Should I just do an in-place upgrade for my situation?

[999]

So a few days ago, my hard drive failed and I had to order a replacement from my OEM (it was covered under warranty).

Since then, I have gotten my hard drive, replaced my old one, and am now going to install Windows 7 again.

My question is, since the hard drive is fresh and brand new EXACTLY as it was when I first bought it (with Windows Vista), is there a need for me to do a clean install? It took me hours after the first clean install to get my drivers and backed up software up and running, and even then, not everything was back up and I was still tinkering around afterward.

I'm also new here, so sorry if I have the wrong tag or anything...

 

[The_Prophecy]

Yes, do a clean install. You will thank yourself later. Upgrade installs have a tendency to produce the strangest issues which often times are more difficult to diagnose. Needless to say, many of them often end in a clean install.

Better to save yourself the trouble.

 

[999]

But I have heard that computers that are practically new (in this case, my hard drive) don't need to bother with a clean install.

Are you sure? I really don't want to spend time doing all that over again...

 

[The_Prophecy]

Well you need to get an operating system on there somehow, right? I highly doubt the OEM you had replace the drive, loaded an operating system on there for you before they shipped it out. A clean install in this case is a must, since no operating system currently resides on the replacement hard drive...

 

[999]

Actually, no. It's like an exact clone of my hard drive that came with my computer. It has Windows Vista and all the drivers preinstalled.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Interesting... all of the OEM's I've dealt with have sent blank drives as replacements. You can risk the upgrade install if you want, but I still say a clean install is the safer option. Download the 7 drivers you'll need beforehand if you like...