HD upgrade, clean install and no recovery discs

[undertone]

So happy to have found this forum!

I've got a T61p running Vista Ultimate. I'm looking to replace the current hard drive with a WD 500gb drive. I'm considering doing a clean Vista install unless there are convincing reasons not to. I don't feel that I use the ThinkVantage software much, although perhaps there are things that I'm using and noticing. Will I do okay just by downloading the drivers I need from the Lenovo website? Do I need to flash the HD as detailed in another thread I saw here?

Which brings me to my next issue. I didn't create the rescue discs when I got my computer last summer. Bad me. I tried to create them now and the software just keeps telling me to wait while it extracts the files and never goes past that. I called tech support who told me that I'd waited too long and it would no longer work (although how long, exactly, was too long, they were unable to say) and that my only option was to pay $50 for them to send me discs. So from this, I ask:

1. Is is true that I can't do a fresh install with these discs anyway?
2. Should I just find a copy of Vista elsewhere and install that (my serial should still be legal, I believe)
3. Would the backup discs from another T61p work for mine?

I think that's it? Thanks!

[GomJabbar]

1. You can do a selective install with the Product Recovery Discs.
2. The Windows Product Key will only work with an OEM version of Windows. A retail version of Windows will not work with that Product Key.
3. An image backup should work fine as long as the image size is no greater than the hard drive you are installing it to. More traditional backup software (not imaging software) will require a Windows Install DVD to do a restore.

Here is more info on #1: http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=63

[jjesusfreak01]

Im actually on a laptop running an copy of Vista that I activated with and OEM key. It was a standard Vista upgrade disc that I used to install.