Question about reformating with Vista

I'm about to sub the main hardrive with ssd, i have recovery disk and in the main harddrive a recovery partition, but also i have vista oem disk from my desktop.

Can i use the OEM Vista using my laptop sticker numbers to activate it or will i have to use the recovery disk?

 

Why do either? Unless you want to do a fresh install and then have to also reinstall any applications you might have, you could more easily clone the existing partition(s) from the old drive to the new one.

If you have or can borrow an external HD enclosure you could put one drive in it and the other in the machine then clone directly drive-to-drive. If not you could burn a clone image to dvd's, put the new drive in and copy the image from the DVD's.

There are several apps around that can be run from a bootable CD that will facilitate this cloning. Acronis True Image is just one of them. Look around in other threads here for others. I am sure other folks will chime in with their favorite. Note some of these apps are unable to see external enclosures on certain machines. In which case you would have to revert from the drive-to-drive method to the DVD method. But either of these will be faster than a fresh install.

Gary

 

Thanks for the response gary, i might consider this in the future once i setup everything to my liking, but the computer is brand new so doesn't matter much with the applications, im more interested in a brand new fresh install and avoid any bloatware that comes preinstalled. Also im one of those stuburn guys that when i do mayor drivers changes i like to do fresh win installs, so i might in the future, but i do want to settle this first.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

 

There is a great guide to doing a clean Vista install in the Lenovo forum. It's focused on Lenovo but it has info that will help you. I have not done a clean install myself though.
link:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=144783

Here's some quotes from the FAQ located at the bottom of the Lenovo Clean install guide post. It explains the difference between using the windows serial number on the sticker and the one the factory uses that is pre activated.


• What is Orev's Activation Back-up and Restore (ABR) utility? Orev's ABR works with OEM/factory Vista installations. It is a very small utility (2.2mb) that will back-up the Vista OEM/factory product key to a text file and will also back up the OEM/factory certification file hidden on your laptop. It creates these two files before the clean install and then restores them after the clean install. The ABR utility must be used with a USB drive or other external drive. The ABR utility was created by Orev. Click here: Orev's Clean Install Guide

• Will the ABR utility work for me?The ABR utility can ONLY be used to backup from a factory install (Basically the untouched machine from the factory). You must backup the keycode while the factory install is still installed on the system before proceeding with the clean install. The ABR utility will not work if you have already done a clean install by using the keycode on the sticker! NOTE: Those who originally had Windows XP on their laptop then upgraded to Windows Vista with the "Express Upgrade" will not be able to clean install using the ABR utility. Do not attempt this guide using the "Express Upgrade" disk. This guide is for those that currently have a factory install of Vista and wish to clean install using the "Anytime Upgrade", retail, or OEM disks.

• What is the difference between the key on the bottom sticker vs. the key found by the ABR utility? When a you buy a new computer, either a laptop or desktop, you will notice a sticker applied (usually on the back or bottom) that has the license key for the version of Windows you paid for but that key has never been activated. There is another key code hidden in your laptop that was installed by the manufacturer. This keycode is pre-activated. This saves companies like Lenovo the hassle of activating every laptop they build and/or it saves the consumers and Microsoft the hassle of having to activate hundreds and thousands of computers everyday.

• Why not use the key on the bottom of the laptop? That key is not "pre-activated" and you will have to call Microsoft to activate it. And, you will have to call them again if you decide to do a reinstall... and again if you reinstall... and every time hope that you have an explanation that they will agree to, even though you already have a paid license for it.

• Can I use the key on the bottom of my laptop? Yes, if you have no problem calling Microsoft to get your system activated, you can use the key that's on your laptop. However, Microsoft will ask you why you need to activate. If you have to re-install again, they will ask you "Why?" again. Eventually they might say "No" and not activate your product. It's just a hassle to call and explain yourself.

 

well i did a clean vista install after about a month since i bought my new laptop
i formatted the complete hard disk even the recovery partition
and then installed new copy of vista and used the product id on the back of my laptop worked fine for me had had no problem since.(except the crapy vista slowness as it is.)
so i guess u might use ur oem and use laptop sticker numbers to activate it

 

Yes you can use the key on the sticker on the bottom of your laptop. It will work fine. You can activate online, or call MS really not that difficult prolly less of hassle than using orevs tool too. Online works 95% of the time anyway and thats automatic. If you are forced to call MS just tell them you are reformating and you'll be all set.

enjoy.

 

Yup, that should work just fine for you, and hoenstly that's the way I personally like to do it. Nothing like a fresh install. I hate having recovery partitions on my drive.

Someone above mentioned making an image of the disk, a buddy of mine recomended me...I think it's spelled Acronis (or something close to that), I plan on using that next time I do a fresh install and get everything setup to make an image to fall back to. He reported to me that it took him all of nine minutes to restore the image and be up and running again.

 

I use Acronis TrueImage for creating disk images, so you can restore a harddrive if you ever need to or restore the image to a new harddrive.

I also use Acronis DiskDirector which lets you create and change partitions without erasing them.

 

Thx for all the replies,

I'm gonna try the utility orev/keyfinder before i do the swap of drives, and try it out how the guides suggest. If this doesn't work then ill use the sticker on the back of the notebook.