Last weekend’s project was to replace a Dell’s (Inspiron 1440) hard drive and reinstall the Windows 7. Unfortunately the DVD drive was not working.
I bought a new WD 500GB hdd for RM165 (about USD50).
Since the DVD drive was not working, I had to install Windows 7 from a USB drive. To do that, Microsoft provides a neat tool called Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool.
1. First, convert the Windows 7 installer DVD which came with the notebook, into an .iso file. I used Corel Burn.Now utility from my Lenovo to do so (other DVD programs should be able to do the same).
2. Once the .iso is created, install the software from Microsoft – http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool
3. Run the application and select the .iso created in step 1.
4. Insert an empty USB drive and click on ‘USB device’.
5. You would need a USB drive with at least 4GB of free space.
6. The USB contents will be erased – so ensure you copy all your data out before proceeding.
7. ‘All contents of this device will be lost’ – don’t regret later.
8. It will proceed to create a bootable USB device with the Windows 7 installer.
I fixed the new hdd and booted from the USB drive created above (for this Dell machine, to boot from USB, I pressed F12 at the Dell boot screen and choose USB drive).
Just follow the Windows 7 installation steps as you would when installing from a DVD.
Old notebook with a new heart
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