Toshiba Portege z930 downgraded from Windows 8 to Windows 7
Tue 17 Sep 2013At last! after 4 years on the same clunking Pentium M Toshiba with its overheating (and needing to stick it in the fridge), I managed to scrape together enough for this i7 Toshiba z930 ultrabook. Even got an Solid state hard drive (SSD), and downgraded back to Win 7 pro using an OEM edition purchased on the net - With win 7 and the SSD it flies! I have already edited some HD footage off my iphone in a whiz - look forward to punching out plenty of work and videos this summer.
The price was pretty good of ebay, so much power in a tiny package for just $1300. I can remember paying $4500 for "state of the art" back in the day!!
Now I have a kick ass work centre that is super light and portable.
---------------------------------------
If you want to downgrade a Windows 8 machine to Windows 7 Pro here are some pointers
Ingredients:
Win 7 license
2 16gb memory sticks
1 other small memory stick that can be wiped.
Method:
Create a Win 8 restore with one of the 16gb USBs
Purchase Win 7 and download (link below) and make a Win 7 install on the 2nd 16gb USB.
Change BIOS to CSM, etc per Toshiba instructions
here
Download http://tuxboot.org/download/ and http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
Create bootable USB stick with the small USB stick using gparted software per instructions
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/windows-cannot-be-installed-on-this-disk-the/8fa72a3e-10c5-47da-a040-1e0db62af309
Boot gparted small USB after Pressing F12 when starting computer and selecting USB stick
Delete all partitions from the hdd
Restart computer, press F12
Select boot from USB
Boot from Win 7 image USB
Follow instructions, and it will take over all the hard disk and install Win 7
Go to Toshiba downloads and download all the drivers and z930 specific's for Win 7.
Copy them to the (small) usb (which no longer needs gparted) and copy them onto the z930
Install all the drivers you think you need (and exclude some of the Toshiba ones that just slow your machine down while doing nothing)
Enjoy the great speed and performance!
Related Links:Toshiba Portege z930Windows 7 Pro purchased online