As the title, the hard drive is dying my laptop. I can replace it cheaply and easily, the problem i have is that i have lost my Windows installation disc, and after i upgraded to W8 i cant find the backup disc either. Is there anyway i can avoid having to buy another copy of Windows to put on the new hard drive, as they cost a bloody fortune?
Install linux?
You haven't got a recovery partition on the existing drive then?
You don't need the disc or at least they're easy enough to get hold of. Has your computer got the windows label with code on? That's the key thing.
zokes +1
i installed linux mint on mine as i was told the interface is similar to windows. tis true, i prefer it, and its free 😀
Assuming the existing drive is still sane enough to read, you could clone it using something like clonezilla. If the existing drive is truly. knackered that's probably not such a great idea. There is some software around that can grab the licence key from your existing installation that might help?
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/
funnyily enough I was just thinking the same thing an hour ago. My laptop HD has totally died and I was wondering howto get a cheap/free OS. I think the original might have been either XP or was there ME. Laptop dates from 05, died in 08 but it would be great to get it running to use in the landrover with navigation kit
Might sound silly but phone Microsoft. I've always found them very helpful moving Office licences in the past and the actual software is all download now.
robbo that might be the case if you still have the product key.
Unfortunately, Microsoft, in their wisdom, a few years ago changed the quality of their labels so that they rub off on the bottom of laptops after only a year's use. Without it, they dont want to know. They still owe me 2x W7 starter licences after some hardware failures.
In fact their attitude was so annoying, I moved all our portable hardware to Linux (Lubuntu/Edubuntu) or Chrome. And I'll take a pretty cavalier attitude to respecting MS licences if I need to "acquire" one in the future too.
smogmonster - if you have the product key, just download a recover ISO from your hardware manufacturer's site and use the key. If they key has rubbed off, try and use a keyfinder software on the HDD before it dies to possibly extract the OS key. BTW that's not a bad thing for anyone to do - I have a record of all my MS product keys in case of catastrophic failure.
Ditto. I take a photo of the sticker when I get anything new with one on..
Download [url= http://www.piriform.com/speccy ]Speccy[/url]
It tells you your system info including your OS key
Personally, i wouldn't recommend trying to clone the existing drive, as you'll just carry over everything; data, settings, bugs, registry errors, driver faults, et cetera... As above, assuming your copy of Windows was above board (and you can prove it), then MS will help you out when you need to re-install.
That said, i'd install Linux!
Some manufacturers include the product keys inside the battery compartment. Dell do generally.
Anyway, if it was me I would use a tool like speccy to recover the license key and then get a new install disk. Get an install disk from microsoft.
Some of the hdd manufacturers offer a free clone tool if you are cloning to one of their drives (i think that seagate do). So buy one of their drives and a cheap usb caddy to hold the drive while cloning. It's relatively straightforward
Install linux as suggested you won't turn back if you are prepared to invest a little time learning the basics... you'll also save a bunch of money
If I wasn't enslaved to a couple of windows apps I would also go for linux.
redthunder which apps do you feel "enslaved" to windows for ?
Just installed speccy
Does the job and I now have my product key.
Good suggestion Duntstick - cheers
Both of those apps can switch to Mac OS for free.
redthunder: No idea about Fontographer but I use RawTherapee, Gimp and Hugin for photos
These are some alternatives to Fontographer apparently...
http://alternativeto.net/software/fontographer/
IMO nothing on linux gets close to photoshop if you're doing serious stuff, for me Gimp is fine though. Don't know how well Wine handles photoshop these days but I'd bet it'd be a right faff!
Now you've got the key, you can get the Windows 8 media if you've got another PC.
Run the setup tool [url= http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-8/upgrade-product-key-only ]here[/url], tell it to build media, bang in your key and it'll download all the files you need to create an .ISO
Then, burn the .ISO with your image burner of choice (I use [url= http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=Download ]ImgBurn[/url]) and Robert's your mother's brother.
Alternatively, you might get away with downloading a trail version; though I'm not sure offhand whether a retail W8 key will activate an evaluation W8.1 image. Probably worth a punt though.
As said above if you have the key and you are using the correct download (ie Win8 or 8 pro) then it won't be a problem.
The only issues are activation can be a pain if you have a retail or OEM version of W8 and you don't deactivate the existing windows installation before you start.
I've moved my W8 Pro onto 3 laptops and each time it has worked, but deactivating the previous one is always needed.
I also had to go through the telephone activation method every time.
Google will find you answers if you have the correct key and the installation files.
Hi all, thanks for the suggestions. The situation is this..the laptop is Dell XPS that i bought new. It came with W7 installed (i still have the key on the underside). I installed (foolishly) W8 and then upgraded to 8.1 - an 'official' installation, so thanks to Speccy i have the key to this as well.
Presumably if i download the Win7 ISO from Microsoft and install it onto the new hard drive then i should be able to reinstall W8.1 afterwards (do i really want to?) as well, seeing as i have both the Keys?
"Do I really want to" is a question only you can answer, you've tried both now.
You can legally download the W7 .iso readily enough (google "windows 7 digital river") though there seems little point to me in doing that just to upgrade to W8, unless you've only got one PC in the house.
Install linux as suggested you won't turn back
No, don't do this. Ignore the linux nerds.
I think the 'upgrade' disc for W8 is actually a full install, I'd just try booting form it and trying to use the key it came with. If it doesn't work, it will stop you before you get past the point of no return.
molgrips, i downloaded W8 over the web from Microsoft, so no disc im afraid.
You downloaded it in ISO format, probably, which is CD format without the CD. You can create a CD from this.