HP Replace Harddrive Reinstall OS?

[iqwertyi]

I bought my friend's laptop from him.
I think it's a business model, came with Windows XP Pro and a SATA drive that's only about 60 gigs partitioned into two. One is C the other is the recovery partition.

I'm planning to use this to store a bunch of media (TV shows and what not) so I'm going to need a much larger drive. Looking to upgrade the HDD to a 120 Gig, but not sure how to reinstall the original software and OS.

It seems like I can make backup CD's of the recovery files. But is it that simple? Can I just replace the hard drive and reinstall the original files that easily? I've worked with dells before but this was for work and we had copies of XP CD. Just don't want to make this an expensive doorstop.

 

[cleathco]

IMO you have two options

Option 1 is to use Norton Ghost on the restore partition, make a partition of the same size on your new drive and install it.

Option 2, if you have access to a Windows XP disc use that disc on your laptop, and when it asks for your serial use the serial that came with your laptop. It will still be a legal install since you have the original serial key, which is what you pay for when you get Windows.

 

[freonchill]

cleathco is right

with option two (since its an HP install of windows rather than windows OEM / Retail) you will probably have to call microsoft activation to get it to activate