Dell Inspiron 1545 Hard Drive Replacement Help!

My Hard Drive in my Inspiron 1545 is going bad according to dells support center tests. I plan on buying one online and have a question about getting the new one all set up.
What do I have to do to get Windows 7 on my new Hard Drive since the Laptop didn't come with a windows 7 installation disk?
I've read about cloning the Hard Drive but I don't want all the junk I have on this one on the new one. I'd rather just get a clean HD with Windows 7 on it ready for me to add whatever programs/docs/media I want. I'm sure it has something to do with backing everything up or creating a system image(two options that confuse me on what they do exactly?) on disks or a external drive but I just want to make sure I know what I'm doing. And the fact that Dell gave me two discs for "Dell Drivers and Utillities" and "Cyberlink PowerDVD Software" confuses me more. Any help will be Appreciated!

 

If the key on your CoA is still visible, you can download a Windows 7 image, install it, and activate it with said key. You will still need to download and install the appropriate drivers. There is a thread in Software with details on getting/making the iso.

 

Magical Jellybean Key finder:

KeyFinder | Magical Jelly Bean

 

Thanks for the help both of you. Needed that link. If you could help me out with a few more questions though.
-Whats the difference between doing a Windows Back-up and creating a system image? I'd just like to understand the difference and what each does exactly?
-In that thread, one of the last steps says"Finally, burn the ISO, boot it, and install (you can also put it onto a usb flash drive/hard drive using the microsoft tool to save a disc: Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool )". This part confuses me for some reason. Once you burn the Iso on a CD is that not the final windows 7 installation disk? I don't get the boot and install part(unless its meant for the new harddrive?).
-Where do I download the drivers and when do I install them(in the process of replacing my hard drive and installing windows?)? are they included in the "dell drivers and utilities" disk I got with the laptop? Or do I get them from a website?

Thanks for the help so far. Plz bare with my lack of knowledge when it comes to computers.

 

-A back is making an image of what your laptop's HDD currently looks like. I'm not sure if you can restore your computer to a new HDD with it. I'd create a system image.

-Yes, once you burn the ISO to disk, that's the restore disk.

-You can find the drivers at: Dell.com/support. Just enter your service tag. You can use the drivers disk that came with the laptop, but the driver online will be more up to date.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

A few questions for you? I have a factory installed version of windows 7 and can't download ABR for some reason. Does Magic Jellybean find the actual activation key so I won't have to call microsoft or does it just give me the OEM key?

 

If you had the original OEM key, then Jellybean Finder won't work. If you input the COA on the bottom of your machine on a clean install earlier, then Jellybean Finder will find that COA.

You can just get a Dell Windows 7 disc and reimage your machine with it and it will automatically activate it.

 

I just went to the Dell support website and they have a form to fill out to request back-up disks with the factory installed OS on it. Wish I would have knew of this before... thanks. So when I get this disk and my new blank Hard drive, all I have to do is replace the hard drive, use this disk on start-up, and it should install a image of my factory installed OS on the new HD? I'm not really knowledgeable when it comes to this stuff so any advice helps. I also read that I should download the latest drivers from dell as well. I'm just confused on when I would install these drivers in the process of replacing my hard drive?

Also, I just read "Depending on your systems warranty status or if more information if needed, you may be asked to contact Dell by phone or schedule a time when Dell can contact you by phone."
My warranty ran out so would they still give me this disk. I imagine they should because I paid for it but you never know, especially with Dell.

 

Dell is sending me a disk with my factory installed OS on it along with a disk with updated drivers. Thanks for the help!