Does anyone have a eMachines ET1331G that still has the OEM recover partition?

CaydenN

Hi, I have a eMachines ET1331G-03w and the hard drive recently died. I was wondering if anyone with the same PC has the OEM recovery partition that they could upload, I’d very much appreciate it.

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/698770/does-anyone-have-a-emachines-et1331g-that-still-has-the-oem-recover-partition

You cannot share HDD partitions, only files. Acer and Microsoft stopped support for Windows7 platform so you either continue using your present OS, load LINUX or migrate to a modern Windows11 laptop, low-end systems are on sale for now from $300 up.

CaydenN

I was thinking somebody could use like Macrium Reflect to create an image file of the recovery partition.

billsey

That's not allowed by either Acer or Microsoft, since it would include the licenses from the donor machine. Best to just do a reinstall of the OS using a download from Microsoft and, if it's old enough, the key off the case. If it's base OS was new enough to be using a UEFI BIOS (W8 and on) then the key is embedded in the BIOS for you. If it came with W7 then it's likely old enough that you could purchase a used replacement machine that's newer for about the same cost as a replacement HDD…

CaydenN

Oh that sucks, it came with Windows 7. That’s okay though I just didn’t want this PC to a dead weight

billsey

Yeah, the issue with old machines is that they really aren't heavy enough to be used as a boat anchor when they finally fail. :) See if there any recycle option where you are located.

Eddie4

Why is it every time someone asks for help reviving an old machine, that they obviously want to keep in it's original form, the solution is throw it away or put Windows 10/11 on it? Perhaps that isn't what they want to do. They want a machine running more or less the way it was when it came out of the box. It doesn't matter if Windows 7 is "obsolete" or EOSL. If they have a Windows 7 COA they have a right to put Windows 7 back on that machine. And some of us collect these old machines and we want them running in their original environment. That's a compliment to the original manufacterer but the original manufacturers act like they could care less about their legacy machines. And they obviously don't care about them. Or their users.

billsey

The OSes are licensed and distribution of the images is controlled by the company that holds the license rights, so Microsoft in this case. Since the OS has gone EOL they are no longer required to provide images to valid license holders. It's just the way the industry works. At least we can still get W10 images from MS, even if there aren't older ones. Typically machines from the Windows 7 era and earlier came with a copy of the OS on media, they certainly did in the XP and earlier age. If the original owner didn't keep that, it's part of why fully original configurations are tougher to find than just old machines… I have an Amiga 1000 here from 1984 that still has the original Kickstart diskettes, and I consider it very collectible, but I wouldn't expect to be able to get those diskettes from someone except in the collector market.