Samsung RV511, W7, HDD died, trying to boot to Windows with new HDD

[woomonkey]

Hi there,
My friend has a Samsung RV511 laptop. I am trying to get it back up and running.
Original HDD is 500 GB (with about 50 GB of data on it) and it has bad sectors and is failing. It still boots but acts wonky once booted. It's a goner.
He doesn't have any recovery CD. The data is backed up, so that is not a concern. I just want to get it to boot properly.

I have a 250 GB kicking around and tried to use Seagate DiscWizard to clone the 500 to it. I tried this twice and it stops booting after the initial Windows splash screen. I tried to adjust it so that both of the hidden partitions are cloned exactly.

With the 500 bad drive installed, I can boot to the recovery console (pressing F4). I made a recovery DVD and then put the 250 back in and tried to boot to it, but it didn't get me past the same screen.

I made a system recovery image and saved it to a 500GB external HDD that I have. I don't know how to use that recovery image though.

Can anyone offer any guidance? I'd appreciate it!

 

[USAFRet]

Reinstall Windows on whatever new drive you put in the Samsung.

The product key should be on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop.
You can download the official Win7 ISO here: http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/

Install and activate with that product key.

After its all installed and working, you can try to access the old dying drive with a USB dock or cable. You might be able to retrieve the data from it.

 

[woomonkey]

It's so simple it just might work! 🙂
Downloading the .iso right now. Thank you very much, sir.

 

[woomonkey]

It worked!
Thank you very much for your help.

 

[USAFRet]

It worked!
Thank you very much for your help.

Excellent!