I bought an dell notebook from a friend of a friend about 12 months ago. after about 9 months the hard drive died, I tried to speak to dell about it (have you ever tried to get a straight answer from them????). it transpired that I needed a new recovery cd, which because it was over 2 years old were no longer available. My options were to throw away $500 (which is what I paid) and then spend $1000 on a new notebook or try to find someone with a cd. Google found me a company called genner communications in the uk who sold me a recovery cd for about $40 and the tech guy talked me through installation (coz I'm a bit of a technophobe)I hope this helps someone else
