recovery disc

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Kewl Munky

New Member
My friend's family computer could use a reformatting, but he doesn't have an XP disc since it was a store bought one. He has an XP CD key though. The hard drive has a recovery partition with some files on it. I don't remember what they are, but does anyone know if they are meant for making a boot disc or something?

It's an HP by the way.
 
The method for creating a set of recovery disks is outlined at the HP/CompaQ support site. http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&docname=bph08097

As you will see the guideline is extensive but needs to followed accordingly to see results. Generally the first thing I tell people buying prebuilds is to make sure you get all of the disks along with the system that are supposed to be included especially the Windows recovery. The new Dellls and likely HPs as well however now see a key or key combination you press at post to see the system restored to factory condition.
 
What they did there was simply on the additional "small" cost in manufacture of recovery disks while often you don't get them anyways when buying a prebuild in a retail store but from a regular dealer. A friend's Dell XPS laptop is restored with a single key there.
 
A friend's Dell XPS laptop is restored with a single key there.
Click to expand...

In case you havent noticed, 90% of dells dont use the key on the case sticker.

They all use one of a limited number of generic volume OEM keys instead - dell recovery cds and partitions are set up by default for a preactivated, unnatended install and will fail activation unless dell h/w is detected

HP/Compaq do this too - but ms is trying to stop it now, as people go and steal the keys off of tyhe stickers on machines and sell them - they activate fine as they have never been used before
 
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jdbennet said:
In case you havent noticed, 90% of dells dont use the key on the case sticker.

They all use one of a limited number of generic volume OEM keys instead - dell recovery cds and partitions are set up by default for a preactivated, unnatended install and will fail activation unless dell h/w is detected

HP/Compaq do this too - but ms is trying to stop it now, as people go and steal the keys off of tyhe stickers on machines and sell them - they activate fine as they have never been used before
Click to expand...

What's that have to do with preprogrammed restoration by an F key? We're not talking about product keys but assigned keys on the keyboard for seeing system restoration.
 
What's that have to do with preprogrammed restoration by an F key? We're not talking about product keys but assigned keys on the keyboard for seeing system restoration.
Click to expand...

sorry but

doesn't have an XP disc since it was a store bought one. He has an XP CD key though
Click to expand...

followed by

A friend's Dell XPS laptop is restored with a single key there
Click to expand...

made me confused ;)
 
The newer laptops and desktop models alike either have one specified key or two or three keys setup for a preprogrammed system restoration rather then seeing the need for providing recovery disks. This would be separate from the regular bios programming while seen at post as an option.

That would have to start a setup program tucked away in the hidden recovery partition on the drive. One more trick to insure you have to bring the system into one of their authorized service centers when going to upgrade hard drives for sure. :rolleyes:

The instructions seen at the support page there should be enough to see a set of disks made up for seeing the factory state restored once you see a good set of disks burned. Otherwise you would have to go through an HP dealer to see those ordered or if an older system buy a new full install disk and simply download all updated drivers/software.
 
They allow you a one-off chance to make your own OS CDs in case the partition fails etc...

my dell and my lenovo allowed me to do so
 
Kewl Munky said:
My friend's family computer could use a reformatting, but he doesn't have an XP disc since it was a store bought one. He has an XP CD key though.
Click to expand...

If you are prepared to use a XP disk for a full format, then you could always borrow a disk from someone with the same OS version or see if your local pc repair shop will burn one for you(mine does ;) )
 
sg1 said:
If you are prepared to use a XP disk for a full format, then you could always borrow a disk from someone with the same OS version or see if your local pc repair shop will burn one for you(mine does ;) )
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Discussion of copying protected materials is against forum rules!
 
Discussion of copying protected materials is against forum rules!
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And if only giving asinine advice was too, you'd be long-gone.

Regardless, it's not illegal to copy an XP CD; MS even makes a mention of it in their EULA. It is, however, illegal to use that copy for malicious purposes, and/or in a way that violates the EULA.

jd, save yourself the trouble and don't even try to understand any of his Posts.

Five puppies kicked by God so far in the course of this Thread.
 
sg1 said:
If you are prepared to use a XP disk for a full format, then you could always borrow a disk from someone with the same OS version or see if your local pc repair shop will burn one for you(mine does ;) )
Click to expand...

Actually that was what we wanted to do, but haven't found anyone.

He decided to get a new hard drive since the 30GB wasn't really enough. I talked to a friend and he said I can make the recovery discs from the stock hard drive and install xp on the new hard drive with them.

I'll have to give it a try.
 
imsati said:
And if only giving asinine advice was too, you'd be long-gone.

Regardless, it's not illegal to copy an XP CD; MS even makes a mention of it in their EULA. It is, however, illegal to use that copy for malicious purposes, and/or in a way that violates the EULA.

jd, save yourself the trouble and don't even try to understand any of his Posts.

Five puppies kicked by God so far in the course of this Thread.
Click to expand...

Taking a look at the worthlessness of that link in your sig you dry yourself off after pulling your head out of your ... :rolleyes:

It's known as "casual copying" and one form of software piracy as well as discussing a banned topic not that you care much. :rolleyes:
 
Kewl Munky said:
Actually that was what we wanted to do, but haven't found anyone.

He decided to get a new hard drive since the 30GB wasn't really enough. I talked to a friend and he said I can make the recovery discs from the stock hard drive and install xp on the new hard drive with them.

I'll have to give it a try.
Click to expand...

The recovery disks you have made up will only work with the information tucked away on the original drive due to the preactivated copy of Windows archived in the hidden partition. For a totally new drive you will need a full install disk(OEM to save on cost) and simply download all the updates for board and expansion cards added.

There is information that won't be seen transferred onto a set of recovery disks bonding those to the one machine and that information. For upgrading hard drives without a full install disk you generally need to bring the system in to an authorized repair center where they perform the installation on a new drive. They will have what's called a master disk only provided to service techs and authorized by MS.
 
He can run the recovery on a new hard drive with the recovery disks. If I understand kewl munky correctly, he (his friend) plans to create the recovery disks form the original hard drive, then run the factory restore on the new hard drive. That should work.
 
The recovery disks work along with the prepackaged softwares as well as preinstallation of Windows(preactivated) there. You would have to see the hidden partition actually cloned to a new drive for that to work. This is where they get to have to go into a repair center.

The alternative is to buy your own full install disk and simply download the board and other drivers needed but lose the prepackaged softwares. For those you then would have to buy whatever programs separately but can take with you to the next machine running the same version of Windows.

The recovery disks made up won't have the main ID and product key information on those since all that is bound to the one machine. The serial number and overall hardware information is tucked away on the original drive. The recovery disks expand the archived copy of Windows and softwares included but are not full install by themselves.
 
The recovery disks expand the archived copy of Windows and softwares included but are not full install by themselves.
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depends. my lenovos is like that, but my (older ~2006) dell makes a standard windows OEM cd.
 
It depends mainly on how old a prebuild is there. You can be sure the newer models out for Dell since they offer the choice of OS that those are bound if made. But then with the latest models you no longer need any with the automatic restore feature now seen.

On the older system there all you can do is see if a set will actually work for a new drive or end up bringing it in for a service charge. You may end seeing Windows running but losing some part of the softwares the system came with where something won't run.
 
my dads dell came with a partition and a cd, but i think the cd is like you are saying, instead of a full vista cd.

its a current core2 model dimension
 
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