Win7 Formatting

[Rhino]

Hey guys,

Quick question here. I'm planning on doing my first Win7 system format pretty soon and I'm wondering, is there anything special I need to do to tell M$ or w/e that I'm formatting this system that has my copy of Win7 on it, so it will let me install it back onto it after I do a slight upgrade etc?

Cheers

[LITOralis.nMd]

Explain what your plan of action is and we'll give a useful answer.

You bought a new physical drive?
What type of win7 license Key? Upgrade, retail, oem?
What OS is installed now?

The Win7 installation is almost 100% automated, but if you are doing in "in place" upgrade it can get a bit more complicated.

[Rhino]

1. I have brought new drives, a new 120gb SSD and a new 3TB HDD, but I plan on install Win7 onto my current 120gb SSD which its installed on currently too, since its better than the new 120gb SSD I have recently brought, which I plan to use along side my current SSD, but not with my OS on the new one.

2. Win7 Pro Retail Box: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional - Complete package.. | Ebuyer.com

3. The same as the above, same key etc.


My current plan of action is to back everything up onto one of my current 1.5TB HDDs, format all my SSD + HDDs other than my backup one (for now), install new hardware, SSD and HDD, reinstall Win7 back onto my old SSD, reinstall all other software, move my backups from my 1.5TB HDD onto my new 3TB HDD, format my old backup 1.5TB HDD, put that HDD in another PC on my network for network backups.

[LITOralis.nMd]

Right, so this isn't complicated, just time consuming.
Before you do any moving of anything, I strongly suggest plugging in your new SSD and booting your current win7 OS, and let windows New Hardware Wizard install the drivers for the new SSD. Will take less than 5 minutes and can save serious headaches in the process if anything goes silly later on.


Which disk backup and recovery program are you planning to use?

I personally use Acronis products, for your needs, Acronis True Image Home 2012, http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/pr ... jKccj67F9Q but there are free products that will also work.

My suggestion is to create a virtual image of your current OS drive
You can also create a Virtual machine out of your current OS installation and keep it as a backup.
VMWare option: VMware vCenter Converter, Convert Physical Machines to Virtual Machines
ONce converted to a VMWare virtual machine you have options as to which software you use, VMWare, Virtual Box, MS Virtual Machine, etc.

Best free backup software. Hard drive backup and recovery, image and clone freeware - EaseUS Todo Backup Free is a free backup utility that will work. The paid version is much better. I prefer Acronis products as I mentioned above.

1. Defrag your 1.5TB HDD that will be used as backup.

You should grab mydefrag.com defrag utility Download and install if you do not have a commercial product. When installing it, do custom installation, do not add daily or monthly defrag Tasks, do not install the screensaver. When installed, run mydefrag and run a "Data Disk Monthly" defrag on your 1.5TB HDD.

2. Use mydefrag on each disk you need to backup, data disks use Data Disk monthly.
This is the controversial part, you CAN OPTIONALLY defrag your SSD with the System Disk Monthly, it will remove the spaces between files, allowing Acronis, Norton Ghost, and EaseUS ToDo Workstation to shrink the partition size and speed up the backup and recovery.

There are plenty of other programs that will defrag and compress your data , if you have as many 3dSMax files as you've posted in the past.

3. Install Acronis, EaseUS todo free, or VMWare Converter.
Each solution has specific steps, let us know which way you prfer to go.

Acronis lets you mount the backup image file in WIndows Explorer and you can then move files from the backup to your new OS installation.
EaseUS Free does NOT allow this.
EaseUS paid Workstation version does allow this.
A Virtual Machine would allow you to create a shared directory between your new OS and your OLd virtualized OS, start new OS, then Boot your old OS installation, and copy files from the VM Old OS to the shared directory in the new OS, where you can then transfer it to the correct directory in your new OS.

[Rhino]

my question was regarding any complications with formatting and reinstalling win7, as I've only done older versions of windows before, not Win7 and wondering do you need to tell M$ if your formatting etc.

[LITOralis.nMd]

A retail box Windows 7 Pro product key number can be used to activate a retail Windows 7 copy on any computer, but only on up to one computer at any one time.

Your Win7 retail box license key is linked to your motherboard's unique ID. However, if your motherboard dies, you can call MS and have them give you a new key too.

In your situation, you do not have to do anything. Win7 will validate and authenticate without issue.

[MaSSive]

my question was regarding any complications with formatting and reinstalling win7, as I've only done older versions of windows before, not Win7 and wondering do you need to tell M$ if your formatting etc.

Not really its even easier than any Windows before.

Just note on which SSD you will install it cause it might get tricky if you have two of a kind.

Dont format it just let installation detect old windows and when it does just tell it to not do repair install or anything and let it format it on its own.

Quite simple task.

[Rhino]

rgr sounds good, basically the same as XP then, unless I get a new mobo, cheers

[MaSSive]

A retail box Windows 7 Pro product key number can be used to activate a retail Windows 7 copy on any computer, but only on up to one computer at any one time.

true

Your Win7 retail box license key is linked to your motherboard's unique ID. However, if your motherboard dies, you can call MS and have them give you a new key too.

Not true. Youre talking about OEM and hes got retail box, so that does not apply to him.

1. OEM Copies have no support from Microsoft. With the retail version you get a free support incident provided in the price of the copy of Windows. If you buy an OEM license, you would have to pay the first time you call them.
2. OEM licenses cannot be transferred between PC's. Once you install it on a particular computer, that license key must stay with that system. Retail can be transferred, but cannot be installed on more than one computer at a time.
3. OEM copies are provided in either 32 or 64 bit flavors. You must buy the one you want. Retail copies come with both 32 and 64 bit disks in the box. You simply choose which one you want to install (but again you can only install one of those copies at a time).

In your situation, you do not have to do anything. Win7 will validate and authenticate without issue.

Thats also true.