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Laptop restore

penfold
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Laptop restore

My parents laptop HDD has died on them, nesessitating a replacement.  Fortunately I drummed into them the virtues of making backups of their important stuff, which is all nice and safe, but......  the HDD is completely dead, I have tried many ways to revive it to no avail.  Issue I now have is how to restore the system, as they 'forgot' to make any backup disks. 
It had vista home premium on, and is a Toshiba.  I really don't want to have to buy another copy as they already have a valid licence, and to be honest I don't feel comfortable seeing if I can get a disk off E-Bay, as it could be full of god knows what....  I did wonder if there is any way of getting hold of a factory recovery disk,  trawled toshibas website but cant seem to find anything other than the driver downloads.  If I have to buy an OS then i am resigned to that, but I would welcome any advice, to see if I can save having to do that.
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ReedRichards
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Re: Laptop restore

I hope you have a replacement hard drive "in stock" because hard drive prices have just gone through the roof, increasing by two or three times!  So much so that you might be better off buying a new machine as the price rise has not yet fed through to assembled computers.
For the re-install, any OEM Vista disk would do.  I know these are rarely supplied these days but you might find someone who has one if you ask around.  Or negotiate a deal with your local computer repair person that they do the Windows install and you do the rest (download and install the drivers, utilities etc).  The actual person-time involved in a Vista install is probably only about 15 minutes if they can get on with something else whilst the disc is doing its thing. 
penfold
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Re: Laptop restore

Thanks reed... Yes already got an hdd. The price inc is something too do with flooding in thailand i heard
I have a mate with a vista oem disk, but it is home basic... Are you saying that would install home premium, depending on the licence key used?Huh
ReedRichards
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Re: Laptop restore

I wasn't saying that but I think it is true.  Vista disks ask you what version you want to install but the licence key will only work for the appropriate version.  Anyway, no harm in trying.  You have 30 days to supply a licence key and activate your product; you are not obliged to do this during installation as you were with XP.
Mav
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Re: Laptop restore

Quote from: ReedRichards
I hope you have a replacement hard drive "in stock" because hard drive prices have just gone through the roof, increasing by two or three times!

I noticed this the other day when I went to purchase a HDD for SWMBO.
Just a couple of months ago I got two 1.5TB drives online from PC world at £39.99 and free delivery.
Now 1TB drive is around £115!

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shutter
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Re: Laptop restore

just ordered one of these.....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170722753976
although it says it is "manufacturer refurbished".... and has a "manufacturers 12 month warranty".....I emailed the seller, (mentioning Sale of Goods act), and he says HE gives a 12 month warranty...
For a similar price you can get a NEW 160 gb from Novatech.....
ReedRichards
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Re: Laptop restore

Hard drive prices seem to have peaked about 10 days ago and are dropping back now.
I would be very wary indeed of any computer equipment classified as "refurbished".  This usually means "returned as faulty but we couldn't find the fault".  So you are taking a gamble on the person who returned it being mistaken rather than the fault-finding procedure being inadequate.  Hard drives are sealed units so there is nothing physical you can do to "refurbish" them.  You could run software to check for and hide the bad sectors so they don't get used again but you'll soon get more if the drive is wearing out. 
shutter
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Re: Laptop restore

As mentioned.... I did make the "supplier" aware that I am cognisant with the Sale of Goods Act.... and specifically mentioned,  "If the item goes faulty within 12 months I should return it to you as my supplier"....
He responded that he had checked the situation (as he only mentioned the manufacturers warranty on his listiing) and that HE would honour a 12 months warranty...
As he has been made aware of the buyers "concern" prior to the transaction, and as he has responded "favourably", I see no problem with purchasing from him....
add to the above, the following "Item Specifics" in the description.....
Quote

Manufacturer refurbished: An item that has been professionally restored to working order by a manufacturer-approved vendor.
This means the product has been inspected, cleaned and repaired to meet manufacturer specifications and is in excellent condition.
This item may or may not be in its original packaging

(my bold and highlighted text)
I think it is a "fairly safe" transaction.   
Mav
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Re: Laptop restore

More often than not I have received refurbished drives back direct from the manufacturer after returning a faulty one under their warranty.
They normally they have Refurbished printed somewhere on the label. Perhaps it is one of these that he is selling?

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ReedRichards
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Re: Laptop restore

Quote from: shutter
inspected

Probably a quick visual inspection for dents, charred circuitry.
Quote from: shutter
cleaned

Externally.  Probably using a vacuum cleaner with brush attachment.
Quote from: shutter
repaired to meet manufacturer specifications

This would be an automatic software program that checks the drive, hides all the unreadable bits and checks that the drive then meets performance specifications.  The same thing is done on new drives so drives that have undergone this are sometimes described as "recertified".
Quote from: shutter
is in excellent condition

I'm not sure that this means anything; if it does it probably means the drive is not beyond a certain age or a certain number of hours of previous use.
New hard drives usually come with a 3 year warranty, some have 5 years, some 2 years.  But we want our hard drive to last as long as whatever it's installed in.  I hope you are lucky, Shutter, but I think buying "refurbished" computer equipment is a false economy, more often than not.  And yes, Mav, if you return a hard drive under warranty then what you get back is somebody else's return that has undergone the process I describe. 
shutter
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Re: Laptop restore

With all that "doom and gloom".... I am quite prepared to use the Sale of Goods act to full effect....
I did that with Novatech, on a brand new HDD last year, that would not even take the OS ..... I returned it within 24 hours of purchase, in person, and the guy behind the counter started to tell me that it had to go back to the manufacturer for testing before they would replace it.... Quoting my rights under the SOG and Trades description acts, I had a new HDD in my hand within 15 minutes.  Smiley
Mav
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Re: Laptop restore

I've often wondered whether it really is ignorance of the SoG Act or just a policy of fobing-off the customer as, I assume, the majority would not know their rights. It seems the British mentality is often that the person behind the desk must be right.

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penfold
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Re: Laptop restore

Well i bought one of these as well. Also with the caviat of the 12mnth warranty
Time will tell......
shutter
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Re: Laptop restore

Quote from: shutter
just ordered one of these.....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170722753976

And.... it has arrived.... posted in a sealed, anti-static bag, with a small silica-gel pack inside. that was protected by a cardboard sleeve, inside a "mail lite" padded envelope.
Am going to put it into the laptop later, and see how it performs by installing Windows Vista Home Premium.
(yes it does have a "Refurbished" label on it, and also, "SAMSUNG warranty void.  Warranted by the Reseller ONLY"...
(I will get a sticky label and put the suppliers details etc, on that.... Just in case.! )  Cheesy
penfold
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Re: Laptop restore

As i said, a mate had an oem home basic disk, so i could try that, but i have managed to find a toshiba website, that links to a page where i can buy the legit tosh recovery media, for £29.99 not sure what to do really, also been toying with upgrading then to win7 as there are some drivers for this on tosh website, but not as many as there are for vista.
What would you guys do?Huh