Upgrading HDD and Operating system

[RossComputer]

I'm upgrading my hard drive and upgrading my operating system on the same computer but i want to keep all my programs is there any way going around this?

Windows 7 to windows 8
Thanks ross

 

[USAFRet]

New drive and new OS? I suggest just a new OS install.

Collect all your installation disks and files.
Install te new OS on the new drive
Reinstall all your applications.

A little more effort, but guaranteed to work.

 

[henkbas]

why not clone your current installation to the new disk, there's plenty of programs for that, go to the website of the brand of drive you're buying and when that's done upgrade from W7 to W8.
Obly if your upgrading from W7 32 bit to W8 64 bit you'll have to do a new install...

 

[USAFRet]

Why carry all that old cruft onto a new drive and OS? Hence my recommendation of a fresh OS install.

 

[henkbas]

Why carry all that old cruft onto a new drive and OS? Hence my recommendation of a fresh OS install.

in principle you're right, it just depends on how many programs you'd need to reinstall, or games, saved games etc.
Fresh installl guarantees the best results but if your system is running fine just clone to the new drive..

 

[dobstar]

You said you want to keep all your programs. If they are all in one partition, I mean, not the system partition. You can use a clone software like aomei backupper. Then,about win7 to win8. It is easy, just upgrading: install win8 from CD or download from microsoft website or click windows update. I also think you'd better backup first.