New hard drive

[RHaynes]

I would like to replace an ageing Maxtor 6L160M0 in my Windows 7 PC with a 500GB Western Digital WD5001AALS. I have two questions.

My current drive is SATA-150 which I'm guessing is not SATA II but I'm under the impression they are backwards compatible so, at worst, it will simply operate at a lower maximum data transfer rate. Is this correct?

Also, I have done a full Windows-based system back-up including files onto an external hard drive. If I simply swap out the old drive for the new one, re-install Win7 onto it and try to restore from the back-up once it's up and running, will it allow me to do this? I have never had to restore from a full Windows back-up before (touch wood).

[MarkRae]

There's no reason to reinstall. Just do a full system backup onto a removable drive, replace the drive, and then restore the backup onto it.

Acronis True Image Home would be a suitable backup product for this - there are others...