[danielf]

Cheers guys,

I don't have a Vista DVD, so it looks like sticking the drive into the laptop would be the only option, but I'm not sure it's worth it.

I could try the drive in the new laptop or a netbook I've got lying around, but I'd need to get some proper small screw drivers (I murdered the head on one of the screws trying to get the drive from the old laptop using an ill-fitting screw driver) before even attempting this.

Then I'd wonder if the drive would even work in a new machine given MS's reluctance to allow hardware changes. Most importantly though, the wife's already resolved to having to re-do some work, and me not saving her bacon might help her think about backing up a bit more (and not feeding liquids to computer equipment).