hi all,

i have a toshiba laptop that has windows xp preinstalled on it when i bought it. no disc.. the hard drive died and i had to get it replaced but how can i now get the windows xp? is there a way to find it on my laptop without the disc? thankyou

If you are the original owner of the laptop, then you could call Toshiba and ask for a recovery disk.

Are you looking to just trying to recover your personal data from the old drive? If so, how was it determined that the disk died?

If the old had drive is not totally dead, it is possible to get your old files from the errant hard drive.

hi,
thanks for your answer.. i am the original owner of the windows xp and the lap top. i don't need any data off my laptop, as i have that and this is going to be a laptop for my daughter for assignments. its just that now that hard drive is replaced it is saying no operating system

If you had the hard drive replaced by a repair shop and just asked for the drive to be replaced, then you no longer have XP on the new drive. Ditto if you replaced the hard drive on your own.

In order to have XP on the new drive, you either would have had the repair shop install XP on the new drive, or purchase a licensed copy of XP and install it on the new drive.

Since you are the original owner of the laptop, it is worth a call or chat with Toshiba to request a recovery disk. I would tell then exactly what happened, the drive failed. you are most likely be able to get a replacement recovery disk, if they are available, by explaining what happened. Be prepared to prove that you are the original owner, by verifying that you registered the laptop as the original owner.

Also, be prepared that recovery disks may no longer be available, depending on how old the laptop is. It generally depends on the tech. that you speak to and if you have a valid request. Also expect that you may have to pay for the recovery disk and it is up to you if it is worth the cost.

Generally, the cost of a replacement disk, if available, is much less than buying a new copy of XP to install on the laptop.