I’m going to go with the program recommended by the guy at the link with the HD. I read his pages and liked a lot of what he said.

If I may respond to your last comment…

If HP swaps out the MB with a new one, (it will more than likely be the exact same model) or if they swap out the video controller (many laptops have modular video controllers) with the same model you’ll be fine.

When you install XP, it makes a list of your major components to prevent illegal copying. XP does allow you to swap out one or two at a time – however a major hardware change can cause the OS to demand a new activation.

The scenario that Robert describes is due to massive driver failure caused by a hardware change (ie different model motherboard)

Making a completely restorable backup of XP can be tricky – I recommend an imaging program like Norton Ghost. On the other hand backing up your data and then re-applying the factory image is often a good idea as well (cleans out the old crap) – Your safest approach is to backup the data on your hard drive, and then remove it before sending the LT in for service. This way you’re completely covered.

Then let’s say I simply put my stuff back on the HD after I get it back.

Are you telling me it might not work because of that?

Robert

How can my operating system not work with new hardware when they’re still loading XP onto brand new computers?

As for backups, I’m going to buy one of these next week. I’ve been backing up the irreplaceable data (like my cat pics, though come to think of it, I haven’t backed up my website in a while).

But I still don’t see the point of their wanting to reformat my hard drive.

Odds are that HP won’t have to touch anything on the motherboard, other than the ribbon cable that attaches the display to it. Which is why their canned response of “erase the hard drive” makes no sense, in addition to being aggravating.

But they are right in telling you to back up all your data. They may discover, during their analysis of the computer, that there is a software problem. Or someone might just accidentally drop the drive, forcing them to replace it with a new one.

Always make a backup before sending a computer in for repair.

Actually, you should be making periodic backups on your own time, depsite this. No hard drive will last forever, and quite a lot won’t outlast the computer they’re installed in.

These days, when an external USB hard drive (like this one) is cheap and easy to install, there really isn’t much of an excuse. Plug it in once a week (or whatever interval you’re most comfortably) and drag your documents folder to it. This way, when your drive dies (and it will, sooner or later), you can replace the dead drive, reinstall your applications, and restore your documents from that backup drive.

You can make a more comprehensive backup using software dedicated to the task, but even a simple “drag/drop your documents” backup will save what’s most important when disaster eventually strikes.