Hello,

My hard drive has been making noises for the last few days and I'm pretty sure it's dying. I'm about to order a new one and I'm in the process of backing up.

The thing is, this computer came with Windows (XP home edition) pre-installed and without the discs. The company it was bought from in 2001 is long out of business.

I do have a genuine copy of Windows and a holo-sticker to prove it, but how am I going to install the OS on the new hard drive? I'm VERY short of money right now, I've had to scrape all my spare cash together just to buy the new drive, so I definitely can't afford a new copy of Windows.

What can I do? Time's of the essence kind of, I don't know when this drive will fail on me.

Hi AnniMc,

If you are making an exact image backup then the OS should just transfer to the new harddrive. Otherwise, what you need is to download a copy of WinXP OEM (the OEM is important) from a torrent site. While that is going on, download 'Keyfinder' from http://www.magicaljellybean.com/. This program will extract your license key from your windows installation.

Install the OEM windows XP on the new harddrive using this serial key. It has to be the OEM version of XP otherwise the serial key wont work.

This isn't illegal as you have a legitimate serial key.

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You can try SpinRite utility, it helps me many times. The program locate and lock unsafe areas from use and move endangered data to safety, aswell repair areas of the drive which have become damaged.
If the above does not help you could try copy hard drive utility which can be find on Hiren's boot CD hard drive tools .
Regards.