X61S SSD Installation & ISO help

Help would be much appreciated for the following problem(s):

I have to install a new OS onto my new SSD (Samsung 850 Evo) because my old HDD died a terrible and sudden blue screen of death.

Question 1: Do I have to install the original OS of my x61s or may I install Windows 8.1 using an external DVD drive with the inserted Windows 8.1 ISO DVD? If the answer is to install the original OS, then this lead to

Question 2: I can't locate my Think Recovery disk and realize that Windows Vista Home Edition ISO is not available for download. What can I do?

Any help would be appreciated!!

 

Vista with the service packs is still a pretty good OS, so I wouldn't want to spend money for Windows 8. You might want to post over in the Marketplace Forum at ThinkPads.com. Someone may have a set of Vista recovery discs or a Vista Disc you can get inexpensively. A set of recovery discs from Lenovo is about $50, but I don't know if they're still selling X61 discs.

 

Hi Mod, thank you so much for your reply! I actually have some confusion regarding the type of ISO that I am allowed to install. From the quoted part of your reply, it seems to imply that I am able to clean install Windows 8.1 (which I have a product key of ) from the ISO DVD even though my x61s originally came with Vista? I tried the aforementioned method of installing Windows 8 using a ISO DVD but my USB CD says: No Valid Operating System. This makes me believe that I have to install the original Vista OS. But if I am wrong, what am I doing wrong that makes the Windows 8 ISO not valid?

Additional info:
I switched the boot order so that USB CD came first. Then, I plugged in my external DVD drive, turned on the computer, and waited for the computer to boot from the ISO DVD. I read somewhere that I have to press F12 instead of letting the system run by itself?

Apologies if the questions and rambles above seem confusing.

 

You can install any OS you want: Vista, 7, 8.x, 10, Linux, OS/2...

It seems to me that your USB CD can't read the DVD with the ISO of W8.

 

It sounds like it's going directly to the hard drive, not the CD drive. F12 should get you to the boot list where you can pick the optical drive if it shows up. I booted the X61s when I reviewed it for NBR, so I know it works.

 

Thank you ajkula66 and ZaZ for your help! Both of you cleared up a lot of confusion I had about the process of clean installing an OS on a new SSD.

I successfully installed the OS today after a few others on another forum realized that I did not create the ISO DVD correctly. I had no idea that after downloading the installation media from Windows, I had to burn the ISO file onto another DVD in order to allow booting capability.

Thank you again for your help!