hard drive died, recovered data, bought new bare drive, no install/recover CD for Windows XP, how to proceed?

You can get a copy of the XP you had on your PC, borrow or download, make sure it is the same version, not only Home or Pro, but OEM or retail. The sticker, the certificate of authenticity (COA) on the side or back (sometimes bottom) that has the key, that is critical. Any disk you may find, as long as it is the same version, you can use it to install the OS again, using the key on the COA numbers to activate the new install. This is legit, all disks of the same combination of versions are the same, although some OEM versions are branded as in, it is by HP, or Dell and so on. It is still an OEM. When the key number of the COA is forged, that is when the legal trouble begins. That's why it is critical to use the one that is on the sticker on the side of your PC, it has already been associated with your computer. It is something that resembles a fingerprint. Your PC has a certain makeup of hardware, that number is associated with that configuration. That way if you try to install the same OS with the same key, the authentication process will deny the activation of the software.

Jack

Posted 2013-12-06T07:19:32.887

Reputation: 391

Thanks for your help. Unfortunately, my machine is eight years old and the manufacturer (Alienware) doesn't have any recovery CD's. I looked at eBay, and the legit looking CD's there are going for $20-30, without the set of drivers appropriate for my machine. So I called a local shop, and they said they could restore the OS and drivers for $55, so that's what I'm going to do. – Tyro – 2013-12-07T06:35:09.320

Drivers can be downloaded from the internet, and since Dell now owns Alienware, then maybe it did not happen until later, Dell always has a folder labeled Dell on c drive, were all the drivers are kept for install. A disk otherwise can be borrowed from a friend or downloaded from the internet. I even have copies on my pc to burn if the occasion ever arose. And FWIW you most likely have a hidden partition on the old drive that could be cloned, not copied, to get your OS and drivers back. Know what brand of PC helped. CTRL+F11 boots it into the hidden drive if Dell owned AW by the time. – Jack – 2013-12-07T13:59:46.177

I hope they save your data too. 55 bucks to recover and save data from a shop is really cheap. watch for what you get. I just read my comment from earlier where I was referring to the install disk, but did not mention it, I made it sound like the driver disk could be borrowed. Sorry if it did not make sense. I did not proofread my comment earlier. What to watch for is a bootleg copy installed, just sayin... – Jack – 2013-12-07T19:47:12.330

hard drive died, recovered data, bought new bare drive, no install/recover CD for Windows XP, how to proceed?

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