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- Notebook Operating System and Recovery
- hi i recently changed my hard drive and now have no o.s.

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12-04-2018 01:50 PM
hi and thank you in advance. i have a hp pavilion dv9000 and recently i changed my harddrive from an hdd to an ssd. i tried to backup my old drive to a usb in case something went wrong. now my new ssd in my laptop says no o.s. and the usb said it had an error and formatted itself thus losing my info. the old hardrive i cant get to work which is why i changed it. im just trying to get my laptop working again. any help will be appreciated. i think it was running vista 32 bit
12-05-2018 08:02 PM
I don't know HOW you did a backup of your HDD to a USB, but unless you used an Imaging app, that will not work as there are lots of hidden folders and files that must be included -- stuff you would not see attempting to a backup manually.
In addition, no one (as far as I know) makes Vista available for download or purchase anymore, so there is no where you can go to get the files needed to make install media.
If the problem is that the OS files are basically intact but the boot loader files did not get copied, there MIGHT be a way, using another PC, to create boot media that will allow you to REPAIR the OS on yours to rebuild the boot loader files ...
Macrium Reflect is a free tool that can be used to image and restore PCs, but it also has an option to create Rescue Media (in disk or USB form) that can then be used to Repair your PC.
It is available from here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
What I recommend is the following:
a) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR)
b) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD
c) Boot your PC from the MR media and select the option to repair the Windows Boot
If that does not get your PC booting again, then the Vista OS files are missing or damaged, and I know of now way to repair those at this late date.
I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor represent, HP
12-07-2018 02:55 AM
thank you so much for your help i am in the process of taking the steps you provided. i did speak with hp and short of them saying im on my own, since no more support for vista my only option is to buy windows 10, but i cant afford that im on social security so ill try your option first thanks