Ok my dell (november 2005. just out of warranty grrrr) has started making clicky scratchy grindy noises from the HDD , no bad sectors yet but windows goes dead slow whenever it accesses the HDD and the noise is really loud. I have backed up.

Should i just get a new HDD and fork out for vista home basic (full - have no xp media, all on the HDD and i dont think i can get it off)

is there going to be OEM versions of vista as i know friends of mine have got oem verisons of XP for like £75 when they buy a new mobo or HDD

I would backup that data real fast, if I were you. That kind of noise from your HD usually spells only one thing, and it starts with T and ends in ROUBLE...

backed up my schoolwork and code etc... to dvds

i got a onetime option to make a dell recovery cd - seems this is not tied to my pc, but in fact a standard XP Home cdr. reackon it would be legal for me to use this to reinstall XP onto a new hdd?

Its still grinding and the MBR is getting wiped on every boot which is odd but its running still

i got a onetime option to make a dell recovery cd seems this is not tied to my pc,

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Should have made that a long time ago!

but in fact a standard XP Home cdr. reackon it would be legal for me to use this to reinstall XP onto a new hdd?

yes it is ok to do this

Its still grinding and the MBR is getting wiped on every boot which is odd but its running still

one day it will die !!stick with xp until they get the bugs worked out of vista,vista will come in upgrade and
full versions ,Vista home upgrade will be 99.00 us,and full version will be 199.00us
There are 5 version of windows vista .
1-vista home Basic .$99.00 & 199.00 ,Target user ,home user who just wants to ,email/web surfing and creating documents.
2= vista business 199.00 & 299.00,target user small to mid size business
3=Vista Home Premium 159.00 & 239.00 Target user =the mainstream PC user ,designed for music ,video,mobile computing and personal computing .
4=Vista Enterprise,not available for retail sale .
and last but not least,
5=Vista Ultimate ,259.00 & 399.00us
Typical user ,the professional ,the tech enthusiast or the Gamer ,offers features of both Home Premium and business edition .
if you want Media Center you will need at least , Vista Business or Home Premium or of course Vista ultimate

Above info from latest PCMagazine

PS: They recommends 2 gig of ram for Vista Ultimate

in UK home BASIC upgrade is £99
ultimate full is £379.99 !!


Is home premium + crap video card = home basic in terms of aero?

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