Upgrading Laptop from SATA Win 7 to SSD Win 8.1?

[incucrash]

Hello!

I have an HP Laptop which is running an i5, and I want to perform some upgrades on it, as it is running very slow and has horrible response time after a reboot/power on.

I would like to run Windows 8.1 unless someone has a better suggestion currently?

My question is, would it be best to just scrap the current OS and buy a new SSD, and copy of Windows? I seen an upgrade option available which looked promising but this Laptop came pre-loaded with Windows 7, and while I have a key and options for restoring, with a recovery D:/, I'm clueless on how to transfer the OS to the SSD so a new copy seems the best route?

I also planned on possibly swapping out the RAM for newer stuff... not sure what my best options are for that as well.

Here are some system specs.
OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

System Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
System Model HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook PC
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 460 @ 2.53GHz, 2534 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Hewlett-Packard F.29, 11/7/2011
SMBIOS Version 2.6
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7601.17514"

Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 6.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 5.80 GB
Available Physical Memory 2.92 GB
Total Virtual Memory 11.6 GB
Available Virtual Memory 8.34 GB
Page File Space 5.80 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys


Thanks for any advice !

 

[johnb35]

You should have the option to create recovery cd's from the start menu or recovery option in control panel. Then just use the recovery cd's to reinstall windows on the SSD. Then come July 29th you can get a free ugprade to windows 10. What is the full model number of your laptop?

 

[incucrash]

Hello, thank you for replying.

A recovery CD will install Windows on the SSD?

HP - Pavilion Laptop / Intel® Core™ i5 Processor / 17.3" Display / 6GB Memory / 640GB Hard Drive - Aluminum

Model: dv7-4285dx

 

[johnb35]

Yes, a recovery cd can reinstall to an ssd. Did you already create the recovery media? If not, you should have the option to create it still. If not, you can order the recovery cd's from here.

https://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc...en&productOid=5052171&softwareitem=639801-001

There should be a program called recovery manager in the program menu.