A myriad of questions

So I ordered this HP DV9920US a few days ago, and I should be getting it in a few days. Hewlett Packard Pavilion DV9920US 17" Notebook PC |BeachCamera.com

Now, I'm wondering what the best way to get XP on the system would be. I'm OK with the idea of dual booting, but I'm not opposed to buying a separate internal HDD to install XP on, as well. Which brings me to another thing; What site would be best for buying internal HDD's? I have no idea how to find individual components for sale online. If you guys think that dual booting XP and Vista x64 would be fine, then I'm okay with doing it.. but if things can get messy, and it would be better to use a separate drive per OS, please say so.

A problem as far as installing XP goes is that my last laptop was a Dell D600 Latitude... and so did not come with a Windows system recovery disk, only a dell restore disk. Thus, I'm pretty sure there's no CD key that I can find easily from it. Is there a way to extract the XP CD key from my old laptop, so that I may use that key on my new laptop? I'm aware the license should not be used in more than one place, so I'd assume use something like Norton Ghost to make an image of my installation on the old laptop (in the event that my new laptop dies and/or is sent in to HP.. and if I would need to use my old lappy as a backup).. and then just install Linux for the time being on the old laptop. (So that I don't have two installations with the same key simontaneously)

Ghosting brings up another question. Is there a better program to use? I've read on these forums about an "Acronis True image 10 or 11" or something... but I'd only be interested if whichever version worked on both Windows XP and Windows Vista x64. To go along with that, is there a certain external hard-drive brand that you guys would recommend - or even specific model/type, for my laptop? This laptop looks like it should have firewire, as well as USB 2.0, by the way.

As far as "downgrading", I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of tutorials that cover it on this site... so if I repeat myself or ask a "stupid question", please be patient.. as I want to be sure of what I'm doing. I do know that it can be a pain finding the right drivers for XP, but I figure a few google searches will do it. If not, I think HP could provide me with some drivers, since this laptop originally ran XP, I think.

So I'll try to summarize (in no particular order):
* What program would be best for making images of Windows XP/Vista x64 OS's?
* Is there a way to extract the CD key from my old laptop?
* Where can I buy an extra internal HDD for the HP DV9920US, if that's the best way to go about getting XP on this laptop?
*What kind of external HDD should I look for? Firewire or USB 2.0? Tigerdirect would be fine?


Added: I bought a 3yr accidental warranty as well, so part of the reason that I want to install XP on a separate drive is that I don't want to void the software warranty, as I've heard that installing a different OS can do that.

Chingpow said:

So I'll try to summarize (in no particular order):
* What program would be best for making images of Windows XP/Vista x64 OS's?
* Is there a way to extract the CD key from my old laptop?
* Where can I buy an extra internal HDD for the HP DV9920US, if that's the best way to go about getting XP on this laptop?
*What kind of external HDD should I look for? Firewire or USB 2.0? Tigerdirect would be fine?

Click to expand...

Hello Chingpow, welcome to Vista forums!

Here's Acronis Backup software for data backup and disaster recovery in Windows and Linux - Acronis

If your old lappy has an OEM copy of XP you can't legally install it elseware it's forever tied to the mobo.
Is there room for another HDD inside your new lappy?
Some say FireWire is faster.
If you're in the US try ...

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

Keep us informed!


Later Ted

Bare Foot Kid said:

So I'll try to summarize (in no particular order):

If your old lappy has an OEM copy of XP you can't legally install it elseware it's forever tied to the mobo.
Is there room for another HDD inside your new lappy?

Click to expand...

I'll try to get back on the OEM thing. As for room, I'm assuming not. I would probably just swap them one out when I wanted to do more intensive gaming, if the Vista OS doesn't run very well with some of the older games that I want to play. (I'm assuming it won't). Hopefully it won't be a pain to swap them out. I'll try to get back to you on this, this weekend... I should have the laptop by then. If not, then early next week. I don't have internet at my apartment, you see.

Edit: Part of the reason that I want another internal hard-drive to swap out (if it isn't too difficult, if its just a matter of loosening a few screws) is that I'm pretty sure that installing a different OS on the laptop would void the software warranty. So I'm guessing that installing another OS on a different drive would circumvent that rule? Or am I completely wrong?