Wiped hard disk

The Toshiba Satellite A10-S169 includes several utilities to improve the performance or security of the computer, and to reconfigure the system's settings. Toshiba Satellites running Windows Vista 32-bit and Windows XP come with the Toshiba HDD Recovery Utility, which allows you to create a recovery CD of your system and applications. The recovery CD will allow you to restore your system and its settings in case your hard drive fails.

Click "Start." Click "All Programs." Expand "Hard Disk Recovery Utilities." Click "Recovery Disc Creator." Select "CD" as the type. Check "Recovery and Applications." Insert a CD into the disc drive. Click "Burn." The Toshiba A10-S169 will begin writing the recovery content to the CD. Follow the on-screen prompts to burn your recovery files to disc. Hope this helps.

The original Toshiba Satellite Pro A10 HDD is fitted into a Toshiba Satellite Pro A10 Hard Disk Drive cradle - Toshiba Satellite Pro A10 HDD caddy.

• Gently remove the cradle from the laptop, yes pull on it
• Unscrew the original Toshiba Satellite Pro A10 Hard Disk Drive & remove it from the cradle.
• Screw the new Toshiba Satellite Pro A10 Hard Disk Drive into the cradle & refit the cradle into the laptop.
• Re-install XP or Vista

It could be possible if the hard drive isnt too far gone, are you able to use it at all? have you tried to hook it up to a different laptop and see if you can access it from that? You'll probably be better off getting a list of anything that you can re-download and storing the irreplaceable stuff such as sensitive documents onto a disk. If you can do this then just reformat the hard disk and get it over with. You stand to be in for quite a headache trying to copy all your files off your hard disk and making sure all the files arent corrupted. This stands especially true if your hard disk has malware or a virus.

Greetings.
There is no direct path to downgrade Vista to XP. You can’t simply insert the XP installation CD media into the CD-ROM drive and hope to ‘upgrade’ and replace the Vista with Windows XP usual install routine because Vista won’t allow it to be overwritten. XP will treat Vista as ’superior’ operating system and refuse to install over it. There’re actually few options available instead of completely uninstall Vista as listed below. But if you decide to downgrade from Vista to install XP, there is also a simple guideline that you can observe to ensure that the migration goes smoothly.
Option 1 – Dual Boot:
It’s by far the easier and best method to run XP instead of Vista if you have another partition or hard disk. Simply boot up any XP setup media and install XP into different partition or hard drive than the Vista installation. Once completed, you can choose to boot up either XP or Vista, and has the best of both world.

Option 2 – Virtual Machine:
Install VMware Server or Virtual PC 2007 (both free) or any other virtualization software, and then install Windows XP into the virtual machine
environment. You will get XP which runs inside Vista, with minor compromise on speed, performance and have to go through Vista first on every bootup.

Option 3 – Format the Hard Drive, Wipe Off Vista and Install XP:
For those who totally fed up with Vista and just want XP, or prefer a clean installation of OS has only this option to rely on. To downgrade to XP from Vista, you have to basically delete the whole hard disk that installed with Vista, and start anew with XP. Here’s a simple guide and procedures that you can try to follow to switch to XP. However, each system configuration is different, so you may have to adapt the steps to suit your own need.

1. Download all drivers for your system for Windows XP from the manufacturer’s website(in case if you don't have the CD/DVD installers). Copy the drivers files to a USB flash driver or external hard drive or burn them to CD/DVD.
2. Find a Windows XP installation CD (should be pretty easy to find or else you can search in torrent sites such as Demonoid to download via BT network such as uTorrent and BitComet or search and download via ED2K network client such as eMule. You can also use Volume Licensing (VL) CD, retail (FPP) disc, or system builder hologram CD provided by Microsoft.
3. You will also need a XP product key even if you legally can downgrade from Vista Ultimate or Business edition. The Vista serial number won’t works with XP. (try to search for XP product key on web).
4. Backup to USB flash disk, external portable hard disk or CD/DVD every data files and any other things such as documents, downloads, pictures, movies, programs and etc that you need and want to keep. You can also create a second partition with disk management utilities such as Acronis Director or Partition Magic, and then move the data files to the new partition.
5. Ensure that also you have CD or DVD setup media for the software applications that you want to install and use after wiping off your system from Vista.
6. If your OEM doesn’t provide you with recovery CD/DVD discs and Windows setup media discs (it’s because they’re stored in the hard disk in hidden location), you may want to burn a copy of recovery CD to CD/DVD first before you proceed, just in case the hidden partition is lost and you want to recover your computer to original state. (How-to Guide: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad recovery CD)
7. If the system has SATA (Serial ATA) hard drive, locate the driver for SATA controller and put it in USB flash drive, diskette or CD first. If you have PATA (normal IDE) hard disk, simply go to BIOS CMOS to disable SATA or Native SATA mode if you don’t want to install XP on SATA hard drive. Else, you can also create an XP install disc with the SATA drivers integrated by using tool such as nLite.
8. In the BIOS, also set the CD or DVD optical drive as the first boot device in the boot sequence.
9. Put in the Windows XP installation CD into CDROM drive and boot up the computer by using the CD. You probably need to press a key when prompted with “Press Any Key to Boot from CD…”.
10. If you’re using SATA hard disk with driver on external media (not integrated into XP setup disk), remember to press F6 when you see the message at the status base: “Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver…” during the very initial stage of setup to load the SATA driver so that the SATA hard disk can be recognized.
11. Run through the setup wizard at per normal. However, when prompting for where to install Windows Vista, delete (by pressing D and then confirmation), create and format the Vista disk drive or partition (if you have multiple partition). And then choose to install on that just formatted partition or hard drive.

IMPORTANT: If you choose the wrong hard disk or partition with data to delete, you will lose your essential data.

Note: If the setup does not allow you to delete or format the Vista partition or drive, you will need to find a third party software that can recognize and read NTFS filesystem to clear the drive or partition first.
12. Enter any product key for XP. Vista product key will not work.
13. If you own a legitimate Windows Vista edition that allows for downgrade (See Vista downgrade rights), call Microsoft after performing the clean install of Windows XP Pro to activate the XP installation. Notify Microsoft that you’re downgrading from Vista and require to activate XP Professional or other version allowed newly installed. You won’t get a new Windows XP product key though. You will have to read out the long Installation ID plus your original Vista serial key, and Microsoft will provide an activation ID that will make the XP usable.
14. Install the drivers for your system devices.
15. Reinstall any software programs that you want to use.
16. Move back the data files and documents.

Thanks

Hi There,
Generally you can't copy software from machine to machine in this way even if the operating system is the same.
.
You will need to find the disk the software originally came on and run the install process again. If you can't find your disk you may be able to download the software from the camera manufactures web site.

Of course you can copy your pictures from machine to machine but the software itself will need to be installed.

Chances are when you reinstall Windows Xp you will lose your data.
You can recover your data by removing the hard drive from your laptop and plug it into an USB hard drive adapter and connect this to a working computer's USB port. This computer will see this as a external hard drive and you will see the various folders and files.
Copy and or burn your data folders and files to a CD.
Then put the hard drive back into your Fujitsu reinstall Windows XP.

You will have to buy windows xp from somewhere like best buy or circuit city. unless you have a friend who has a distributable copy. Other wise its illegal to use someone elses copy of xp. You may want totry to contact the manufacturere of your computer if it is newer and see if they will give you another cop(unlikely but hey worth a try). If you end up buying a new operating system I would go with windows vista if I were you.

You cannot install Windows XP over WIndows Vista. Microsoft has put a lock on the Vista software and will not allow you to downgrade to a lower software. The only way you can do it is to wipe your hard drive completely clean first with a disk deleting software or with the command "fdisk" at the DOS prompt. However, this is dangerous and I do not recommend it unless you have someone professionally trained to do it. It will wipe everything off of your disk and then you can load Windows XP.

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Windows Vista will not allow you to install Windows XP software over it. Microsoft has programmed it to not allow anyone to downgrade, basically because there are so many problems with Vista that they would lose money if everyone downgraded. So the only way to load Windows XP is to find you some software that will wipe your hard drive clean. You should be able to do it with the "fdisk" command at the DOS prompt. But beware; this will compeltely delete everything off of your drive. So back up any files that you need. Then you can load Windows XP.
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How to Downgrade Vista to XP Downgrading from Windows Vista to Windows XP is almost like installing Windows XP for the first time. You should take all the normal precautions like backing up all your important files and record important passwords in a different place, preferably on a CD. When you downgrade from Windows Vista to XP, note that Windows Vista will be completely removed from your system.
(Note: There is a way to have both Vista and XP in a dual boot configuration, but that's an option for more advanced users. See Dual Booting Vista and XP for more info on that.)
Before you begin the XP installation, make sure that the necessary XP hardware drivers are available, or included on the XP disk provided by your PC vendor. If in doubt, check the vendor's website or poke around with your favorite search engine to see if others have attempted the XP install on the same hardware. You may be able to install XP without all the needed drivers, but some hardware may not work afterwards.
Also, make sure that you have a genuine Windows XP CD before you begin the downgrade. Be sure to read the section earlier in this article to see if you qualify for a low/no cost XP recovery disk from your PC vendor. If not, perhaps you have an XP disc that came with another computer. If you've upgraded an existing computer from XP to Vista, the best choice would be the XP install/recovery disc that came with that computer. One some PC's the vendor doesn't ship a CD, but the recovery CD can be created from disk images on the hard drive. If all else fails, you can always buy a copy of Windows XP on Ebay. Just be sure it's a legal, licensed copy.
Follow these steps to install Windows XP on your Vista machine:

• Insert your Windows XP install/recovery CD and restart your computer.
• Install Windows XP normally, providing either the product key that came with the disk, or the one you got from Microsoft customer support. If the installer warns you that another copy of Windows is already installed, don't worry. Remember, this install will wipe out your existing Vista installation.
• Activate your copy of Windows XP when it prompts you to do so. If you run into the "already activated" problem, you can use the option to activate by phone.
• If you own Vista Business or Vista Ultimate, explain to the rep that you want to use your Downgrade Rights to install XP Pro.
• If you own Vista Home Basic/Premium, or you are installing XP Home Edition, don't mention ANYTHING about Vista. Just give the rep your XP product key (not the Vista key), explain that you are installing XP on a new hard drive, and tell them you need to activate.