Win OS installed on HD but I need to upgrade hard drive

[Sometwo]

I don't have a Windows 7 CD, but Dell put the installer in the recovery partition. What is the best way to upgrade my hard drive, and install Windows?

 

[ninjaturtle]

Do you want just clone the HDD instead?
I think you can do it in Disk Management, but I never tried it that way.

or you can use...

MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition

 

[Sometwo]

I'd rather start fresh than do a clone. How would I do it with MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition? Just copy the HPA to the new hard drive?

 

[cantalup]

my suggestion for doing clean install:
1) create DVDs installation/recovery from you Dell recovery/installation and do clean install
2) clone* old HD to new HD, and run "clean install" from dell recovery/installation partition

* I use clonezilla.

 

[Sometwo]

@cantalup I've never had to use the recovery DVD I made a while ago... So that will recreate the recovery partition on the old drive, or a new drive?

I've heard of people doing something similar and their new hard drive gets truncated, so maybe a new 120 GB hard drive will end up as an 80 GB, which I think was the size of their original drive?

 

[Aesma]

I have no experience doing this (using the recovery stuff), but a truncated drive (a partition smaller than the drive, really) is not a problem, especially not with 7, you can expand the partition in the disk management console.