I don't think you understand how it all works, but here is a try:
The Compaq Presario 2700t comes with two discs for recovery and install.
They are usually black and white or grey and white.
The first disc is a CD which has the Windows install, and has Windows XP Professional or Home, with some needed drivers.
The second disc is a DVD and has ALL the drivers, and chipset for ALL Presario laptops since about 2004 until the day the computer was purchased.
If you have a need to rescue data on that hard drive, you must do that first, as neither Presario recovery disc will allow you to do it. If you need that data on that hard drive, then you most likely must obtain a new or blank hard drive and intall it in the special caddy in that slot on the bottom of the computer. It has one screw that goes through the case, caddy, and the end of the hard drive. Remove that screw, then replace the hard drive, or take the hard drive out and install it in a laptop hard drive adapter from Geeks.com or Cyberguys.com on a desktop, where you can use recovery software or drag and drop the files you need onto the desktop hard drive... from which you can burn it to a CD, assuming your desktop has a cd burner or dvd burner.
Once you have a usable laptop hard drive installed, you must first setup the drive using the disc that comes with many laptop hard drives, or download the setup software from the manufacturer's web site. All manufacturers except Toshiba have setup software available online.
Laptop drives are manufactured by Western Digital, Fujica, Samsung, Hitachi, Toshiba, and Seagate... in sizes 20GB, 40GB, 60GB, 80GB, 100GB, 120GB, and 160GB. They also have two speeds: 5400rpm and 7200rpm. The faster drives do not last as long as the 5400 rpm ones but they clearly operate better.
You can get these drives cheaply at
www.directron.com,
www.zipzoomfly.com,
www.outpost.com,
www.cdw.com,
www.techdepot.com,
www.tigerdirect.com,
www.pcconnections.com, and many others.
I would not get a drive larger than 100GB, because I have been unable to verify that the 120GB or 160Gb will work in a Compaq Presario 2700t... most laptops are having trouble with the larger sizes and faster speed combinations.
Be sure you get the right one, as there are SATA, PATA, and EIDE drives... and only certain ones will work in that caddy... and cable combination.
One you have your old drive conditioned so that it can be erased, or you have a new drive, you insert the Recovery CD in the drive. Then shut down the computer. Wait 20 seconds, and power up. The computer will boot to the CD and begin a startup process. Windows will ask you if you want to reformat the drive or Setup the drive as an NTFS or a FAT32. Select NTFS. It will then reformat the drive, erasing all data. This can take as long as an hour, depending on what size and speed of hard drive you have. The other choices it offers will be fairly obvious.
Once it completes that long format process, your drive will be totally erased, and unrecoverable. It will then automatically begin installing Windows XP. You may be asked to enter answers to some questions, but it is quite automatic.
When the install is complete, the computer will shut down and reboot, and finish setting up what it has on the disc. When this is completed, remove the recovery disc, insert the Applications, Drivers, and Desktop DVD disc, and then shut down the computer.
Reboot to the applications and drivers disc after a 30 second wait. The computer will automatically load all the drivers it needs from the disc, then shut down and reboot.
Now you need to connect to the ethernet so you can download all the Windows Updates from the
www.microsoft.com Windows Updates folder. This will take another hour.
Now you need to go to
www.hp.com and download all the latest drivers that have been released since the computer build date on the bottom of the computer. There will be new drivers for Chipset, sound, ethernet, video graphics, modem, and so on. There may also be a new BIOS install which controls the way the computer works.
Now, that you have installed all Bios, Drivers, and Chipset, install your antivirus, antispyware, word processing, accounting, photo editing, burner, software and so on.
Soon, 15 hours after you started, you will have your computer up and running.
Good luck. Let us know how it goes.
