Replacing hard drive for my laptop

Question

I have this D620 Laptop that I purchased from a school a couple of years ago. The system came originally with an XP professional version, but the school IT installed a Windows Vista Ultimate before delivering to me. Everything was working until the hard drive began having some bad sector errors and the computer slowed down dramatically. Probably some system files have been corrupted. I have managed to back up the hard drive successfully in an external Disk. I need advice on how to restore my back up copy onto my new hard drive since I don't own Windows Vista restore CD or install CD. I called Microsoft for support, but they told me that the installed Windows on my computer was genuine but it was not a retail version, so they could not send me a replacement disc. Is there a way or a method that I could use to make a ghost copy of my damaged hard drive and restore it on the drive I'm planning to purchase.

anticramer · Accepted Answer

I felt with the necessity to come back to this forum to post my solution to my problem.

Windows Vista has a Backup function that allows you to create an image of a hard drive. The option is called Backup Complete.

My problem was then trying to find a way to boot the system off a Windows Vista environment without a hard drive by having the new virgin disk installed on the computer and the back up information on my external drive.

The solution, I found this website explaining how to create a copy of a Windows Vista Service Recovery Disk that was available in a torrent. I downloaded the image of the bootable disc and burned to a CD-R. Then I booted from the Recovery Disc and the recovery disc (after some options) prompted for the location of my back up. The recovery environment recognized my external drive thru the usb port. I restored my 80gb image onto a 320gb disc. the original 80gb were restored faithfully without any prompt for product keys or any other hassles. I rebooted my computer without a problem.

I used my partition software to create a partition of my remaining space and use it as an extra logical drive.

There was no need to buy any software or buy an extra copy of windows vista.

This solution works

ejn63 · Answer

I can almost guarantee you that even if you clone a copy of Vista and then restore it to a new hard drive, it will still require activation (it'll trip a request) thereafter.

If you want Vista, and you're no longer covered by your University's volume license, you must buy a copy - or buy a copy of Windows 7. If you still have the Dell XP CD you can use an upgrade version - if not, you'll need a full license, NOT an upgrade.

anticramer · Answer

I don't see any reference if this method will work for Windows Vista. It looks like it was written before Windows Vista was on the market.

ieee488 · Answer

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11379_7-6445033-1.html

anticramer · Answer

I do have the original Windows XP Pro. I tried to restore it back to its original OS several times, but always failed to revert.

ejn63 · Answer

Did you follow the instructions? http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/document?c=us&l=en&s=gen&docid=179256

magiccat179 · Answer

Hello Anticramer, I am have a similar issue where I need to reinstall rest copy of Vista for a friend but they have no cds however their laptop inspiron 1501 and vista purchase is legitimate.  Could you please tell me the link to where you downloaded the vista recovery cd?  Thanks -Magiccat179

anticramer · Answer

Sure, no problem. Here they explain in detail what you need and how to use torrents. I had never used one, but I learned. It's very simple.

http://www.brighthub.com/computing/windows-platform/articles/7050.aspx?p=3

The only thing that happened after I posted this solution is that I noted Windows Vista prompted me to validate the key. I had to call microsoft and interact with a response system to give me a validation key of my installation key. It was like a 15 min call where I was talking numbers and letters to the computer and the computer would give me installation numbers that I had to put on the computer. But other than that, my wife is very happy with her DELL running as fast as new again.

I think I was lucky I had Vista ultimate on my computer and I could do back up of the failing hard drive. Please come back to post results.

magiccat179 · Answer

Thank you so much for your quick response Anticramer.  I will work on it this weekend and let you know how things turn out.   -MagicCat179

Storage, Drives & Media

Hello Anticramer, I am have a similar issue where I need to reinstall rest copy of Vista for a friend but they have no cds however their laptop inspiron 1501 and vista purchase is legitimate. Could you please tell me the link to where you downloaded the vista recovery cd? Thanks

-Magiccat179

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