded to Win7 and configured perfectly, create a Backup Image which you can use to do a restore of the current HDD or a new one in about 20 minutes. This is a much easier annual reinstall.

As easy as this is, I would still use your laptop's utility to burn those recovery disks to keep in case you need to restore your Vista to factory condition. Acer will mail you disks if you call within 90 days of purchase. Then you can delete the Recovery Partition which will become inoperable after Win7 upgrade anyway.

 

[Kari]

Hello rcmpbllsoup and welcome to the SevenForums.

Your HP computer should have a recovery partition, hard drive D:. It contains a program to burn a recovery disc CD or DVD set. You can start the recovery disc creator by opening the drive D: in Explorer, or booting your laptop and then repeatedly pressing F11 during the startup. The computer will display a prompt to either recover the operating system or create a set of recovery discs.

Recovery partition and / or recovery disc set contains your original OS (Vista Home Premium) and the bundled drivers and software to allow system recovery to factory defaults.

The Recovery Disc Creator only works once, allowing you to burn just one set of discs. The reason is copyright regulations; OS and software makers don't want to give you the right to make several installation sets. There's no really working and legal way to bypass this.

When you install Windows 7, the recovery partition stays there but becomes useless, you can not boot to Recovery Options (pressing F11 when booting) anymore.

So I really recommend you to use this Recovery Disc Creator before you upgrade your computer with Seven. Burning the discs means you can always go back to the factory defaults if something happens.

Kari

EDIT: Some other members might tell you to delete the recovery options and forget the whole thing. Before you believe it and do that, please do some googling and do some thinking: would you like to completely loose your ability to recover your computer to the stand it was the day you bought it. Maybe you understand what I mean after reading this thread.

 

[theog]

Hi rcmpbllsoup29

Take in who Kari is saying, Kari is hitting it right on the nail.

 

[Kari]

@theog: Thanks for support

Kari

 

[Antman]

Kari is a knowledgeable professional held in high regard at SevenForums. Kari has a well-established and long standing track record of being a subject matter expert regarding the task at hand.

 

[Kari]

Thank you, Antman. You saved my ****ty day.

Kari

 

[rcmpbllsoup29]

For some reason my HP partition doesn't work anymore. I CAN boot into it, but the application says that a recovery partition does not exist. Without the application within windows, i cannot create these recovery disks. In other words, I can do a full factory restore using the partition, but I cannot burn disks with it.

Furthermore, does the full backup work for windows 7 home premium because that would be the version that I would get?

 

[gregrocker]

For some reason my HP partition doesn't work anymore. I CAN boot into it, but the application says that a recovery partition does not exist. Without the application within windows, i cannot create these recovery disks. In other words, I can do a full factory restore using the partition, but I cannot burn disks with it.

Furthermore, does the full backup work for windows 7 home premium because that would be the version that I would get?

Yes, I was real glad to learn that image backup is in Premium since we pre-ordered several.

Since you bought your laptop in August, you are covered by tech support and hardware warranty for a year (at least). I would call them and ask them to help you make the recovery disks, then they will witness the failure and normally send you free copies. I'm not sure what HP's policy is but Acer just sent us free recovery disks since we called within 90 days of purchase.

But since you are intending to upgrade to WIndows 7, you only need to do the upgrade and configure it the way you like, then save backup copies of the HDD image which can be used to re-image the disk flawlessly in 20 minutes. So you won't need to reinstall Vista OR 7 as long as you save (and update if you want) that image.

Finally, if there is a reason to reinstall Vista and you lack the recovery disks, you can do what tech enthusiasts prefer: borrow an OEM copy of your Vista version and do a clean install which will activate itself (or require a quick call to MS) since you own that version of Windows for the life of the hardware, no matter what installation medium you use as long as it is OEM and not retail.

 

[SIW2]

Hi Greg,

Glad Windows backup is working well for you. I assume you mean you restore the image in 20 mins. How much used space is that you are restoring?


All the MS Vista installation dvd's are identical . They can all be used with any valid product key. OEM System builder, Full Retail, Upgrade, whatever Edition it says on the box - they are all the same. I think you will find that is also the case with 7 . The only difference is between 32 and 64 bit dvd's, obviously.

 

[gregrocker]

Hi Greg,

Glad Windows backup is working well for you. I assume you mean you restore the image in 20 mins. How much used space is that you are restoring?


All the MS Vista installation dvd's are identical . They can all be used with any valid product key. OEM System builder, Full Retail, Upgrade, whatever Edition it says on the box - they are all the same. I think you will find that is also the case with 7 . The only difference is between 32 and 64 bit dvd's, obviously.

It takes 20 minutes to restore my dual boot XP-7600 on a 320g WD HDD, also about 20 minutes to create it.

Thanks for the tip on Vista/7 installers being generic. If I am only waiting for the key for the 7 Premium upgrades I ordered coming Sept 22, does this mean I can go ahead and do the upgrade from XP now and install the key then? Also, is there a way to get a formatted clean install on an XP>7 upgrade by installing from an XP second partition to a formatted first partition, or some such thing?

 

[rcmpbllsoup29]

ok. i'm definitely thinking now that upgrade may be the way to go for me. i just have one last question as clarification...

if i were to "borrow" an oem install lol, would that serial key be linked to the new one? in order to install w7, there needs to be a genuine, activated version of xp or vista, so does that mean it combines the two serials or it just checks? (if i use a non-genuine key, do i risk it being discovered later while w7 is installed? I will have a genuine upgrade key for w7, so i wouldn't want that to be spoiled because of a non-genuine key for vista.)

 

[Antman]

MS will hunt you down and shoot you.

I could be wrong. Perhaps you should check a warez site.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

1) The Jury's still out on whether an UPGRADE disc needs to have an ACTIVATED version of the previous OS working -- until someone has actually tried this with a genuine UPGRADE disk we can't say.

2) The "Factory" recovery disks can generally be "Cloned" via Disk to Disk copy (replicate CD / DVD software). I would NEVER trust only having ONE backup copy of something like this if I needed or forsaw a need to restore a Machine to the status it came out of the store in.

3) I would also invest in some PROPER commercial backup software that does the job properly, can also make DATA backups (and Incremental backups) and that also work across network drives. You don't want necessarily to backup say 5 TB of data every week on a home computer - although those of you with sizeable music collections SHOULD definitely back this up regularly.

I'm not saying that the built in W7 backup is no good -- it's 100% better than NOT doing any backup but I still say applications like Acronis, Ghost and Paragon are well worth the SMALL amount of money they cost.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[gregrocker]

I've read everything there is on upgrades, including MS announcement a week or so ago that you can use the activated RC to launch a successful Windows 7 upgrade. I agree we have to wait to see what actually happens with these upgrades, but I think if I were you, I would try to get the licensed version for that box reinstalled and activated using an OEM disk. If there is no licensed version for that box, then I believe you can still find and install the RC and activate it with freely available license keys and use it for the underlying OS for your upgrade. There is a workaround for upgrading to a different version here.

Once the upgrade is done and activated, I would use the Win7 Imaging backup to save your HDD image to an external source. Then you will never have to worry about reinstalling the underlying OS since the activated Win7 upgrade can be reimaged in 20 minutes to your HDD or a replacement HDD. You can also schedule regular updates to the backup image as well as file backups to an attached external drive, or do it manually.

Hopefully you can use some of this in addition to other's excellent advice you have gotten here.

 

[rcmpbllsoup29]

how do i get OEM disks?

 

[richc46]

newegg.com. Remember, you will not get any support and you can install only on one computer.

 

[gregrocker]

how do i get OEM disks?

I was referring above to an OEM disk corresponding to the version of Windows which is licensed to your computer. If you have, say, Vista Home Premium sticker with activation key on the side of your box, then you need to find a Vista All Versions or Premium OEM disk to reinstall, which will either self-activate or require a quick call to MS since it is clearly the version tattoed to that motherboard.

If this is the OEM disk you seek, then I would ask friends who you know who have that version first. Remember you are looking for a clean copy OEM and not a recovery disk, or a retail copy. If that fails, then this is one case where I will use a torrent since I own that version anyway and I am not stealing anything, I just need the installer for what I already own.

 

[raiderkeek7]

how do i get OEM disks?

I was going to do the upgrade route also, but didn't want to go through all that BS. So I went with OEM like I been using all on my systems for years with no problems. I got my OEM copies a few days ago and you only can get 32bit or 64bit.

Microsoft Windows7 OEM Pre-Order with Combo Savings at ZipZoomfly

 

[Dave76]

EDIT: gregrocker, looks like you posted while I was slowly typing.

For some reason my HP partition doesn't work anymore. I CAN boot into it, but the application says that a recovery partition does not exist. Without the application within windows, i cannot create these recovery disks. In other words, I can do a full factory restore using the partition, but I cannot burn disks with it.

Furthermore, does the full backup work for windows 7 home premium because that would be the version that I would get?

Yes, I was real glad to learn that image backup is in Premium since we pre-ordered several.

Since you bought your laptop in August, you are covered by tech support and hardware warranty for a year (at least). I would call them and ask them to help you make the recovery disks, then they will witness the failure and normally send you free copies. I'm not sure what HP's policy is but Acer just sent us free recovery disks since we called within 90 days of purchase.

But since you are intending to upgrade to WIndows 7, you only need to do the upgrade and configure it the way you like, then save backup copies of the HDD image which can be used to re-image the disk flawlessly in 20 minutes. So you won't need to reinstall Vista OR 7 as long as you save (and update if you want) that image.

Finally, if there is a reason to reinstall Vista and you lack the recovery disks, you can do what tech enthusiasts prefer: borrow an OEM copy of your Vista version and do a clean install which will activate itself (or require a quick call to MS) since you own that version of Windows for the life of the hardware, no matter what installation medium you use as long as it is OEM and not retail.

how do i get OEM disks?

You already own the original version of Windows that came with your computer.

gregrocker's advice is the first and best approach. HP 'should' send you the Windows OS installation DVD. If you've had the computer less than three months, HP will likely send you the DVD.

If this doesn't work, you can borrow a HP equivalent DVD, it will use your computers key which is tied to the MOBO.
OEM (HP) OS DVDs used to install the original OS back onto the original (HP) computer won't even ask for a key, it will get the key from your computer and proceed.