Want To Upgrade My OS and Add New HDD. What's Involved?

Thankfully this task isn't terribly hard. If you are upgrading from Win XP 32bit to Win 7 Pro 64bit you might want to make sure your other parts can bear the load. Win 7 has higher minimum requirements for the processor, graphics card, and RAM.

You can provide information on your processor and RAM by clicking "Start", then right-clicking "My Computer" and selecting "Properties." Under the newly opened window you'll see the processor model and clock speed, as well as RAM amount. The graphics card is a bit harder. I recommend clicking "Start" and opening "Run" then typing "devmgmt.msc" to open "Device Manager." Here you should see an option called "Display Adapters," expand that and write down what ever it says. I also HIGHLY recommend writing down you "Network Adapters," and "Sound Controller".

When you've written down the names of your "Display Adapter," "Network Adapters," and "Sound Controller" you need to go and download the drivers you Windows 7 64-Bit for each from the manufacturer's website. Just do a Google search for each name ending with "windows 7 64 bit driver" and you should have little trouble finding each.

Depending on how old your hardware is this will save you a TON of headaches after the install.

System requirements for Windows 7 can be found here.

I recommend doubling the clock speed and RAM minimums or you might notice a sharp loss of performance.

Look up your parts, see if the meet the requirements listed above. If they do you are all set to upgrade.

Now take you old hard drive out and put in the new one. When you have done so put the Windows 7 Install disc into the disc drive and turn on you computer. Press any key when prompted and you will begin the install. From here it's pretty much just clicking "Next" a few times then hitting "Install" and waiting an hour.

Once it's all done It'll ask you for a username and password along with a few questions about default settings (I recommend choosing the "Recommended" option every time).

When the questions are over you will be presented with the desktop.

Now you are almost done. We want to re-open "Device Manager" and make sure all your drivers are installed or some hardware might not work. Click the "Start" button and type "devmgmt.msc" into the search bar and press enter. In here if there are any red X's or yellow triangles you are missing a driver and need to install it. The most commonly missing drivers are the "Display Adapter," the "Network Adapters," and the "Sound Controllers."

Install the drivers you downloaded to make those disappear. If there are any left after that they are either the chipset driver and all you should need to fix that is a search for "Intel/AMD chipset driver windows 7 64 bit" depending on your processor. Download and install the driver. If there are ANY MORE left you probably have a card reader on the front of your case and for that, the easiest way to find it is look up your computer on the manufacturer's website and download the driver for you card reader (make sure its for Windows 7 64 Bit).

After that your computer is back in business but better than ever. Hope this helps!

P.S. Don't let the length fool you, it's not all that hard, I just wanted to cover all the bases in one go and hopefully address some potential pitfalls that would make it harder on you.

Edit: Removed unnecessary steps, forgot this is a clean install not a re-install.