New Laptop - W7 Question

Hi everyone! I'll cut straight to the chase, I'm receiving my new laptop on Tuesday, I purchased the Asus UL30VT-A1. Although I wasn't able to buy a SSD for my new laptop (it is beyond my college student budget) I managed to get a sweet deal on NewEgg.com for a Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB 7200 RPM hard drive, it may not be as great as an SSD but I figure it'll at least provide my new laptop with better performance then the stock 500GB 5200 RPM hard drive. So my question to everyone is, when I replace the hard drive and use the CD's provided by ASUS to do a fresh install, will I need to create partitions for the Windows 7 Home Premium (64 Bit), or will it do that by itself? If I have to manually do it, how should I go about partitioning the hard drive? I suppose I would want to isolate some space purely for the OS and the remaining space would be used for my applications, music, games, etc...But perhaps my understanding of how I should partition the new hard drive is wrong, so if someone would please enlighten me on the matter it would be of great help and put my mind at ease! (This is the first new computer I've bought in almost 6-7 years, so I am very nervous and want to make sure I do everything right. I've been doing research like crazy but my "Tech Level" is sub par, and I am very overwhelmed so if someone could simplify the issue for me it would really help me out.)

P.S. If you could also help me in determining what initial steps to take to optimize my new laptop, it would really help me out as well! I did research on the forums but only found articles relating to Vista, so I'm not sure if the same steps would apply to Windows 7 Home Premium (64 Bit).

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I look forward to reading your replies !

 

Partitioning the HDD is a step in the Windows 7 installation process. It's really simple to do.

 

sweet! thanks for the quick reply. :]

 

No prob! And for the optimization question, I find that just the simple Win7 install with all the basic hardware drivers, Win7 will scream on modern hardware, like your UL30vt.

 

Nice!
Thanks again, this really puts me at ease. I really appreciate your help.

 

You could just clone the current hard drive into the new one.

 

Yep. This would save load of time and if one is not so concerned about a clean install.

cheers ...

 

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but as mooimabear has his answer, I'm sure it will be OK.

I would like to do basically the same thing with my DELL 1720 laptop, install the WD 320 drive and then install Windows 7.

Is there a thread already here that can help with this procedure, or can someone outline the basic pitfalls I will face while doing this?

Thanks very much, great forum here!

 

The basic err that sometimes happens:

Do you have another computer available during install? If yes, just install. You can always check things and download stuff from internet as you need.

If not, make sure you have network drivers (maybe others too, if you wish) available on usb-stick or cd or external hdd. If Windows does not have built-in drivers and you don't have them, well.. tough luck

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=120228 has good info, it is written for Vista but Win7 behaves just like it, in short:

1. Create recovery discs for distant future needs.
2. Make activation backup from your current install (info on that thread)
3. Install Windows, partition drive if you wish, how you wish.
4. Install drivers and recover activation.
5. Install all the software you think you need, windows update etc.

 

@ KLF,

Thanks, for advice, yes, I have an ACER Aspire One netbook for internet access. Probably leave this project until next month as I just cannot get a 7200 RPM drive here is Saudi Arabia, but I can in Australia where I will be on vacation.

That is where I bought the Dell, so best if I buy a copy of Windows 7 there also (do not need the Arabic version)

Also, considering using a Vertex 2 60GB SSD for the operating system and main programs, and a 320 or 500 GB drive for Drive D. I am reading the SSD speed is fantastic, for boot up times and running programs too.

I also believe that the T7500 2.2Ghz chip in this laptop, while not the fastest available, T9500 2.6Ghz is, it will be fine and not cost effective to replace - can always be done later anyway.

So, with those 3 changes, it should behave as a new computer, comment, welcome!

Thanks, John