Windows 7 reinstall

[oldsnut63]

I have a windows 7 computer that needs a new harddrive. The software is a 7 home premium upgrade designed for vista i bought at Walmart, my question is this disc going to be able to reinstall on a new hard drive or am i going new need to buy a new 7 disc from Walmart? Ive always heard that these discs can only be used on one computer.

[David M]

Clone your new drive from your existing drive using Acronis. Cloning makes an exact copy of everything that was on your old drive to your new drive. You will then be able to boot from your new drive. There will be no need for re-installing anything. It's easy, Acronis walks you through the process.

There is a pay for version of Acronis which comes with a boot disk and a free version where you make your own boot disk.

Download free trial versions of Acronis products and Documentation

With a new drive, Microsoft may or may not ask you to re-validate your OS. If your attempt at validation gets rejected by Microsoft and you have to phone them, it should not be a problem when you explain what you needed to do.

[rwest]

If you don't have the hdd, or if it's bad and can't be read:

Clean Install Windows 7 With Upgrade Media and Product Key on Formatted or Empty Blank Hard Drive « My Digital Life

You'll most likely have to activate by phone. As long as you have only 1 copy of 7 on only 1 PC you'll be fine. Listen to the prompts carefully and you won't have to explain anything.

[David M]

OS disks themselves are not assigned to one computer. The license is assigned to one computer and legally is not transferable to another computer.

Do you have the original hard drive or not? If so, does it work? If so do what I recommend. If not do what rwest recommends.

[oldsnut63]

I no longer have the original hard drive,so as soon as the new one comes from newegg.com and i install it ill do what rwest says.