Upgrade Failing Vista HDD to Win7

[rak]

I have an older laptop with an OEM version of Vista. I also have a valid Windows 7 upgrade disk. Problem: The HDD on the laptop is failing (has at least one bad sector) and will not image. So I don't want to put Windows 7 on the old HDD and if I replace it with a new HDD the Windows 7 upgrade won't see Vista. All of my data is backed up. So that's not a problem. Help !

 

[SC Tom]

"rak" <rakess@charter.net> wrote in message
news:eO4zn.107928$NH1.64523@newsfe14.iad...
I have an older laptop with an OEM version of Vista. I also have a valid
Windows 7 upgrade disk. Problem: The HDD on the laptop is failing (has at
least one bad sector) and will not image. So I don't want to put Windows 7
on the old HDD and if I replace it with a new HDD the Windows 7 upgrade
won't see Vista. All of my data is backed up. So that's not a problem.
Help !
---------------
If you have the original Vista recovery disks that came with the laptop, you
can always put a new HDD in and use that to get started. Then restore your
data from your backups (I'm assuming you don't have a full system backup or
image). Then you can upgrade to Win7.
--
SC Tom

 

[Ken Blake]

On Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:50:24 -0400, "SC Tom" <sc@tom.net> wrote:

> "rak" <rakess@charter.net> wrote in message
> news:eO4zn.107928$NH1.64523@newsfe14.iad...
> I have an older laptop with an OEM version of Vista. I also have a valid
> Windows 7 upgrade disk. Problem: The HDD on the laptop is failing (has at
> least one bad sector) and will not image. So I don't want to put Windows 7
> on the old HDD and if I replace it with a new HDD the Windows 7 upgrade
> won't see Vista. All of my data is backed up. So that's not a problem.
> Help !
> ---------------


Read here "Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media"at
http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/clean_install_upgrade_media.asp
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003

 

[Roy Smith]

On 4/19/2010 5:28 PM, rak wrote:
> I have an older laptop with an OEM version of Vista. I also have a
> valid Windows 7 upgrade disk. Problem: The HDD on the laptop is
> failing (has at least one bad sector) and will not image. So I don't
> want to put Windows 7 on the old HDD and if I replace it with a new HDD
> the Windows 7 upgrade won't see Vista. All of my data is backed up. So
> that's not a problem. Help !

Just go ahead and install it on the new drive. I formatted my drive so
that there was no OS present and the Win7 upgrade installed just fine,
and it didn't even ask for a install disc from a previous version of
Windows.

--

Roy Smith
Windows 7 Home Premium

Timestamp: Tuesday, April 20, 2010 6:25:59 AM

 

[rak]

Thanks to all for your help. Got it going. Basically I booted from the old hdd, swapped it for the new hdd and then used the w7 installation cd.
"rak" <rakess@charter.net> wrote in message news:eO4zn.107928$NH1.64523@newsfe14.iad...
I have an older laptop with an OEM version of Vista. I also have a valid Windows 7 upgrade disk. Problem: The HDD on the laptop is failing (has at least one bad sector) and will not image. So I don't want to put Windows 7 on the old HDD and if I replace it with a new HDD the Windows 7 upgrade won't see Vista. All of my data is backed up. So that's not a problem. Help !