How to reinstall the original OEM Win8 64bit of my Acer AO 725 to a new HDD for it?

The current HDD of my Acer AO 725-0884 is the original one for this netbook, and it is running OEM Win8 64bit. I need to replace this HDD with a new HDD, and to install that new HDD in my netbook with the original OS the netbook came with.

So I need to create an installable flashdrive with the OEM win8.

There are many posts online for creating such a flashdrive with a retail version of Win8, but I do not want to have to buy that other version, I simply want to reinstall the original OEM OS, but to a brand new HDD.

Ideally, I would like to be able to create a reinstall flashdrive with just the OS, to streamline the installation and

keep it lean, installing the drivers myself... not sure if that is possible with the OEM version...? (P.S. I do not wish to have to buy the Acer recovery media because of cost, and because I hope to be able to create a leaner install, that will not have all those programs that pop up asking me to upgrade for a price...I'm hoping there is a way for me to make my own; here are the questions that come up, please answer each on its own Smiley Happy

1)__ if I choose to "create a recovery media" from the Acer recovery interface, is there a way to extract to the flashdrive only the OS, not all the software that the netbook was manufactured with? If so, what are the selections to choose to accomplish this? Or is there a command-line utility to accomplish this?

2)__ if not, will the Acer recovery interface create a flashdrive with the OS plus all the drivers, or does it only create a flashdrive with the OS plus the drivers plus all the other software that came with the laptop?

3)__ What size flashdrive do I need to use, in each of these 3 scenarios?

4)__ is there any other 3rd party software utility that could accomplish #1 above? (There are plenty of those for the retail version, but remember, this post is about being able to reinstall the OEM version the laptop was manufactured with, not a Win8 version bought separately)

5)__ will the intended installable flashdrive be able to reinstall the OEM Win8 to a new HDD only, or can it do it to a new SSD instead? (I haven't decided yet if I'll replace the current HDD with a larger HDD, or with a much faster SSD)

Many thanks for specific replies

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Vince53

Aspire, why do you need to change your hard drive?

LaptopFan94123

why do I want to change the HDD?

I bought this laptop used, it has lots of software I do not know, possibly some auto-connect logins, etc. I use Win8 the same secure way I used Win7, without using the cloud for data, and with NO autoconnect to anything, I type my own passwords everytime... for all these reasons, the current HDD is not a secure setup in my view, I can't use that laptop for anything personal, it's sitting pretty much idle so far, and it is so nice that I'm very eager to get it setup anew so I can really use it!. (I'm writing this on another laptop).

Moreover, besides the security issue, I want to increase the functionality of this laptop, either with more space with a 500gb HDD, or with more speed with a 64GB SSD.

One more question to add to my original post: if there is a virus or any malware on the current HDD, can it affect the recovery partition and its contents?

LaptopFan94123

asking "Aspire, why do you need to change your hard drive?" is a somewhat personal question, it is besides the point and diverts away, from the TECHNICAL QUESTION asked in this thread. Please anyone who has the TECHICAL ANSWER, or part of the answer, let's get into the real discussion, as it may help all the Acer Aspire owners who want to install a new, larger HDD or SSD in their laptop...

Vince53

Aspire, I asked you why you wanted to change your hard drive so that I could see if there was another problem involved.

okara

I will try to answer it with the assumption that you have a blank hdd

easy answer.. If you could find a legal oem version of win 8.1 then you could install it and use the provided key underneath your laptop. The key is your what we way for anyway so it is as from my opinion the best way.

1/no as you still need the basic software which is the acer recovery.
2/.. Never used it
3/ a minimum flashdrive or a USB stick = atleast 8gb to be sure if you mean a whole installation of wi. 8.1

4/ yes there is. Norton ghost is one of them. But digg on the compatibility. Also for some ssd drive there is a software included to clone the hdd.

5/ any flashdrive will work if it is compatible to work when booting on the flashdrive itself.

Plain and simple.. Use google. There is a lot of info regarding this. Step 1 is installation. Drivers are less of a problem cause you can download it on this site.

Sorry if i could not provide with technical tutorial cause i do not know what drive you are trying to use (ssd, hdd?) hope this helped

Hecticated

Here you go

http://community.acer.com/t5/Notebooks-Netbooks/How-to-Clean-Install-Windows-8-1-on-to-an-OEM-Machine-using-a/td-p/203669/jump-to/first-unread-message

Hecticated

okara wrote:

easy answer.. If you could find a legal oem version of win 8.1 then you could install it and use the provided key underneath your laptop. The key is your what we way for anyway so it is as from my opinion the best way.

This is incorrect.

Firstly, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 do not provide COA keys underneath the laptop anymore. They are now imbedded in the BIOS and have to either be extracted (as per above video tutorial) or have to be recognised by an OEM version of Windows.

Secondly, there is no such thing as a downloadable OEM image from Microsoft (unless MAYBE MSDN developers have access to it) so there is no way to get an OEM image except to BUY one (too expensive)

Thirdly, there is no such thing as an "illegal" copy of Windows. Windows can be downloaded, copied and used freely as long as you have a legal license to use it. So if you do find a copy of Windows anywhere - you are free to download and burn it and use it - it's the license that decides if it's legal or not.

This is a problem that a lot of people have been having because it's so difficult to install Windows 8.1 on to an OEM machine. That's why I posted the article above with a Video Tutorial on how to solve.

jakubwz

Hi, I'm afraid the link you posted is saying Access Denied. I only just openned the account tho.

jakubwz

Hello everyone,

after going through countless forums I have found only one solution that 100% worked and that was to clone the hard drive. At first I tried to copy partitions (AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard) but this doesn't set the parameters for GPT partitions, not to mention most of the software has a limitation to copy only 3 partitions and with W8 and UEFI there is always at least 4 parititons.

So, the work around is it copy the hard drive using Sector by Sector option rather than the Quick one. This way all settings, configuration for individual partitions, boot sectors, etc. will be copied as well. This process took almost 24 hours on 1TB hard drive.

Also, it is necessary that the new hard drive is the same size or bigger than the hard drive you copying. You cannot do sector by sector on a hard drive that is smaller.

This has been done on Acer Aspire V3. OS Win 8.

Eric3

As stated earlier it is possible to download a Windows 8 iso for use on your already licensed machine. If you do this you *must* check the md5 hash to make sure it is correct.

On my V3-771G I did not have to enter any key during the install and when the install had finished Windows was activated. I selected version 8.1 for the installation but it actually installed 8 so I updated from the store afterwards.

The only OEM software I wanted was the Acer DVD player software but I will have to do without it.

Eric3

I get "access denied" too. Must be due to a low post count Smiley Sad

Eric3

gergev wrote:
I get the "access denied" response to when trying to view the link. I would like to view it if possible. Any suggestions?

Just purchased Acer Aspire M5-583P-6637 and updated OS to 8.1. Now I would like to install an SSD.

Will this work?
http://blog.laptopmag.com/triple-your-speed-how-to-install-an-msata-ssd-boot-drive-in-your-laptop

According to this, this laptop should accept an mSATA SSD
http://truejournals.com/2013/10/05/inside-the-acer-aspire-m5-583p

I would give serious consideration before following that guide as it tells you to delete all partitions from the HDD after cloning. If you do that on the disk that came with your machine you will lose your recovery partition.

Also I would try and purchase a mSATA which includes cloning software if possible which will make things much easier.

By the way, are you sure that model has a mSATA slot?

Eric3

Yes that's right it would. Like you I am unlikely to re-install from the recovery partition but i'ts possible that if I have to have a warranty repair Acer might insist it has their version of Windows installed. Not saying they would but I'm a bit paranoid like that so after installing the SSD I just deleted the Windows partition from the HDD and left the others intact.

I'm not sure wether or not you did a fresh install of Windows so this may not apply to you.

You're right about the recovery partition being cloned so in theory you should be safe.

miguel69

another cheap way is to use imaging and partitioning software (there are lots of free ones), i used Macrium Reflect Free and Mini Tool Partion Wizard when i upgraded my Vista machine to a larger drive.

if you are going to split drives with the OS on a small SSD do some math so the OS and recovery partitions will fit, you use partition wizard to trim any unused space in the 15GB recovery partition and the OS partition, then make images of all partions to an external drive using Macrium. next using Macrium's recovery disk copy the images to the new drive(s). you can then use Partition Wizard again to resize OS and DATA partitions to fill any blank unused space.

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