Hi,

I have an Acer laptop whose hard drive failed last year before I backed it up...lesson 1 learnt!

Now I am trying to resurrect this laptop so I have a new hard drive but no Windows discs came with the laptop when I bought it.

I've asked Acer for some discs and their response was to ask for £50 for a set of recovery discs.

Do I have any other options apart from bowing to Acer's demands?

Other thoughts...
Could I take it to my local computer guy and ask him to install it (hopefully for less money) as it has the Windows XP sticker in place?
Or...could I use a Packard Bell XP recovery disc that is only Xp and not the one with Media Centre that came with pre-installed?

Many thanks,
WIO

Hey Wolf,

Welcome back. Unfortunately, lesson 2 learned, always follow the instructions that come with a new laptop or PC to create a restore disk. Manufacterers have decided that they can save a few pennies by not including the actual CD or DVD with the machine. Although, I think that 50 pounds is a bit excessive for restore CDs.

If you can borrow an OS disk, the truth of the matter is that you own a liscensed copy of the OS, and as long as you use your license key, you won't have a problem. You can install Windows, legally, using the other CD. It won't have the other bells and whistles that may have come with your laptop originally, any other software etc., and you may need to update some drivers. But other than that you should be good to go.

However, do not use a restore disk that is meant for another computer. You could do serious damage to the laptop. Restore disks are designed to restore your computer to it's original factory new settings, if you use another restore disk it will be looking for all the wrong hardware.

Looking forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

Thanks LGW

What a superb and thoroughly detailed answer. Many many thanks...
I have found a friend with an original copy of XP discs so will get them from him in the next few days and try to get life back in this old girl again...before the kids go on school hols and demand to use mine!

Kind regards,
WIO

Oh yes...and lesson 2 learnt :-)

My pleasure WIO,

Please feel free to post back if you need any guidance to getting the OS to install properly.

Sometimes it is best to wipe and reformat the HDD before installing the OS to make sure that it is done correctly.

We'll be happy to help.

Looking forward to hearing how it turns out.

TTFN

LGW