Installing SSD question. Confused

After I install the SSD into secondary drive in my laptop.
1. Can I use the $19 System Recovery DVD with Genuine Windows 7 Home Ed. disk that I bought with the laptop from HP to install Windows 7 into SSD? Or do I have to use a Window 7 CD?
2. How do I make it so that I can use both hard drive at the same time?
3. How do I make the SSD the main drive to boot from even though the SSD is located at the secondary drive?
4. Can I download and burn Window 7 into a CD and then use the product key behind my laptop to install?

Thank you. I'm really confused. This is the first time I'm doing it

 

1) I don't think so, you need a full W7 disk to install
2) if it is already in your system(and not USB), it should be automatic
3) you may be able to do that but not recommended. as that means you cannot remove the primary drive as that is where the boot loader is and the setup is complicated
4) I don't think so as yours is most likely OEM key which usually won't work on retail CD

I would suggest you clone your existing disk to the SSD then swap the disk

 

Sorry but what does it mean to swap the disk?
and Thank you for the reply

 

1. Doesn't look like it, apparently the hard drive you want to restore to must be the exact same size as the hard drive the service disk was made from.

2. As long as the hard drive is plugged in your system should see it, though a new hard drive will still be unformatted and therefore unusable until you see to it. If you install Windows on it, the installer will take you through partitioning and formatting. If you decide you want to use it for storage and without installing an OS on it for some reason, you'd need to boot into your regular Windows install, go to Start and type diskmgmt into the Search bar and run that, you'll be able to see it and format it from there.

3. When you start the computer go into BIOS (usually press Delete before the Windows load screen, I think on some machines it's F2, just check your manual), then go to Boot Order and just make sure that your new hard drive comes before the old one.

4. Yes, there is a guide on how to do that here on NBR. It's your pick which method you wanna use, I went with the second, the ISO one, as it looks more straight-forward and the shorter text part better fit my attention span. Don't worry, it's simpler than it looks, just give it a thorough read. The program linked for backing up the key will give you a .txt file, where you can see the serial key proper and input it during install, or you can leave the field blank on install and use the same program to restore the key onto the new installation from the second file it gave you after it's done. Again, just read the program's instructions and you'll be fine.

 

Thank you so much for the reply and the link to NBR. Really helps a lot

 

I'm not sure about HP, but I have used a recovery disc (pure OS, no bloatware) which came with my Asus G60VX to reinstall Windows 7 on my Vertex 2.

I put a 64GB SSD into the primary disk bay and a 320GB WD Scorpio Black (also new) into the secondary bay. My laptop came with a 320GB Seagate HDD originally BTW.

Since I used a recovery disc, it didn't give me an option to choose which drive to install OS. So, it installed OS to the secondary disk as it's larger. Maybe in your case, the HP recovery disc might give you a choice, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, I had to remove the secondary disk and after that I was able to install OS onto a SSD. And then, I put a WD Scorpio into the secondary bay for data.

 

No problem, you're welcome. Also, I forgot - what chimpanzee meant by swap was to take out the original HDD and put the SSD in its place. But I don't see why you'd need to do that, you should be able to switch the boot order between them in BIOS and that's it. The only issue I think you need to consider between running one hard drive or two is that having both will give you the expanded storage, but with the obvious tradeoff of reducing the battery life somewhat.

Finally, and apologies if you do already know this, just remember that if you choose to install Windows on the SSD before you've switched the boot order, then the installation needs you to take out the DVD and restart, the computer will once again boot from your old hard drive rather than the new one. So you'd need to go into BIOS and change it then before being able to continue the install, or better yet change the boot order before you start installing Windows on the SSD altogether. Just make sure that you move the SSD above the original HDD, but not above the DVD drive, you still want that on top of the list to boot from it for installation.

Oh! Sorry, I might've made a mistake there, my experience was with a Asus's AI Recovery System which created the service partition and the DVDs after I completed the installation. And either because of the new SSD being a different size or unformatted, or whatever, it didn't work but did bork up the master boot record (no, I wasn't impressed). I realise now we're talking about a recovery disk that came in the box as an optional purchase, that may work just fine, I dunno.

 

Thank you so much. I didn't know that!

 

Another question do I install Windows 7 on the main drive(factory windows 7) or the SSD that I just installed?

 

For an experienced user, there is no need to. Othewise, I would recommend that always let the windows installation process only see one HDD/SSD during the initial installation which is also the first boot drive.

 

Definately the SSD, use your HDD as storage (pics, vids etc)

 

1. Yes, you can use that DVD to install to your new SSD

2. To use both drives, you simply need to have both installed, initialized and formatted.

3. Take out the original HDD, put in your new SSD - install from your recovery DVD and when Windows is fully installed put in your original HDD into the secondary HDD bay.

4. This is called a clean install and I normally highly recommend it - however, unless you know how to download and install all drivers (in the right order) and shipped programs (that are on the recovery DVD already installed for you - like a CD/DVD burning software for example) then just use the recovery DVD and when it fully finishes installing the O/S, Drivers and Apps - just uninstall the programs (bloatware) that you don't want to use.


I highly recommend you complete the install (with the recovery DVD or the 'clean' install method, whichever you chose) with only one drive installed in the notebook. This can save you from a lot of headaches in the future when/if you remove the secondary drive and Windows (may) refuse to boot without it.


Good luck and congrats on the new SSD!