Help me sort my laptop!

[Sea Chief]

Chaps-

my toshiba L450D (13x) hard drive's failed. Sourcing new HDD fine- but its the windows 7 software stuff I need to get on it, & dont know what Im looking for as there are so many ranging for £20 to £60.

Apart fom the obvious "Windows 7" what exactly am I looking for, assuming I need a 3x cd set of things to install over a few hours, this type of affair?

Thanks Sea Chief

[elipsey]

Chaps-

my toshiba L450D (13x) hard drive's failed. Sourcing new HDD fine- but its the windows 7 software stuff I need to get on it, & dont know what Im looking for as there are so many ranging for £20 to £60.

Apart fom the obvious "Windows 7" what exactly am I looking for, assuming I need a 3x cd set of things to install over a few hours, this type of affair?

Thanks Sea Chief

Hi,

If you have a 64bit CPU, you probably want Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. It depends on the model of laptop. I think some models had a 32b Sempron CPU, some a 64b Athlon X2:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...oADa-ocnBLPUEQ

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...SSfCLfCCwwVpEw

You really should not have to buy a new Windows liscence though, because you already paid for one. The manufacturer ought to provide you with physical installation media, and your Windows licsence key should be on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop.

Since getting the discs from Toshiba will be pain in the ass though, why not try Linux Mint while you wait? It's free, and if you hate it they will give you a full refund

[Sea Chief]

Hi elipsey-

will it tell me whether 32 or 64 on it somewhere? So on buying a new laptop (Ive never done/ mine, this one is a dell d600 with XP, £75 lasted for 8 years!) from a shop as you can imagine my old Ma did 6 years ago, there should be physical install windows cd stuff somewhere?

License is tricky to understand.. is that a long string of letters/numbers called a something "key"?

Ive no idea what you mena by Linux Mint.. is that a new kool-coffee or something?

Thanks for the help, SC

[DrGonz78]

Since getting the discs from Toshiba will be pain in the ass though, why not try Linux Mint while you wait? It's free, and if you hate it they will give you a full refund

They give you a sign on bonus too. Never paying for Windows again!

[AudioMan]

This website indicates that your laptop can handle 64-bit Windows, and came pre-installed.
There may not be a DVD for your system as many now use a separate partition on the hard drive for recovery and factory default settings.
Satellite L450D-13X - Toshiba

Your "product key" is most likely on the bottom of your laptop

[big_teee]

I had a couple of laptops preloaded with W7.
The owner was required to make a win7 backup dvd disk.
If you have it, you can reload it.
If not you can download a free Linux Mint OS.
A Linux Mint DVD .iso can be downloaded here.
It does require a bit of computer savy to burn and load.
Main Page - Linux Mint
GL,
T

[AudioMan]

It is also possible to get a Win 7 iso file which you burn to a DVD - using a computer that works.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/down...s.aspx?id=5842
Then try to re-install windows after you replace the hard drive.
I have only used this method on a XP PC, which also had a hard drive failure.

I wasn't ready to abandon Windows.

[nickb]

Same happened to me not more than three months ago. Of course I hadn't made a system copy as I believed the system restore partition was on the SSD. I learned the hard way that no, if their infinite wisdom the back up was on the same drive that was failing.

First you need another computer. I had to go the manufacturer's web site and download the OEM windows for my laptop. You then burn that to DVD and boot your target laptop off it. You may have to alter the BIOS settings to allow you to boot of the DVD. Follow the prompts and before too long you are back and running, sans your data and apps of course.

[elipsey]

Hi elipsey-

will it tell me whether 32 or 64 on it somewhere? So on buying a new laptop (Ive never done/ mine, this one is a dell d600 with XP, £75 lasted for 8 years!) from a shop as you can imagine my old Ma did 6 years ago, there should be physical install windows cd stuff somewhere?

License is tricky to understand.. is that a long string of letters/numbers called a something "key"?

Ive no idea what you mena by Linux Mint.. is that a new kool-coffee or something?

Thanks for the help, SC

You need the full model number to be sure whether it's a 64 or 32 bit CPU. L450d is not the whole thing; those links were for L450d-128 and L450d-12C. Your full model number is probably also on a sticker on the bottom somewhere. You can also try booting a 64b OS. If it's not supported you will get an error message explaining such.

Is there a red sticker that says "AMD Atholon X2" or "AMD Sempron", or something like that?

[Sea Chief]

Hi chaps thanks for the info,

Im not understanding 1/2 of it though.. all I know is its a L450D (13X) and the full specs are here: Satellite L450D-13X - Toshiba

Now whether thats 32 or 64 bit as it says both.. I dont know.

I have never 'burnt' anything before- I wouldnt know where to start (& my old dell XP thing here is hardly likely to be able to do such sorcery). I still dont know what linux mint means.

If I can get the appropriate software cd things, or whatever I need, with a new HDD I'm sure I can follow my nose & redo windows 7 onto the laptop: Ive done similar thing with 3 cds on a laptop years ago albeit XP on a very old sony viao thing. Its probably simpler now than then.

[elipsey]

Hi chaps thanks for the info,

Im not understanding 1/2 of it though.. all I know is its a L450D (13X) and the full specs are here: Satellite L450D-13X - Toshiba

Now whether thats 32 or 64 bit as it says both.. I dont know.

I have never 'burnt' anything before- I wouldnt know where to start (& my old dell XP thing here is hardly likely to be able to do such sorcery). I still dont know what linux mint means.

If I can get the appropriate software cd things, or whatever I need, with a new HDD I'm sure I can follow my nose & redo windows 7 onto the laptop: Ive done similar thing with 3 cds on a laptop years ago albeit XP on a very old sony viao thing. Its probably simpler now than then.

13X is apparently the rest of model number. If this is correct, then you, sir, are the proud owner of an AMD Sempron SI-42 CPU, as per the manufacturer documentation which you have supplied. This model supports AMD64, per Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...icroprocessors

In other words, this is a 64 bit computer.

Ive no idea what you mena by Linux Mint.. is that a new kool-coffee or something?

Hilarious, but no. Linux is an Operating System.[1] Linux Mint is a version (sometimes called a distribution) of Linux.

You can download it for free off the Internet and use it instead of Windows. If you don't want to burn a DVD, you can copy it onto a USB drive, (re)boot your computer from the USB drive, and then install it onto your computer's hard drive from the USB drive. It generally comes with all the other software you need for common tasks, like an office suite, photo app, and all kinds of other things that you would have to buy a license to use on a Windows or Apple computer.

Why do they give it away for free?

Linux and the stuff it's packaged with, are generally both free as in "free beer" and "free as in freedom" because the software license is very permissive. The license requires that the source code be public so you can modify it and give it away. It's a business model that's supposed to avoid duplicating the effort of building these tools, and to keep software companies from having too much leverage on their customers. The econmic and legal consequences of this are a whole 'nother conversation but the peculiar result is that you can have it for free.

I have excerpted author Neal Stephenson's famous description of the situation:

Imagine a crossroads where [...] competing auto dealerships are situated. One of them (Microsoft) is much, much bigger than the others. It started out years ago selling three-speed bicycles (MS-DOS); these were not perfect, but they worked, and when they broke you could easily fix them.

There was a competing bicycle dealership next door (Apple) that one day began selling motorized vehicles--expensive but attractively styled cars with their innards hermetically sealed, so that how they worked was something of a mystery.

The big dealership responded by rushing a moped upgrade kit (the original Windows) onto the market. This was a Rube Goldberg contraption that, when bolted onto a three-speed bicycle, enabled it to keep up, just barely, with Apple-cars. The users had to wear goggles and were always picking bugs out of their teeth while Apple owners sped along in hermetically sealed comfort, sneering out the windows. But the Micro-mopeds were cheap, and easy to fix compared with the Apple-cars, and their market share waxed.

Eventually the big dealership came out with a full-fledged car: a colossal station wagon (Windows 95). It had all the aesthetic appeal of a Soviet worker housing block, it leaked oil and blew gaskets, and it was an enormous success. A little later, they also came out with a hulking off-road vehicle intended for industrial users (Windows NT) which was no more beautiful than the station wagon, and only a little more reliable.

Linux, which is right next door, […] is not a business at all. It's a bunch of RVs, yurts, tepees, and geodesic domes set up in a field and organized by consensus. The people who live there are making tanks. These are not old-fashioned, cast-iron Soviet tanks; these are more like the M1 tanks of the U.S. Army, made of space-age materials and jammed with sophisticated technology from one end to the other. But they are better than Army tanks. They've been modified in such a way that they never, ever break down, are light and maneuverable enough to use on ordinary streets, and use no more fuel than a subcompact car. These tanks are being cranked out, on the spot, at a terrific pace, and a vast number of them are lined up along the edge of the road with keys in the ignition. Anyone who wants can simply climb into one and drive it away for free.

Customers come to this crossroads in throngs, day and night. Ninety percent of them go straight to the biggest dealership and buy station wagons or off-road vehicles. They do not even look at the other dealerships.

Of the remaining ten percent, most go and buy a sleek Euro-sedan, pausing only to turn up their noses at the philistines going to buy the station wagons and ORVs. If they even notice the people on the opposite side of the road, selling the cheaper, technically superior vehicles, these customers deride them cranks and half-wits. [...]The group giving away the free tanks only stays alive because it is staffed by volunteers, who are lined up at the edge of the street with bullhorns, trying to draw customers' attention to this incredible situation. A typical conversation goes something like this:

Hacker with bullhorn: "Save your money! Accept one of our free tanks! It is invulnerable, and can drive across rocks and swamps at ninety miles an hour while getting a hundred miles to the gallon!"

Prospective station wagon buyer: "I know what you say is true...but...er...I don't know how to maintain a tank!"

Bullhorn: "You don't know how to maintain a station wagon either!"

Buyer: "But this dealership has mechanics on staff. If something goes wrong with my station wagon, I can take a day off work, bring it here, and pay them to work on it while I sit in the waiting room for hours, listening to elevator music."

Bullhorn: "But if you accept one of our free tanks we will send volunteers to your house to fix it for free while you sleep!"

Buyer: "Stay away from my house, you freak!"

Bullhorn: "But..."

Buyer: "Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?"


[1] Unfortuanatley the term Operating System has become somewhat diluted in the common use.

Linux is an operating system in the sense that it makes your keyboard and disks work. Windows 7 has an operating system in that sense, and also has a user environment, like notepad, and desktop wallpaper and stuff.

Linux Mint is a kind of GNU/Linux sometimes refered to as a distribution. Mint is the name of a particular distribution. There are lots of other distrbutions that are not Mint. A distribution packages together all the other stuff you need to actually use your computer. Linux, the disk and keyboard part is named after it's first author, a guy called Linus. Sticklers refer to distributions as GNU/Linux in order to acknowledge the authors of the user environment. GNU is a foundation that helped with all that other stuff, along with many others who contributed.

[Bill Moore]

I rely on a computer for my business, and have been using Casper as a backup for years. All drives will eventually fail, but a Casper clone will put you back in business, with the only loss being the information entered since your last backup. I do a daily back up to a zip for my main program, and monthly backups to a stand alone drive. I was in the process of updating machines back in the spring when the old machine crashed. I simply took the drive out of the backup enclosure, and installed it in place of the failed drive, used my zip to get the main program updated, and alls well. (I did lose some e-mail addresses, and some music I had added since the last drive cloning).

[big_teee]

If computer loading isn't an easy thing for you?
I recommend taking it to a small computer shop.
They can probably do it as cheap as you can.
They may also have all the software that you need.
T

[tedmich]

Im running a tiny little Acer Aspire 1810T and the only thing that makes it acceptable speed wise is the new Samsung EVO SSD I popped it last year, its like a whole new machine. I hardily recommend using only SSDs in laptops and SSD at least for the boot / OS drive in all desktop systems.

the excellent Samsung 850 EVO drives are currently $67/$111/$167 for the 120, 250 and 500Gb models respectively

[Sea Chief]

If computer loading isn't an easy thing for you?
I recommend taking it to a small computer shop.
They can probably do it as cheap as you can.
They may also have all the software that you need.
T

(Thanks again for the info chaps, all read through- I understand 2/3rds of it).

Ma did this 1st.. and course they said 'kapoota's kaput.. £130 to fix.. so why not consider a new one, its 6 whole years old after all" etc etc (you can imagine she of all is -the- plumpest duck walking in asking to be shot as it were). this is why Im tying to do it for her: £20 for a refurbed HDD.. +.. well I still dont know exactly.

Linux Mint might be fine. but its not whats wanted: she had windows 7 & simply knows it (& like me & my XP would throw arms up if it suddenly changed, even if it offered x,y,z bells and whistels for free, as hers did to windows 10 completely out the blue: hugely annoying & flummoxed her afaict- now I have opportunity to get her back to what she knows & bought/ simply windows 7).

I called PC world where bought from, & apparantly there may be a recovery cd (given, or added, or left I dont know) by the Tech Support Set-Up package she bought for an additional £30, from PC worldshop with the innitial whole new PC outlay. So she will be frantically trying to find whatever the heck this could be (either a cd OR a usb thing it was likely to be, apparantly, IF indeed it was included/ left/ given whatever). So we dont know whether we are lookiing for somethoing thta doesnt even exist, or whether A, or B.

What a nightmare. Surely this could be simpler.