Hi I got a new HDD (samsung 500gb 7200 16mb) and i cant install windows. The discs i have arent dedicated MS XP discs but are acer recovery discs as my pc once was an acer SA80. I have used the discs once before and they worked fine but that was with an seagate 160 HDD im wondering if thats the problem or should it take longer to install as new HDD is bigger. I let the second disc run for approx 15 minutes but it didnt appear as anything was happening??? Please help!

Not affected by the HardDrive
But it may need the partition removed (or even a partition created) for the restore to work
Gparted live BootCD may help there

Thanks i,ll look into it and see how i go.Would a new HDD come with partitions allready that may conflict with the acerfied(for want of a better word) recovery discs. I should point out that allthough the discs have acer features thay are the complete windows XP media edition software.

New HardDrives come unpartitioned
The Acer Recovery CD may need a Partition to install on although

There is one last area, and that's updating the system bios, but I don't think this is it
You could run Bios defaults though (usually pressing F2 or some other key to get into Bios, then locating and enabling Setup Defaults)

Thanks ill try that. I may have to buy Windows XP?

XP Home: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116511

Thanks. Is that complete XP software?

Yes it is complete and legit, and what you want (and need)

I doubt an Acer recovery disc would be capable of installing Windows. That would mean that the computer would have had to be sold with a more expensive license for Windows XP (not just an OEM license).

You'll likely have to buy a new copy, like kimsland linked.

Thanks i may do that but first ive downloaded a programme called drive image xml to move everything to newHDD. Im having trouble as if itry to back up i run out of room on my C drive and if i use the drive to drive option the only drives it shows are drives c and d wich are the acer drives on the origional HDD.There is also a restore option and for some reason the new samsung drive shows up in that???? Could any would sugest some good reading material on reformatting, paritioning etc...

Imaging tools: http://www.techspot.com/vb/post664079-2.html
Partitioning tool: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php

Thanks im having trouble with maxblast programme as after it reboots and starts to do its thing it stops sayitng "unable to read disc 1 sector 1323033" Could anyone enlighten me as to what the partitions are/used for on my origional HDD. They are as follows
1.PQ SERICE FS : FAT32 Partition : 0*12 (compaq setup) 7.806GB
2.ACER (C: ) 77.34GB NTFS
3.ACERDATA (D: ) 63.90GB FAT32(LBA)
It seems to be having trouble reading the first partition? What is the first partition, it doesnt show up in my computer or any where else?
The ACERDATA (D: ) is all bar empty except for two small files! Can i just clone the c drive to new disc?? Any help appreciated.

Yes you can clone C: partition
Or you can clone the entire drive

But it looks as though you have a recovery partition already
You can use an excellent free partition tool Gparted to view what partitions you actually have

It seems as though i have a bad sector/s. Are there any free programmes that can repair bad sectors? Ive tried using chkdsk / f but all that happens is a DOS panel flashes on the screen then disappeares again??

Checkdisk can help with a number of things, including re-checking "bad" sectors
But I have found that once a drive starts receiving messages of bad sectors it usually deteriorates until inevitable failure of Harddrive

Therefore, always complete all backups first
Then try running Checkdisk from the Recovery Console
Once on the command prompt type: chkdsk C: /F (if this does not work try: chkdsk C: /R
Or if both come up as error, just type chkdsk /? which will show you how to use the CheckDisk command

Once CheckDisk has finished scanning\repairing any issues, if you still get bad sector issues, then replace the Drive

I managed to clone the entire drive. There were three bad sectors that i skipped during cloning. Everthing seems to work ok. Thanks.

Thanks for the update :grinthumb