Can you reload your windows yourself without any assistance?
By dhawanbm
@dhawanbm (3705)
India
8 responses
@smacksman (6053)
•
20 May 09
It depends on the re-install.
If it is just a refresh on a working hard drive then it is easy.
If you have a restore disk or mirror drive, again it is easy.
If you are working on other people's computers/laptops and the hard drive looses its boot sector or is a defective drive which has to be replaced then it is not easy.
Putting in a new drive is easy and getting data off the old drive is not too bad but getting drivers for the mobo, modem, graphics card and all the other add-ons is what takes the time. Some of the drivers are huge files.
@smacksman (6053)
•
21 May 09
If the hard drive is spinning smoothly (touch it with your fingers) but not starting Windows it is usually the boot sector that has been corrupted and the operating system can't find all its files to start. However, if you add that failed drive as a slave to another computer that is working ok, you often can see all the files on the damaged drive enough to get all the data off. As it so happens, I'm doing that job right now on a client's drive.
If the drive is not spinning then it could be the power supply unit not giving it 12v or in the worst case the hard drive motor has failed. Specialist firms can take the platters out of the drive and build them into a new drive and so recover the data but that costs many hundreds of dollars.
@patialvi (715)
• India
21 May 09
i don't think it takes much effort to re-install your windows if you have saved all of your data on other partition of the disk. i never save my data on C drive which is the main drive where windows is installed and it takes 40 mins. for me to re-install the windows and other 20-30 mins to re-install the other application or you can create an image of the HDD thru softwares available and it will take 15 mins. to re-install the windows with applications.....
@vicki2876 (5636)
• Canada
20 May 09
I have done it a a bunch of times. Usually older pcs need it more than others. I have also done it for friends too. It isn't that it is really hard once you do it a couple times. Also the newer pcs make it real easy to do. Considering one of my friends paid a tech $50 on a deal to reinstall her windows, she was really happy that within an hour she have her system back to normal for free was awesome. I am not a tech or anything but have never been scared to learn how to work pcs.
@guitarguy1337 (65)
•
20 May 09
I have done it a few times, admitedly with my brothers assistance as he has studied computers to a higher qualification than me, but i could have done it myself. It may just be he makes it look easy but it wasnt rocket science from what i could see and when doing it but then for other people it might be harder as i have quite alot of experience.
@xeus_blackhawk (43)
• Bangladesh
8 Jun 09
It's a piece of cake to install windows or even mac. Really. Just do it a bunch of time, follow the instructions, don't be afraid of all the things and then you are good to go - just like a pro. But yes, you do need patience to do that. But once you get hold of the things and do it yourself, you gonna save a lot of money.
@siddharthjeevan (645)
• India
30 May 09
In the beginning i didn't reload it myself and i used a serviceman to do it for me. But that was too expensive and so now i prefer to do it myself. It takes about an hour to complete and this way you are sure the windows is loaded properly
