The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    formatting new hard drive

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by lejon, Sep 29, 2006.

  1. lejon

    lejon Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    30
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    i got the hitachi 7k100 - a 7200rpm 100 gb for my m1210.

    my m1210 came with windows media center edition. the sales agent told me to get it since i have xp pro on both of my other dell laptops. he told me to use my xp pro discs from my previous computer to install it on my new drive. i have an inspiron and an old xps laptop with the pro on it.

    can i take one of my dell os discs and reformat my new hard drive with xp pro for my m1210?

    about reformatting, and junk software, looking for a summary, if and how much junk come on the operating discs from dell. i'm assuming it comes with the wrong drivers etc, but more information would be nice.
     
    lejon, Sep 29, 2006
    #1
  2. compsavy

    compsavy Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    13
    Messages:
    840
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    no that would be breaking microsofts eula. DOn't listen to the dell agent he lied to you
     
    compsavy, Sep 29, 2006
    #2
  3. Amber

    Amber Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    1,659
    Messages:
    5,066
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    The discs are clean OS - no junkware. They are basically a retail version of XP, except they can only be used on dell laptops. You'll have to download the drivers from support.dell.com

    Personally, I don't see a problem using your XP Pro disc. You bought a version of XP and have a license for it. It not like you pirated XP MCE or something like that. The only problem is the license is assigned to MCE, and not XP Pro.

    If you want to install MCE, then call dell's tech support. They should send you the XP MCE disc free of charge.
     
    Amber, Sep 29, 2006
    #3
  4. gilo

    gilo Notebook Deity NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    166
    Messages:
    707
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Basicly the license you get is for that notebook only , if you bought a new notebook with MCE you can't install XP PRO on it using the key on the bottom .

    But I don't think you'll be breaking the law if you'll switch OS between notebooks ( old key to install XP PRO on the new machine and MCE key on the old machine ) .

    You'll just bend it a little .
     
    gilo, Sep 30, 2006
    #4
  5. thetick97

    thetick97 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    10
    Messages:
    135
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Yes. I recently installed the exact same drive in my e1505. You can use the XP Pro CD (that Dell provided) on any Dell laptop/desktop. Just get the drivers from Dell website, and save them to a CD or a usb flash drive.
     
    thetick97, Sep 30, 2006
    #5
  6. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    4,982
    Messages:
    34,001
    Likes Received:
    1,415
    Trophy Points:
    581
    You most likely will not be able to activate it or if you use the corporate verison will not get any update because of Winodws Genuine Advantage.
     
    ZaZ, Sep 30, 2006
    #6
  7. ScifiMike12

    ScifiMike12 Drinking the good stuff

    Reputations:
    801
    Messages:
    2,529
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Na, Corp edition can do Windows Update and also other Microsoft activation downloads. I have the Student Edition and it rocks! No activation!

    As for your situation lejon, I would just your MCE recovery disk and if you want to take out some extras or add in some, just use nLite. Great tool.
     
    ScifiMike12, Sep 30, 2006
    #7