New HDD & OS

DeadEyeDuk

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
Right, so, a month on from recieving my new PC, I am still trying to get my old Alien...Alien...w...thing to a state that it can be used by the olds.

I have thought about formatting the HDD to basically strip it.

I have tried to restore factory settings, but I dont seem to have the right disc (anymore!) and added to that, my Window Vista key is no longer recognised (did a bit of reading and MS give some BS about pre-SP1 keys might not work now...yey)

I thought then about obtaining Windows 7 and installing it to overwrite Vista (not sure that would actually work).

Which led me to the thought of getting a spanking new HDD (to replace the now 4 year old one in the PC), AND Windows 7 and installing that on there and starting properly afresh!

As I won't be using this PC, cost isn't an issue as I will demand someone else pay for it :chris:


What do you guys think in terms of options, and/or good internal HDDs (if thats a good option)

Cheers

DED

(Thought i'd ask a question for once instead of adding innane drivel to other threads!)
 
Tom DWC

Tom DWC

Moderator
Moderator
I can't understand why the Vista key isn't working anymore. Once you've brought it you've brought it (assuming it's licensed to the PC in question) and service packs are just free upgrades to the operating system.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Not much point spending money on new parts really, if the existing ones are still in working order. A reinstall should get it going again.
 
DeadEyeDuk

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
Hey Tom,

I cant remember where now, but in my learnings, I found a bit on the microsoft site about it. Basically if you have a copy preceeding SP1, you need something from them to make it work now. This of course doesnt not involve OEM (which I think I have) copies from suppliers. I am loath to contact AlienDell to get said...thing...because, well...AlienDell...

Sooo, saying all that, perchance a good way to go would be to get Windows 7 and install it? (Win win...solves my problem AND gets rid of the horribleness of Vista! :D )

DED
 
Fear

Fear

Prolific Poster
DED before you think about getting Win 7 make sure everything is compatible as on my last system i put it on there and the motherboard was not compatible had to change it.
 
DeadEyeDuk

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
Hmm good point Fear. I am hoping a Vista system will be compatible with 7 (I think I read somewhere its meant to be...ie if it works with Vista, it'll work with 7). I think there are issues trying to go from XP to 7, but will make sure of course before doing owt...good pointer :D
 
Fear

Fear

Prolific Poster
Yeah no problem DED just don't want you getting caught like i did, the board i had in mine was an Asus P5N-T Deluxe just never checked before i upgraded from vista to 7 and the rig was only 2 and a half years old think most of the other boards had been given new bios support for 7 but just my luck.
 
DeadEyeDuk

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
I missed this one last night, doh. I will do a reccey later on what my old PC actually has in it and search about to see what it will work with. If it wont work, I think i'll just try and go down the format route, try and clean it out as best I can and be done with it (really cant be bothered either sorting my copy of Vista out or...getting a new copy...ewww!)

DED
 
L

LFFPicard

Godlike
I do not see any issues with Vista, I installed a pre SP1 vista on a friends laptop to wipe it clean and start again.

No issues at all, and there PC is OLD!
 
K

kriwad

Silver Level Poster
DeadEyeDuk said:
Right, so, a month on from recieving my new PC, I am still trying to get my old Alien...Alien...w...thing to a state that it can be used by the olds.

I have thought about formatting the HDD to basically strip it.
Click to expand...
Doesn't that just mean putting it in a sensible case and changing the page 3 girl background to a nice tree? :p

I thought then about obtaining Windows 7 and installing it to overwrite Vista (not sure that would actually work).
Which led me to the thought of getting a spanking new HDD (to replace the now 4 year old one in the PC), AND Windows 7 and installing that on there and starting properly afresh!
Click to expand...
Just pop a clean install of 7 on there, it'll be fine. If you run into incompatibility problems you're very unlucky, but do your homework anyway :)
 
DeadEyeDuk

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
kriwad said:
Doesn't that just mean putting it in a sensible case and changing the page 3 girl background to a nice tree? :p
Click to expand...

Rumbled! But no, more just the general 4 years of tat that will just bog the ageing system down more than it needs.

I'll give it another stab this weekend (after WASTING the 2 4day weekends doing nothing about!)

DED
 
K

kriwad

Silver Level Poster
Everyone should have a copy of their favourite operating systems ready to install off something quick, like a USB stick. It'll take minutes to install Win7.
Win7 is apparently better but I don't like the upgrade route - if you need to re-install then you're back in this situation where you have to install a version of windows then run the upgrade again. Total faff.
"Obtain" a copy of Win7 ;P and just get 'er done, son.
 
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