Backup image question

[ihatecomputers99]

My laptop hard drive has broken down and I am trying to install a new internal drive. All I want to do is install Windows on my new hard disk. I have managed to access my old hard drive and have been trying to create a backup image using Microsoft's backup and restore function. I am trying to write the image onto a DVD-RW. This process seems to be taking forever and I think it will run out of space. It seems as if Windows backup is copying the entire contents of the hard drive into the backup image.

Is there any way to just make an image of Windows without backing up the entire HD? I also tried to download Windows 7 directly from Microsoft website, but was refused and redirected to manufacturer presumably because it was OEM license. What would be the best way to proceed? I just want to get Windows an my new hard drive before old one dies again.

 

[jsmithepa]

Writing to optical media is gonna be slow unless you have an external USB HD, or a suitable sized flash.

And if you have just a single C: the backup is not smart enough to "extract" just the OS stuff only, reason why lots of people (me) always partition HD from day 1 to be c: (OS+Apps) only, and d: (Everything else).

 

[ihatecomputers99]

I waited it out and made my system image in 3 dvd-rws. It said creation was successful. I also made a system repair image. I have installed my new HD and booted it from the repair disc. I followed instructions to re-image my computer. Windows said to insert the final DVD from the backup set. I have done this and windows says it cannot find a system image on this computer.

I think I can still access my old hard drive for now, but I don't know what to do to to get Windows up and running on the new HD. I would rather not buy an external drive since I would never use it besides for this restore, and even then I have no guarantee that it would even work. And I would rather not buy Windows 7 retail since I already own Windows 7 and feel I shouldn't have to pay Microsoft just to replace one piece of faulty hardware.

Any suggestions? I have no data I need left on the hard drive and don't care if I lose it all. I just want to get Windows running on the new hd.