[shortstuff121]

Hello, I have a HP DV6704NR laptop that wont boot, just a blue screen. I'm going to replace the hard drive but no Vista recovery discs have been made. I have a working Toshiba laptop that runs Vista. Can I use it to make a recovery disc? Also I have a Vista Business install disc that was issued for a Nobilis, would it work with my Vista key? Thanks in advance.

 

[spunk.funk]

Re: How do I reinstall Vista after hard drive replacement?

A Toshiba recovery CD will not work on an HP Computer. It is highly unlikely, but If the Vista key on the HP is not an OEM (has OEM in the middle of the numbers) then you can use it on your Vista Business disc.
Your HP computer does have a Recovery Partition on the drive, try do a Restore to Factory Defaults. Performing an HP System Recovery (Windows Vista) | HP® Support
If that doesn't work then you can order an HP Recovery CD. Looking for Recovery Discs? | HP® Support

 

[shortstuff121]

Re: How do I reinstall Vista after hard drive replacement?

Thanks for reply spunk.funk! My Vista key doesnt have the letters OEM anywhere in it but I find it hard to believe it's not an OEM key. Sorry, I'm having a hard time understanding the recovery partition process. The recovery partition is stored on the current hard drive, correct? The hope would be to restore to factory defaults to get it to boot so I can make a recovery cd? I'm reluctant to do a factory restore in case I need to have data pulled off of the old hard drive at some point. Thanks again.

 

[Tomshawk]

Re: How do I reinstall Vista after hard drive replacement?

Yes, the recovery partition is on the same Harddrive as the OS. The harddrive has 2 partitions usually not not always, sometimes 3.

Read the link spunk.funk gave you on how to run the recovery

 

[spunk.funk]

Re: How do I reinstall Vista after hard drive replacement?

You can do a backup of your files before you do a System Recovery by using a Ubuntu Live CD and saving your files to a USB HDD. Once you are safely backed up, then you can run the System Recovery to Factory Defaults.

 

[shortstuff121]

Re: How do I reinstall Vista after hard drive replacement?

Ok, sounds like a plan. I will give this a try in the next couple of days. Thanks a lot!

 

[shortstuff121]

Re: How do I reinstall Vista after hard drive replacement?

I got my files backed up & a ran a system restore which fixed it to let it boot up. I went to make my recovery CD and it tells me that one has already been made. Is it possible to transfer the recovery partition to an external USB HD & then transfer it back to the new HD? Thanks

 

[spunk.funk]

Re: How do I reinstall Vista after hard drive replacement?

You can try cloning the Whole HDD including the Recovery Partition and the non booting C: drive, to a new HDD, then switch HDD's replacing the broken drive with the new one Booting the computer and run the Recovery Partition to install the OS, overwriting the non booting C: drive with a working Windows.

 

[shortstuff121]

Re: How do I reinstall Vista after hard drive replacement?

Thanks spunk.funk. I tried installing Vista business and my key will not work. It says it's not valid for this version of windows vista. I'm going to order a SATA/USB convertor and clone the drive. Seems like the surest way. Thanks for the help & I'll keep updating my progress.

 

[dannpp2012]

Re: How do I reinstall Vista after hard drive replacement?

If you have a working desk top you can use that instead, just create a bootable disk with the disk cloning software and then hook up the two hdd to the desk top. Put the bad drive where the main drive is on the desk top then hook up the other hdd and boot from the disk drive or dvd drive. The laptop drive will accept the standerd sata power and data cables. Yes it involes a little work but saves money on buying adaptors.

 

[shortstuff121]

Re: How do I reinstall Vista after hard drive replacement?

Thanks for the tip dannpp2012! I had already order the USB when I read it but I will keep that in mind for the future. I cloned the old drive(137GB total) to the new drive(237GB total) using PartedMagic. The new drive boots & functions just like the old one. Everything is there but it says the capacity on the new drive is now 137GB(100GB short). What did I do wrong & how do I fix it? Thanks again everyone.

 

[shortstuff121]

Re: How do I reinstall Vista after hard drive replacement?

I figured it out! I booted with PartedMagic again & went into Gparted. I moved the D: HP Recovery partition to the end moving the unallocated 83GB space next to the C: Main partition and then re-sized C:. It now recognizes the full capacity in Vitsa. Thanks for all the help!

 

[shortstuff121]

My success was short lived. It started twice & then went to blue screen. It would also not boot to D: system recovery. I started over & cloned the original drive again. This time I moved D to the end but used windows to re size C. It's booted several times with no problems but still will not boot with D. On the first start up it checked D for consistency & said all file systems were fine. Is there a way to repair D without a recovery disk? Thanks