HP sent replacement HDD; should I wait for new (upgraded) recovery disk to format?

The hard drive on my under-extended-warranty Presario V4000 failed the diagnostic tests at HP's website, and HP sent me a new one. Poking around the forums while I was waiting for it, I got the idea of ordering a set of XP Pro recovery discs for my originally-XP Home system, and promptly did so. I figured it was worth the $16 gamble.

The order went smoothly and the XP Pro discs are on their way. But should I wait to format the new hard drive with the XP Pro discs from the get-go? Or should I first format with the original XP Home disc, and then reformat with the XP Pro as an upgrade?

The CSR's told me all I needed as far as activation was the number on the COA sticker, but of course they were referring to formatting with the original XP Home disc that came with the computer.

On a related note - the original HDD was a Fujitsu, and the replacement is a Hitachi Travelstar, but they seem to have the same specs otherwise. Is there anything about the change in brand that should concern me?

Thanks!

 

I don't really like Hitachi as I have found them to be fairly noisey... but thats my opinion.

 

No, not necessary. You should be able to popin the XP Pro recovery CD's and it should be capable of formatting and installing on the new HDD.

 

You haven't tried the new 7k200 then have you. Whisper quiet.

 

Actually, you're not the only one, and I will definitely be on the lookout. One person mentioned using some tools at Hitachi's website that solved his noise problem, so I bookmarked that just in case. But of course the noise in different computers might come from different sources.

I'm afraid the replacement is probably not the newest technology . All I want, though, is for it to perform as well as what I had till now, and not worse. I'll wait for my next laptop purchase to get the latest bells and whistles.

The Fujitsu HDD was fine (or maybe I'm not too fussy). Always ran smooth, quiet, and cool, although that may be because I always use a laptop cooling pad. Even when it failed, it didn't have one spectacular, data-annihilating crash. There were some random-seeming BSODs that finally led to the HP diagnostic tests, which showed the hard drive was failing. But even now it's actually still functioning. If the Hitachi does this well, I'll be a happy camper.

Yes, I think you're right. LOL, in the meantime, I checked and found three different product keys for my system - one on the COA sticker, one in the "unattended" text file in the i386 folder of the original recovery disc, and one that was retrieved by the Magic Jellybean tool and the Belarc Advisor. So that whole product key thing is obviously not engraved in stone, or in holography, as it were. I doubt the issue will come up but if it does and becomes a problem, I will let HP figure it out.

On Sunday, I ran sfc /scannow on the old hard drive (used it as a "testbed" before wiping it), and for the first time, it asked me to "Insert your Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 CD now" and not the XP Home CD it always asked for in the past. So somehow my computer must have communicated with HQ and got the word about its new elevated "Pro" status , even though I don't remember it asking for permission to dial home.

I hope the rest will go as smoothly. I wonder if it's always like this, or if they just don't care as much since they're trying to pimp Vista.

Thanks for reading my question and for your comments.