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It took a nice fall a few weeks back and the hard drive was done. I had created the recovery (repair?) disc when I first purchased the laptop. I went out and picked up a new hard drive, however instead of the original 500GB western digital that came with it, I got a 128GB Kingston SSD (Note: all my files are on an external and all of my gaming is done on a tower, so no need for the space). I have installed the new hard drive, and using the disc I created when I purchased the laptop I can start the computer and get it to System Recovery, however I am completely at a loss as to how to get windows 7 on to this hard drive, and if it is even possible for me to do so from the disc I have created. Please note that at the System Recovery Options box, there is no operating system listed. If I select to use a recovery tool, and select Recovery Management, the "Completely Restore System to Factory Defaults" and "Restore Operating System and "Retain User Data" options are not selectable.
I've spoken with Microsoft, who tell me my only option is to shell out for a new operating system since I replaced the hard drive. I spoke to Best Buy, who told me that the disc I have should be able to make it work, but that I can also buy a recovery disc from Gateway. After checking the Gateway site, I seem to be able to buy one for $20.
My question is first - Can the disc I created (Some kind of system restore/backup from my recollection) be used to recover the OS on the new hard drive? If so, is there anywhere I can find step by step guidance as to how? If not, is the Gateway $20 disc the solution to my problem?
Thanks in advance for any assistance, you guys are the best!
Chris
