Windows 7 on an OEM laptop

[rds1220]

I have a question on something that I've been thinking about. I have an Asus laptop with a pretty measly 320 gig HDD. If I get a copy of Windows 7 OEM along with a new, bigger HDD from New Egg can I put a copy of Windows 7 on the laptop? Will a regular copy of Windows 7 be compatible with a big box OEM motherboard or do I have to use Asus recovery CD's?

 

[ngrego]

You shouldnt have any problem installing Win 7 on your laptop due to the disk size. The 320GB HDD is more than enough to cover the windows install and still have plenty for storage left over. If you're on the market for a 500GB disk I would suggest picking up an external disk. It would be more handy for everyday storage and stuff, plus you will have the option to use it on other devices too.
The only thing that may be an issue is if your laptop is an older model, you may have driver issues. But thats a big "if", Win 7 is very good with hardware. I have installed it on some pretty old andd crappy pcs and had very few problems.

 

[Traildriver]

As a check run this Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor:

http/www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=20

Hardware / driver compatibility with Win7 would be your only problem. Also, how much ram is in the laptop? Win7 likes to have more than Win XP required.

 

[outlw6669]

As long as ASUS has Windows 7 drivers on their site you will have no issues.
Even if they do not offer updated drivers on their support site, you could probably dredge up working drivers from the net before installing.
Just make sure to check availability of 32-bit vs 64-bit drivers before picking up the new OS!

 

[rds1220]

No the laptop is pretty new. I just wanted to get a bigger HDD. What I wasn't sure about was all the drivers. Sound drivers, touch pad drivers, video drivers and all that stuff. So all I have to do is Install my copy of Windows 7 then install all the drivers and everything should work just fine?

 

[Jim_L9]

You could get a USB to SATA adapter and use a drive clone utility to clone everything off of the 320 GB HD. After you clone that to the new, bigger HD plug it in and it will run like it did before, but with the bigger HD.

 

[rds1220]

Best answer selected by Rds1220.

 

[rds1220]

I know I could do that but I chose not to because of all the bloatware garbage that comes stock on most OEM computers. With a clean install of Windows 7 OEM you have a nice clean HDD with nothing but the OS and the drivers. What I was going to do is this, and tell me if you think this will work alright.

1) Replace HDD
2) Install fresh copy of Windows 7
3) Go onto my other computer with an internet connection and download the drivers to a USB thumb drive
4) Take that thumb drive and use it to install all Asus drivers