I do not have the discs that came with the Dell--Dell didn't ship it
with discs, and I kept asking Dell for them, they never sent them, and I
finally gave up.
The Dell does have one of those Windows stickers under the battery with
a Windows product key on it for Vista. I say 'those' stickers like it
means something--it's the 2-inch-by-1-inch multicolored one that the
I.T. guys seem to care about on our work laptops. It does in fact say
'Certificate of Authenticity' on it in tiny print.
Clonezilla and GParted are what I screwed up an old HDD with, but I was
trying to go from a larger HDD to a smaller SSD, and I think that's
where it went south. Everything I Google does seem to indicate going
smaller to larger isn't a big deal.
Having said that, I would love whatever advice and direction you're
willing to impart. I was apprehensive the first time I did it--now that
I've successfully screwed one up I find myself thinking I should just
check out lenovo.com for a new one. That's quite the phobia I've developed.
I agree about the brands--seems like I've just had good luck with the
Lenovos, but I know people that swear by Dell, or Apple even. I blame my
bias on my old office--we used Dell refurbs exclusively, and they made
me hate Dell and anything refurbished. And I used to seek out refurbs
before that, and I was pc-brand-agnostic (I mean, they're all the same
under the hood, right?). I got this Dell because it was soooo much
cheaper than the Lenovo I wanted and it was the only one besides the
Lenovo that had the track pad mouse/pointing stick.
If I could get it working right I think I could like it. It's very, very
light, which I love when traveling, and I even like the keyboard better
than the Lenovo's.
I'll check out the link, too, Thanks. I'm liking Win8 so far, too.
Clearly I'm in the minority.
Scott
On 12/3/2012 4:10 PM, Peter Murray wrote:
> Scott-
>
> Best Buy won't accept returns of opened software, unfortunately.
>
> Do you have the original XP (or Vista) discs that came with your Dell?
> It would likely have been sold with an OEM license for one of those
> (check under the E6400's battery for the Certificate of Authenticity
> (COA) and installation key). If you have the COA but no discs, let me
> know which OS it is, and I can get you an ISO. If no COA, then we
> venture towards the more grey area, though you already have a
> legitimate installation of Windows there already, no? You could do an
> absolutely minimal installation of that and "upgrade" it from there.
> It appears that XP, Vista and 7 are eligible for the Windows 8 upgrade.
>
> Some info here:
> http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33642_7-57505867-292/upgrading-to-windows-8-what-you-need-to-know-faq/
>
> Cloning from a smaller drive to a larger drive should be pretty
> trouble free. I do that regularly with Clonezilla and GParted, both of
> which are free, and you can get both of them on the "Ultimate Boot
> CD". Search for "UBCD". It will even boot from a USB stick, if you are
> short on writeable CD media. I can put together some docs for that if
> you would like. For that system, it should be very easy - I have done
> it here at my office. It is a multi-step process - install the source
> drive, clone it, install the new SSD, restore it, then expand the
> resulting restored partition to the full size of the new drive.
>
> I have been happier with the Dell Latitude D- and E-series systems (of
> which I have purchased over 75 in the past 3.5 years) than the
> Thinkpad systems I purchased in an earlier life. That said, there are
> always lemons!
>
> -Peter
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