Where's my recovery CD? (What to do in such a situation)

[HunterX]

Recently while setting up my dad's new computer (HP Pavilion a1740n) I noticed that there was no recovery CD. I thought this was odd, but seeing as how I didn't need it at the time, I just shrugged it off and kept setting everything up. When the computer first booted I noticed a option on the BIOS logo screen titled "Press F-11 For System Recovery". Again I thought this was odd, but couldn't quite figure out why. Well after getting the computer setup and updates downloaded I decided to poke around and discovered why there was no recovery CD. The recovery system resides on a partition on the HDD.

It seems that with the size of HDDs going up and the size of the recovery systems going up as well, it appears that OEMs are moving away from including CDs/DVDs for the recovery system and just putting the recovery system on an HDD partition. So, here are a few tips for dealing with such a system:

1) If you ever need to reformat and reinstall your OS, pay close attention to the BIOS logo screen (the screen with the OEM's logo on it). Look for an option (if there are any options listed) along the lines of "Press n For System Recovery" (where n is the key they tell you to press) and make a note of that option.

2)Check the manual that came with your computer for all of the boot key press options if they are not listed on the BIOS logo screen.

3)Check the support website of your system's manufacturer for those boot options.

4)Make a note of the recovery system partition, and what ever you do, do not delete that partition, for obvious reasons, or even save anything to it. Saving data to that partition may break the recovery system.

[Belgarion]

I think that is despicable. What happens if the hard drive fails after a year and a day which is sods law. Line Mr Gates pockets some more
I think I would back up that partition to a DVD or something

[BmB]

I think the retailer, HP for example would help you out? Or not?

[Captain Pierce]

My first PC, a Compaq Presario with a K6-2 350, had the same thing--on a 4GB hard drive, they had a 1GB recovery partition. :eek:

[HunterX]

Another tip: Don't backup those partitions, even for the eventual HDD failure. You run the risk of breaking the recovery system by doing that, especially if the new HDD is not the exact same size and the recovery partition that you create does not reside at the exact same starting cylinder as it did on your old HDD (the BIOS routine for launching the recovery system might not be able to find it). In the case of an HDD failure, you have no choice but to either buy a retail copy of the OS or contact your OEM for a recovery disk (which will usually cost you a small fee).

[A176]

The reason they put the backup partitions on the hard drive itself now was due to firstly, ever increasing spread of models and configurations - imaging to a hard drive is cheaper and faster than having to order the discs, and moving away from 'generalized' recovery discs that spanned several models and could potentially be used for purposes other than the one single computer.

You can still use discs for backup - the computers will often come with a recovery solution that enables you to burn the backup data to dvd(s). I will not guarantee every model has this feature though.

[Caesar]

I have an HP notebook with the same system. If you play around in the recovery system, it will allow you to burn everything you need to four CDs. From those, you can perform the simpler tasks like repair install etc. It's really a good system, especially if you're on the road often.


I think that is despicable. What happens if the hard drive fails after a year and a day which is sods law. Line Mr Gates pockets some more

Wait..what? So, you want a recovery CD to use on your computer if your hard drive goes? And how does an OEM's choice of recovery media "line Mr. Gates' pockets some more?"

[The Collector]

Yeah, HP uses recovery partitions.

Make a Norton ghost copy of your HD, or maybe even make a norton ghost of your recovery partition while you're at it, and then burn those ghost copies to a DVD, some sort of external HD or to a different HD.

[Bobacanoosh]

And how does an OEM's choice of recovery media "line Mr. Gates' pockets some more?"

Guess what you get to do when you put that new HD in without an OS installed. (Some of these manufacturers will not help you out when you go looking for proof of your Windows ownership.)

Newer HP machines come with recovery systems that let you burn one massive set of recovery discs (3 dvds) that will perform a full factory reset once.

[Caesar]

New harddrive just put in..couldn't you just use your old recovery CD/DVDs? Your Windows key is still stickered to the bottom of your notebook.