Upgrade from Vista to Win7 on HDD first, or migrate to SSD and then upgrade OS?

Hope you gurus can help me figure this out: I'm looking forward to swapping the HDD in a Sony VGN-Z610 laptop for an Intel X25-M 160 GB SSD. But I'm not sure of the right sequence: I have Vista Ultimate installed but have a Sony Vista Ult to Win7 Ult upgrade DVD. Should I upgrade the OS to Win7 first, and then clone the HDD to the SSD using a USB enclosure for the latter, or should I clone the HDD as is, with Vista installed, then use the upgrade DVD once the SSD is installed in my laptop?

It seems like the latter approach would involve a lot more unnecessary writing to the SSD. I plan in either case to do a "clean" install from the upgrade DVD (i.e., I will reinstall my apps from their CDs/DVDs and copy my data from a backup external HDD), but I know the Sony upgrade DVD will install a bunch of cramware, not to mention all of the updates that will be needed for a 2-yr-old copy of Win7 plus my old Acrobat 9, Office 2007, etc. So it seems like it would be better to get the HDD the way I want it (with Win7 and my apps installed and updated, and with a bunch of junk deleted) and then clone it. But would doing it in that order miss out on some important things that would otherwise happen if I did the clean install of Win7 from the upgrade disk onto the SSD? (If so, then I guess I need to clone only the (Vista) operating system from my currently installed HDD to the SSD before changing them out. I would need to have installed Vista on the SSD, though, and maybe some other stuff that Sony put on the HDD as OEM, in order for the Sony Win 7 Ultimate upgrade DVD to work.)

I'll appreciate any insights into this! Thanks.

 

Those are both horrible options - simply install the SSD 'fresh' into the notebook and do a clean Win7 install to it. With that out of the way; install only the missing drivers and any software you require.

Good luck.

 

Agreed.

Also agreed.

OP, for partitioning the SSD, use gparted. See my posts: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...sd-setup-bootup-error-help-3.html#post9075884

and: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...sd-setup-bootup-error-help-5.html#post9088733

 

Not that it is needed, but I agree with both of the posters above.

 

Thanks, guys, but I don't have a license nor a CD/DVD to do a clean install of Windows 7--only for an upgrade from Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate. Of course if I could just install Windows 7 fresh that would be preferable, but I don't have that option (also, I would lose some functions specific to my laptop, like hot keys, that come with the Sony DVD and might not be available otherwise).

 

AFAIK when doing a fresh install of Win7, an upgrade ID will work fine.

And you can get a free/legal Win7/SP1 .iso file (~3GB) which you can turn into either a bootable DVD or a bootable USB stick. It is the ID that you pay for. If your upgrade disc doesn't have SP1 then you definitely want to download the Win7/SP1 .iso file.

I don't have the web site for getting the Win7/SP1 .iso file at my fingertips, but others will be able to provide it.

And with regard to "(also, I would lose some functions specific to my laptop, like hot keys, that come with the Sony DVD and might not be available otherwise)" it seems to me you should be focused on the meat and potatoes and not bells and whistles. Odds are that that stuff can be gotten from Sony support after you do a fresh install.

 

Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version - Windows 7 Support Forums
Here is the link for Win 7 ISO http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-digitalriver-windows-7-sp1-13-languages.html