First laptop/need help

Hi guys, first post here. Almost a year ago I bought my first laptop, a dm4-3050us. I have not had a need for until now, so I'm wanting to set it up. I almost exclusively use linux on my pc and will dual-boot it on this laptop also; however, since I have already paid for windows 7, I don't want tp throw it away. I understand that windows 7 is in a hidden partition if I need it, so my question is....

Can I, and how would I, get the windows 7 os on my laptop to either a dvd or flash drive?

I have a habit of reformatting and doing clean installs when I upgrade to a new linux distribution.

Thanks.

 

One thing you can do if you have an external harddrive is to make an image of your drive. There are free drive image programs available. One of note: Macrium reflect.

Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download
This way, after you image your drive and its factory setup, you can clear it completely and install your preferred flavor of Linux. BTW, what Linux distro are you planning on using?

I have been running Linux Mint for a while now - but from a USB flash drive in persistence mode.

 

Hello 2.0. Thanks for responding. I'll look into that. I only have one external drive and I use it to back up all of my pictures, music, important docs. If it just makes an .iso file, then I can probably use it. My concern is losing everything that's important to me.

I am running Linux Mint 13 Mate as my primary os. I am constantly downloading and trying other distros, but I'm not a geek, so Mint Mate has proven to be easiest for me to use. What I use a computer for is (and in no particular order) correspondence, music storage, and photo storage. Linux does all of that very well, securely, and free! I don't have a smartphone, don't use facebook, nor play video games, so I just can't see making Bill Gates even morre rich.