Upgrade from Vista + new HDD

I am having a major issue with Vista after a windows update and microsoft support was no help.
Long story short, I want to upgrade from Vista to Win 7, but I also want to go from my little 160GB HDD to a 500GB.

If I do this, do I have to buy a full retail version or is there a creaitve way to do this with just the update version of Win 7?

Your help is appreciated!

 

Hmmm... a little further research seems to indicate that I can upgrade Windows on my current HDD and then clone the drive to the new HDD.

Does that sound like the simplest solution? If so, I'll look more into cloning and what I need to do. I have a slave drive slot on my laptop so I assume I could use that. I also have a USB enclosure, although that would be slower I assume.

 

Cloning the drive is a good option. If either of the drives are Seagate, Western Digital or Maxtor you can freely download their respective versions of Acronis True Image for the process.

If your new drive isn't one of those brands you can also use a trial version of acronis.

However, if you plan to upgrade by traditional means (not a custom install) then I'd really try to resolve the issues prior to upgrading. If it's program specific, then I'd fear it may carry over.

I'd preemptively make a clone or image before making any changes to protect against unforeseeable problems.

Edit: Sorry for the temporary disappearance. I was rewording my post to add my fear about porting over old problems and didn't realize you were online to see it the first time around.

 

Do both drives need to be one of thoes brands? Or just one of them?

The existing HDD from my Lenovo is a Hitachi. The new one will likely be a Seagate, or WD... I don't truly have a preference. There is currently a 500GB 7200 Seagate on NewEgg that I think will serve my needs just fine.

I like your idea to clone first, then upgrade.

Does cloning 'copy' the entire drive, all programes, all files.. everything?
Can I pick and choose what I want to clone?

I would also like to partition the new drive to have a Windows patition and an everything else partition. Will I still be able to do this? Maybe partition the drive prior to cloning?

Thanks!

 

I haven't used the Maxtor version, but the WD and Seagate versions only require one drive to be from their company. The intention, I assume, is to make it easier for you to switch to their product. If you need assistance picking out a drive, I'd suggest making a thread exclusively for that purpose in the Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades forum. Lots of knowledgeable folks hang out there.

Cloning makes an exact replica of the drive. If all goes successfully, it should load up everything, programs and files, exactly as it was on the prior drive.

I don't recall if the cloning feature in Acronis allows you to adjust partitions, however, the "image" feature certainly does. An image is similar to a clone in that it contains the entire content of the drive, but it isn't usable. It must be restored first. The links I previously provided also include the user manuals of each program, so I'd suggest reading through them to determine if that's possible with the cloning procedure. Otherwise, you could always adjust the partition size after upgrading using Disk management in Windows 7.