The original idea was to simply swap my wife's redundant HD to and fro with the Sony original. The former has been formatted and partitioned ready for W7. But that's when I found the 21 screw bulk. Hardly a quick change procedure.
I spent an age last night on sites trying to find out if this spare disc would run in the Sony Vaio NR498E. But the nearest I came was a Sony 498EP Had to draw a line on time I was spending as just finding out what drive was installed in the Sony meant splitting the case.
Also, on the spare drive, HP had stuck their label (451863-001) over the ST number. It looks like ST9200827As Serial AT disc drive. 2.5" obviously.
Using a USB converter it still seems to operate well.
Anyway, my Office 2007 seems to be installed on C drive. So preparing D for W7 seems to be the most logical way forward (if you'll excuse the pun).
The W7 software is a mystery. I tried the install on something else last night, and by bypassing the HP install disc, it set off on its merry way. Only the first stages, and not to say it wouldn't have objected later, but all those years ago, the HP bulk from the No1 disc screamed out almost right away.
It was a licensed copy with 2 disc sold to me by a respectable person, a Reverend lady, and has the Windows sticker on the pack. As mentioned, it has run for years on the PC, updates complete yesterday.
The thing is, it is clearly not tied to one machine. But does it recognize HP per se or is the first disc the only protection it has?
I guess, suck it and see is the only way forward. I've never done a dual-boot on the same physical drive before, so that should be fun.
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Last edited by Loose rivets; 5th March 2013 at 16:41.
Reason: cos it's incredibly hard to write an unambiguous post