Laptops without Windows disks?

TJones2

Senior member
Oct 27, 2004
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Here's my problem. I bought an Acer 5100 that didn't come with a Vista disk but has one of those hidden partitions I hate so much. It appears from reading their help file that the backup disks it produces would be useless for putting on a replacement drive, it has to already have their preset file structure to work.

My question is, is there a way to get the full Vista Premium and the Acer drivers off the hidden partition, and then be able to install on a replacement hard drive and have everything back to normal If not, I think its a pretty useless system.

(BTW, before you laugh at me for buying an Acer, I got it really cheap).
 

Rottie

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2002
4,795
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Before I laugh how much did you bought it?
Anyway there is back up manager comes with your notebook to back up to DVD and you can retore back up dvd to replacement hard drive.
 

Roguestar

Diamond Member
Aug 29, 2006
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Originally posted by: TJones2
Here's my problem. I bought an Acer 5100 that didn't come with a Vista disk but has one of those hidden partitions I hate so much. It appears from reading their help file that the backup disks it produces would be useless for putting on a replacement drive, it has to already have their preset file structure to work.

My question is, is there a way to get the full Vista Premium and the Acer drivers off the hidden partition, and then be able to install on a replacement hard drive and have everything back to normal If not, I think its a pretty useless system.

(BTW, before you laugh at me for buying an Acer, I got it really cheap).

Basically you're asking if you can make a fully-functional windows disc from a restore partition on a laptop. So, no. You can't.
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
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106
The best thing you can do is to buy a second HDD identical to the OEM original and clone the original to it. You then have a fully functikonal spare.

You can also get a copy of the Microsoft Vista DVD and use your Acer key with it.

Lenovo gives you a branded MS Vista DVD - I guess you get what you pay for.