Jez777

Hi,
I have an acer aspire 5720z lap top with windows vista. The hard drive is not working properly and i want to replace the drive with a newer larger one. The Physical act of removing it and putting a new one in is easy.....however it is the copying of all the data and the operating system onto the new one that is causing me a problem as i dont really know how to do it.

Can anyone give me a step by step guide ( including which software and leads i need) as to how to install ALL data onto the new blank 2.5" hard drive please. I have access to another laptop and a desk top for copying purposes etc.

Bearing in mind windows vista is on the old hard disk - how to i make a boot up disc or copy the vista to the new disk?

Help would be much appreciated

night_shift

Acer uses a hidden partition on your HD and a restore is initiated by restore discs. This returns your computer to the out of box state. I'm assuming Vista was preinstalled, so you cant copy it.

Your new HD is blank so you need to get a fresh Vista, or I would recommend now Windows 7 disc. The disc is bootable and will format and install the operating system.

Windows comes with many drivers, but on your system restore disc marked System, all your specific drivers to your Acer are there and will have to be installed manually.

Jez777

Hi, thank for your reply. Please could you explain a few points in more detail.

- i dont have a restore disc - how do you make one? is it made using acer eRecovery manager to make a factory default disc?


- are you refering to the restore disc?

So in summary what i need to do is make a system restore disc, take out the old HD and put in the new HD, boot from the restore disc and format and install vista on the new HD using my restore disc? then install all drivers from a system disc.

I cant find acer eRecovery management on my old laptop in order to make a bootable factory recovery disc - i have a new laptop which has it on - if i make a recovery disc from this one will it work on the new blank HD on my other laptop?

thanks
Jez

night_shift

The recovery discs are made using eRecovery manager.

The bootable disc is a brand new OEM copy of Vista, W7 or XP etc. You need to purchase this.

The hidden partition is put there by Acer when they build your machine, it cotains a copy of the operating system.

Your new disc does not have this hidden partition so any recovery disc will not work on this new HD.

As I was writing this I was not aware of any way of cloning this hidden partition, untill I found the link below.

If you dont have eRcovery go to Acer download site and download a version of eRecovery for your specific laptop put it on the old HD and follow the instructions in the link below. You should, what I have read end up with various discs, which will let you clone your new disc with hidden partition, and give you recovery/driver discs. Good luck Dude.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=70059