Installing new drive in XP pro...

[BigDogues]

Hi all,
I am about to replace the hard drive in my niece's Toshiba laptop with a brand new one. Her drive has all but completely failed. I was however able to recover some of her important data using a HD to USB adapter.
My question is... What do I need to do a fresh install of XP pro on this machine? All she has is a recovery disk. I have an OEM copy of XP pro that is registered to my computer. Can I load the software from my disk on her computer and register it using her info? (Please note that all of our licenses are legit. I am not trying to steal any software here.)
The other option I saw was an HD upgrade kit on newegg.com that you can buy together with a replacement drive. That might work, but I do not have a lot of faith in the old drive surviving long enough to do the upgrade. Besides I would rather start fresh if I can.
Thanks in Advance,
Phil

 

[4Ryan6]

Why wouldn't you use her Restore/Recovery Disk?


I had to replace my HDD in my laptop and the recovery disk pretty much auto did everything thats possibly the fastest WinXP install you'll ever see.

 

[BigDogues]

Can you use a restore disk on a completely new drive? I didn't think you could. I thought there were issues with that like missing files, etc.
I thought the restore disks were stripped versions of the OS. Perhaps I am ill-informed but I've never had the misfortune to have to use one until now.

So are you saying all I have to do is change the drive and then run the recovery disk and I am good to go? That sounds too easy. :roll:

 

[4Ryan6]

Can you use a restore disk on a completely new drive? I didn't think you could. I thought there were issues with that like missing files, etc.
I thought the restore disks were stripped versions of the OS. Perhaps I am ill-informed but I've never had the misfortune to have to use one until now.

So are you saying all I have to do is change the drive and then run the recovery disk and I am good to go? That sounds too easy. :roll:

Thats all I did with mine, laptop manufacturers know you'll end up replacing a HDD, the replacement HDD wasn't even the same brand in my machine and it restored no problems at all.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

+1.

The recovery disks only worth with that brand of computer (and usualy just the model). Which HDD doesnt make a difference. As far as the Original OEM disks, they can only be used with the same Brand (and usualy the same model).


Good Luck BigDogues

 

[Mondoman]

...As far as the Original OEM disks, they can only be used with the same Brand ...

I think the OP was referring to the "OEM" Win XP CDs you can get for a reduced price with a hardware purchase. Those include the full OS and will work on any system.

 

[BigDogues]

...As far as the Original OEM disks, they can only be used with the same Brand ...

I think the OP was referring to the "OEM" Win XP CDs you can get for a reduced price with a hardware purchase. Those include the full OS and will work on any system.
Yes, you are correct. That is what I was refering to. They should work as well correct? And as long as the product key for her laptop I should be able to get all the appropriate updates, right?

 

[Mondoman]

The product key for the recovery disk is unlikely to work with the OEM OS install disk (they are different products, after all). You would have to use the product key that came with the OEM OS.
As others have said, using the recovery disk is by FAR the better option. Your OEM install disk is unlikely to come with all the specialized drivers needed for the notebook, and will be missing all the bundled software that came with the notebook. Among other things, this may cause features such as sleep mode or suspend to disk to not work properly.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

The CDkey on the laptop belongs to the OEM version of the OS on the recovery disk. Those CDkeys are locked to the manufacture of the computer, such as Emachines, Gateway,.... So although you have an OEM disk, the OEM CDkey from the laptop wont work.

There is only one real option and that is using the recovery disk...

 

[rwpritchett]

I just thought I'd chime in and say that I replaced the HDD in my wife's laptop. It was a completely different HDD and the recovery disks worked just fine. I didn't even need to re-activate. BTW, this was on an HP Pavillion.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

It actualy doesnt affect any OEM manufacturer. New hard drives will work as long as the original OEM disks are used. I personaly guaranty it.

 

[qwertycopter]

A recovery CD worth its salt will format, partition, and reinstall the OS, usually with bundleware, on a new HDD. The only sort of verification that occurs is the CD checks the system's BIOS to verify the CD matches the system brand and model. This is somewhat to prevent piracy but also because the recovery discs are often incompatible with other models and brands.

A lot of recovery discs have Windows on them, but some manufacturers put the recovery application and windows files on different discs (I'm looking at you, Hewlett Packard!)

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

Void()
for topic(reply != 0)
{

Beat2Death();

}

Void();

Void(beat2death()
{

cout<<"OEM, Manufacture, Works works, blah blah";

}

 

[4Ryan6]

You've gotten so many replies, to simplify, get new laptop HDD, Install new HDD in laptop, use original restore/recovery laptop CD, it will prep, format, and install the original operating system on the laptop for you, you may not even have to enter the product key, but if you do its on a sticker either on the back side or bottom of the laptop, and thats it, period, you're back in business.