http://www.clark.com/revive-your-old-laptop-for-free-chromebook
Will this work if your hard drive is bad?
(3 posts) (3 voices)-
ChrisS
AdministratorYou'd have to replace the hard drive first. The software installs a simplified OS onto "obsolete" tech. It's not really any different from installing Linux onto your old Windows98 PC to keep the still usable tech in use.
If you don't want to spend $50 to buy a new hard drive you might be able to get it to work with a bootable DVD and external hard drive/pen drive but it would be slow. Conceptually, if you have a working Windows 7/8/8.1 PC, you could use Aoemi PEBuilder to create a bootable DVD with the Neverware and Chromebook stuff included, boot to the DVD, and then create the system on either a pen drive or external hard drive. Note, though, that if you're using an external hard drive that the Neverware installation process will erase everything on it.
Posted 7 years ago # -
mikiem2
Moderator**IF** the CPU is compatible, I'm impressed with 10 on lower powered hardware with minimal disk space & optionally on a USB drive, though installing it to that USB drive involves a bit of work. On a really old win98 laptop I actually had best luck installing a minimal configuration of XP -- no DVD drive, or WiFi, or even native USB, used a card to provide USB, running portable apps on a USB stick for software. Tried *nix distros for minimal, obsolete hardware & couldn't get them to do it.
That said, there are some Android projects designed to run on a PC/laptop hdd. With Android you'd at least get the apps, though some [or all depending on the project] might have to be side loaded.
And without a hard drive at all... I created a couple few Winbuilder & related setups [reboot[.]pro]. They're slimmed down versions of XP & win7 complete with a desktop using universal driver packs that boot from a CD/DVD or USB stick to a RAM disk. There's a project for or with a VirtualBox portable launcher -- it adds, then removes needed drivers on startup & exit. I was/am able to boot to XP or 7 on a CD or USB stick, run the VBox launcher & then a full win7 VM, both from a USB hdd. OTOH the xp & win7 versions might be comparable to a chromebook as-is.
Posted 7 years ago #
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