How do I get a Windows Vista install disk ?

I'm attempting a hard disk upgrade, replacing the 100 G drive with a 320 G Seagate. I have only the recovery cd set. I called Lenovo for support today and nobody there seemed to understand what I was talking about.

Thanks in adv, Mal

 

To get the OEM DVD, you'll need to either download the files off the microsoft website (~5GB, I think) and burn them onto DVD, or just find someone else who has a copy and burn that.

Many repair places will burn you a copy for supply of the DVDRW or up to 50 bucks, depending on how well you know them and how nicely you ask.

 

$50..... for a OEM DVD...I rather pick one up from ebay, only charge about $20

 

I guess you are asking to copy your system to a new system.

It's not that hard.

1 You can use your recovey CD as your install CD, it's super easy!! Just place the CD into the laptop, then thinkpad will run the disk and follow the steps, super easy, no hassles. The recovey disks already included all the drivers, you don't need to spend you life looking for the correct drivers. (other brand does, which is very disappointing for me )
It takes about 2 hours to do that.

2This way is a little complex.
First, you need a additional external hard drive, then make a system image, either use vista backup and restore center( located at maintenance) or use thinkvantage recovery center.
After you create the system image, (be careful, must be system image, not the restore files, vista offers two backup option) you just need to get a vista DVD, (download it or borrow it) then run the vista DVD after you install your new hard drive, when your system reach the install menu, choose repair your system option, then chosse system resore by image and then follow up.

I hope these help.

 

Like I said, depends on the person.

I'm sure you can download off microsoft.com though.

 

I was trying sort of a blend of the 1 & 2 above. First I made the backup using Vista's backup utility. System image of course. Then I swapped the 7200.3 Seagate drive in. Then booted from Rescue & Recovery cd. I went through the Supplemental, plus disks 1 through 6. At the end of the process the machine just stayed in Recovery mode. I couldn't see the local drive I had just installed or the USB drive that I used for backup. I was guessing it was trouble partitioning the new drive.

Then I found the note on Compatability mode vs 'ahci' in the Setup => Config => Serial ATA section of the bios. It is now in compatability so I guess I'll give it another shot.

 

Oh this just keeps getting better... The procedure worked but... Now I have an XP machine not Vista Business ... SO now I need to figure out how to get Vista back... what a PITA!

 

I am confused by what you are trying to do 4mal. If you were shipped a Vista system. and you want to reinstall the system as originally shipped on a new hard disk, then you must use the Rescue and Recovery "Product Recovery" disks that were burned from the hidden partition on your original disk ( http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-68317.html). Note that this is different from Rescue and Recovery disks, and from Vista system recovery disks. You can only burn these from the hidden partition and you are only allowed to do this once. After you install the Product recovery disks, then you can use the rescue and recovery disks to bring your system back to its current state. If you reinstalled from the XP downgrade disks that were shipped with your system, then you have installed an XP system and also changed your hidden recovery partition to XP. You can no longer recover the Vista system, unless you burned the original one-time product recovery media. I always burn these disks immediately on booting a new system, and before even applying windows updates, because if something breaks, this is your only recovery method. As has already been stated, you can purchase a set of product recovery disks (the same ones that would have been burned from your hidden partition) for about $50 from Lenovo. You cannot do a clean install of Vista downloaded from MS unless you saved the product key information from the original install, as explained in the clean install guide in this forum. Otherwise, you will have to supply a valid product key, and activate your copy of Vista.

 

I'm not surprised.
Your Vista system has been overwritten by the xp system. I've been through this only I did not the the two extra petitions that Lenovo tosses in. You shouldn't have included the backup disks in your backup. Try just the C: petition.

 

Well I'm still stumbling along ... I'm attempting to replace the original 100g drive with a Seagate 320g, 7200.3

I have the Recovery disk set as originally burned so I guess I'm good there.

With the original drive in place, I create a system image backup ising the Backup utility from the Vista control panel. I located that on an external USB drive.

Then I swapped in the new drive.

After some fumbling with the original disk set (Product recovery) - I finally got Vista installed using the machine burned Recovery media. So I have a Vista bootable 320 g machine. This is good! I used Vista to shring the main partition and created a logical drive on the new volume. So I have local C & D drives.

I copied the backup set onto C and onto D.

So now it's down to how do I get the backup I made of the 100g drive onto the 320 ? When I boot from cd to the Recovery Center and select Restore - nothing show's up for restorable backup sets on either the local or usb external drives.

So that's where I'm currently at...

 

I posted several weeks about my trials with a hard drive upgrade. I wanted only one partition but I'm sure you could have a second partition and just copy whatever onto it. Hope this helps
Here's the link.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=357209&page=2

 

If you created the backup with Vista backup utility, then you must use the same utility to restore it - not Thinkvantage Recovery. The Vista utility should do a good job for you.

 

I know that I'm probably being a goofball here but here goes anyway... Can I restore my system volume (drive C) when I booted from it ? Seems like sort of a chicken & egg conundrum ... when I try to restore from the Backup & Recovery Center...

Restore Files tells me - "THere was an unexpected error, Backup has not been setup on this compouter. An administrator must first create a backup before you can restore files"

Restore COmputer tells me that I "ned to run Windows Complewte PS Restore from the System Recover Options menu. ... and that I can "access the recover options menu from a recovery partition using the F8 key at startup or from a Windows installation disk".

I sense that I'm missing something fundamental here ...