Anthony D. Baye wrote:

> So I told my sister that I'd fix her laptop for her before she moves to
> take up
> a new job.  It's a fairly simple problem: Her hard drive is corrupted and
> Windows hasn't been able to finish an update for about a year, maybe a bit
> more.
> 
> That doesn't stop it from trying every time you turn the machine on.  And
> then it needs to revert the changes on the next startup, because it can't
> finish the update...
> 
> Well, obviously, the solution is to replace the hard drive, 

Seen it more than once that it's not a hardware problem. Windows has managed 
to confuse its file system and itself to the point that it can't solve the 
shit it created.

> but then the
> laptop
> is a brick until I install an OS.  She's not savvy enough to use linux,

Hmmm, lately one doesn't really have to be savvy to use Linux. 
In my family, I'm the one with a bit more than average knowledge about Linux, 
yet everyone else is running Linux on laptops, tablets or phones and no one 
has any problems with it.

> more's
> the pity, and a new copy of windows costs an arm and a leg.  But hey, I
> should be able to call Fujitsu and have them send me a recovery disk (Why
> this isn't included with the laptop in the first place is absolutely
> incomprehensible).
> 
> Fujitsu wants $15 per disk (there are two, apparently) and $13 S&H which
> brings the total to $44 for two recovery disks...
> 
> Naturally, I can only order them over the phone, which means divulging
> credit
> card numbers over the phone.  Not a good idea.  Never has been.  Never will
> be.
> 
> So I figure I'll do the Smart Thing, and I get a burn card (pre-paid VISA
> gift
> card).  I use these all the time for shopping online, they work everywhere.
>  Or
> so I thought.  Fujitsu won't take my perfectly valid VISA gift card because
> it
> doesn't have a name on it.  They think that makes it "not a valid credit
> card"...?
> 
> TL/DR
> 
> Unless I can find a way to get Fujitsu to send me a system restore disk,
> I'm up
> Sh(# Creek without a paddle.  I suppose I could try making the laptop a
> Hackintosh, but my last attempt at that was stellarly unsuccessful.
> 
> Regards,
> A.D.B.

Quite honestly, I don't understand why you're going through all this trouble, 
spending all this money, while you could simply download whatever 
distribution you're most familiar with and plonk it onto that laptop. If it 
doesn't work out you can always get those recovery disks and put Windows on 
it.
The only situation where I can see a preference for Windows would be niche 
software. 

-- 

Ger

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