need help with replacing harddrive

[Witchblade77]

tldr version - need to replace the harddrive, having trouble with getting operating system (wind home, no longer have boot disk, still have product key) set up for replacement.

long version:

so.. my laptop's harddrive is dying. error warnings, slow booting, the whole deal. so... i bought a new harddrive, of the same size, completely with transfer cable and software (EZ gig IV , came with the cloning cable)

here's the problem. its asking for more space for "buffer?" on my destination harddrive, than is the size of original harddrive (and so i don't have it available) I didn't quite realize that at first, so I have already tried to clone my harddrive only for the process to basically freeze. and now its requiring 140 gigs of free space for the buffer????

ok, i figure, fine. I'll just back up the files i wanted to preserve and get and ISO image of windows 7, do a fresh install instead (why 7? becasue that is the operating system that i have a product key for on the back of my laptop) except.. microsoft won't let me download it, because its preinstalled and I have to go to manufacturer instead. THEY won't let me have it becasue they don't have downloads available, but I CAN pay $33 for replacement CD.

at this point I have spend enough money on this endeavor to have bought a budget tablet pc, so i would rather not spend any more money on it. but.. I'm also feeling completely out of options. I have no idea what to do now. i don't know where to get an ISO image of windows, my original boot disks got lost during out move into our current house, and the only ones I have are for win 10 from newer computer and somehow, i doubt this will work with win 7 product key (I didn't upgrade because when i tried, it messed up my performance so badly, i reverted back to an hour or so later). I cannot create a system image, because control panel doesn't recognize the plugged in new hard drive, and apparently my memory stick is not a valid backup device (its formatted, it still won't let me use it) :/

is there anything at all that I can do? you know without spending even more money, my discretionary budget at this point will not allow for any more experiments with aging laptop.

thank you in advance

[Thunderball]

Ok I assume you've tried to download Win 7 here? I'm not familiar with this exact software but are you choosing clone option or image creation? You should be using clone.

[Gorgodeus]

Once you do manage to get W7 installed, you can upgrade it for free to W10 here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/acce...FXNhiu3o52rA)()

[Witchblade77]

Ok I assume you've tried to download Win 7 here? I'm not familiar with this exact software but are you choosing clone option or image creation? You should be using clone.

thank you for the response and yep. they are telling me i cannot, cause its a pre-installed copy. exact quote is

The product key you entered appears to be for software pre-installed by the device manufacturer. Please contact the device manufacturer for software recovery options

and this cloning software doesn't have a copy option, just clone. it came with this kit https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16812304002. if there is a better free software that gives me better options, I would love to try it

[Lathais]

This tool might work:
https://www.heidoc.net/joomla/techno...-download-tool

[Denpepe]

If I read what you are trying to accomplish correctly, your main drive is still the way you want it to be and the one you want to copy to is not letting you due to space constraints, so format the new drive to make space and try to clone again would seem to be the most logical solution at this time.

[Witchblade77]

If I read what you are trying to accomplish correctly, your main drive is still the way you want it to be and the one you want to copy to is not letting you due to space constraints, so format the new drive to make space and try to clone again would seem to be the most logical solution at this time.

the question is.. how would I do that - reformatting of the internal drive that is plugged in via USB, rather then directly into motherboard? serious question, my understanding of computer things is rudimentary at best.

also even when new HD was fresh out of the box, the cloning software was still asking for more space then the size of the origin drive (empty spaces included, despite me selecting smart cloning option, so if I were to guess, the included software is not very good, but i'm not entirely sure what my other options are :/)

This tool might work:
https://www.heidoc.net/joomla/techno...-download-tool

I tried that link. on my laptop at least, software freezes up after I select windows 7 to download. antivirus marked the software itself as safe, so I'm not 100% sure what is happening there :/

[Kagthul]

IMO, just find a Win 7 install image online in the usual places and input your key when you do the install.

Its not even questionably legal, its totally legal.

You have a legit license for the software, so you're good.

Then upgrade to 10.