Sony Vaio VPC-F1190X - Replacing Hard Drive

I believe the hard drive on my Sony Vaio VPC-F1190X has failed. I keep getting the message: Operating system not found when I boot up.

I'm going to replace the hard drive to see if that resolves the issue. I know a 2.5" 9.5mm drive is required, but don't know if upgrading to a 7200rpm or SSD would cause issues. Would a WD 1TB 7200rpm drive work?

I don't have a Windows 7 disc only the recovery discs I created. I read that recovery discs won't work with a new hard drive, that a Windows OS disc is required. Is this true? If so I have a problem. I don't have the Windows 7 product key and it is worn off on the sticker on the back of the Vaio.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Recommend you go with windows 10 and use your windows 7 key to register. You can download the iso off the microsoft website and burn it to dvd or flash drive as a bootable disk (use third party software to burn iso). New drive shouldnt be an issue with windows 10. If you're keen on win 7 backups - should work fine as far as I am aware...

I just did clean install with usb flash drive windows10 boot disk and it loaded it on to a brand new SSD which I installed on my Vaio FW35G seamlessly. Previously had a 5400rpm 400gig drive - switched out with a Sata 3 Western Digital SSD 250 gig with no issues

Edit: just saw the product key thing - you can still install windows10 and use it without key - just a watermark on the desktop and you cant customize screensaver / taskbar.

Btw: used 7.5mm sata3 ssd - theres a chassis inside that you can use - takes either 7.5 or 9.5mm hdd


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I've found out that the Windows 7 recovery discs will only work on a 512 byte sector hard drive. Since the industry has transitioned to 4K byte sector drives 512 drives are hard to locate and/or expensive.

If I buy a 4K hard drive I need something other than the recovery discs. I thought I could get a free Windows 7 product key from Sony, and using a Windows 7 iso, install the OS on the new drive, but from what I've read I don't think that is not possible.

Is there a (legal) way to get a fully functional Windows 7/10 OS onto a new hard drive without purchasing a retail copy?

 

I would say call microsoft and get their opinion - I'm sure they can help you out - just tell them what you did and need and they'll sort you out


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Other option is maybe try downloading win7 iso from microsoft website then try recovery afterwards?


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