Swap Drive & OS - Practical & Legal?

[jamesqf]

Apologies if this is a dumb question, but I don't know much about Windows.

I currently have a T60p with ATI graphics. I'm not happy with it because the fan runs all the time, so I plan to order a T61p with the Intel integrated graphics, and sell this one. However, I only use Linux, so when I got the T60p, I completely reformatted the drive, including the system restore partition.

Now it's likely that I'll have a better chance of selling it with a Windoze installed, so

1) If I order the T61p with the same drive (80 GB), will it swap into the T60p?

2) Will the Windows version on the new drive work in the old machine, or does MS have some sort of copy protection that would detect the different machine?

3) Can the buyer of the T60p get support & so on? The T60p has a "Windows XP Home Edition" sticker on it, as that was the cheapest option when I bought it. The T61 would probably have Vista Home Basic, for the same reason.

Thanks,
James

[alacrityathome]

james,

I would love to be able to do the same thing.....but I think the o/s validation is tied to the Motherboard serial info of a specific PC.

But, let us know if it actually works for you.

Alacrity

[mgo]

Apologies if this is a dumb question, but I don't know much about Windows.

I currently have a T60p with ATI graphics. I'm not happy with it because the fan runs all the time, so I plan to order a T61p with the Intel integrated graphics, and sell this one. However, I only use Linux, so when I got the T60p, I completely reformatted the drive, including the system restore partition.

Now it's likely that I'll have a better chance of selling it with a Windoze installed, so

1) If I order the T61p with the same drive (80 GB), will it swap into the T60p?

2) Will the Windows version on the new drive work in the old machine, or does MS have some sort of copy protection that would detect the different machine?

3) Can the buyer of the T60p get support & so on? The T60p has a "Windows XP Home Edition" sticker on it, as that was the cheapest option when I bought it. The T61 would probably have Vista Home Basic, for the same reason.

Thanks,
James

You could purchase the recovery CDs for that machine from Lenovo. Cost is around $40.00.

Or, you could install an unused XP you might have around and then download the drivers and features from the Lenovo site.

The big advantage to buying the CDs from Lenovo is that the recovery partition would then be re-installed and the new owner would get a "right from the factory" machine.

[alacrityathome]

mgo,

hmmmmm. if that is correct....which would be great, I wonder if on my PC with XP, i could buy the Lenovo Vista Ultimate recovery disks and install Vista on my PC?

what do you think?

[mgo]

mgo,

hmmmmm. if that is correct....which would be great, I wonder if on my PC with XP, i could buy the Lenovo Vista Ultimate recovery disks and install Vista on my PC?

what do you think?

More experienced people here may know better than I, but it's possible that you can only get the OS that came with the machine originally.

[bill bolton]

1) If I order the T61p with the same drive (80 GB), will it swap into the T60p?

Physically yes, and it will probably boot too (see below)

2) Will the Windows version on the new drive work in the old machine, or does MS have some sort of copy protection that would detect the different machine?

From some recent emperical testing done by ThinkPads.com on members on Vista instances, it will probably work OK.... but there may be some device drivers that don't match and will need to be loaded for the target system.

3) Can the buyer of the T60p get support & so on? The T60p has a "Windows XP Home Edition" sticker on it, as that was the cheapest option when I bought it. The T61 would probably have Vista Home Basic, for the same reason.

That's a bit trickier. In general, for that circumstance, a Lenovo Volume Licence Key instance of Windows will only be "legal" if the ThainkPad concerned carries a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) for the specific operating system (and version) concerned with an appropriate Windows OEM key displayed.

So while while Vista Home Basic would probably function on the T60 with a Windows XP Home Edition COA, it wouldn't be "legal", and may not be supported by Lenovo.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[jamesqf]

You could purchase the recovery CDs for that machine from Lenovo. Cost is around $40.00.

Or, you could install an unused XP you might have around and then download the drivers and features from the Lenovo site.

The big advantage to buying the CDs from Lenovo is that the recovery partition would then be re-installed and the new owner would get a "right from the factory" machine.

Sounds like recovery CDs would be best - my main concern is to make sure the eventual purchaser will be happy.

Installing an unused XP isn't an option - my contact with Windows is pretty much limited to formatting hard drives that it's installed on

[ran007]

James,
It is legal to take a OEM copy of XP, and install it. When it asks for your XP serial during install, just flip your laptop over and type in what's on the sticker. It will validate fine, and you will be set to go.

You must find an OEM copy of XP.

Good luck!

[jamesqf]

James,
You must find an OEM copy of XP.

Probably much easier for me to get the recovery CDs. I just don't do Windoze - I think one of my old desktops is dual-boot with Win98, or maybe 95, but that's it. These days I manage to make a good living in the Linux world (or variants such as the BlueGene OS), for which I'm extremely glad!

[ran007]

Either systmem has their benefits I suppose. Both provide huge salary opportunities. You gotta do what's best for you... right!?