creating recovery disks

[geekdna]

I am configuring/personalizing a new HP Pavilion dv7-2173d with Vista home
64bit OS. I'm making recovery disks using blank CDs I had in the house.
Using those disks I need 20 of them. I know the recovery disks will include
all the software I won't use and don't want. Do I need to do all 20 to get
recovery disks jsut for Vista?

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

That creation program is specific to HP's installation of Vista on your
system. You can't separate Vista from the preinstalled software, it's all
part of their image. So in short, yes, you need all 20 disks.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
Vote for my shoe: http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Bill Daggett]

I am configuring/personalizing a new HP Pavilion dv7-2173d with Vista home
64bit OS. I'm making recovery disks using blank CDs I had in the house.
Using those disks I need 20 of them. I know the recovery disks will include
all the software I won't use and don't want. Do I need to do all 20 to get
recovery disks jsut for Vista?

If you are able to use blank DVDs, it will be better.

 

[Johnny]

If you are able to use blank DVDs, it will be better.

Why should it take twenty CDs to install an operating system, when it
only took one to install Windows 2000 Professional?

I don't see any improvements.

It took 3 DVD-Rs to make my recovery disks.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Because it's more than just the operating system. HP's image recovery
includes all the preinstalled software as well. A standard Vista disk is a
single DVD.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
Vote for my shoe: http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

I am configuring/personalizing a new HP Pavilion dv7-2173d with Vista home
64bit OS. I'm making recovery disks using blank CDs I had in the house.
Using those disks I need 20 of them. I know the recovery disks will
include all the software I won't use and don't want. Do I need to do all
20 to get recovery disks jsut for Vista?

Use DVDs.. you only need three or four of them..

The recovery media creation process does not back up the running operating
system. It creates the disks from the recovery partition, so no amount of
operating system customization will alter the fact that use of the new
recovery disks will leave you with a machine as it left HP manufacturing..

 

[Bill Daggett]

Why should it take twenty CDs to install an operating system, when it
only took one to install Windows 2000 Professional?

I don't see any improvements.

It took 3 DVD-Rs to make my recovery disks.

It only took one for me to install Vista on my machine. But all that
I installed was the OS... not all the included software: the trial
software, the diagnostic software, etc., etc.

3 DVD-R discs is normal.

 

[Johnny]

Use DVDs.. you only need three or four of them..

The recovery media creation process does not back up the running
operating system. It creates the disks from the recovery partition, so
no amount of operating system customization will alter the fact that use
of the new recovery disks will leave you with a machine as it left HP
manufacturing..

Why don't you just make it simple, instead of confusing people?

When you use the recovery disks, your computer will be just like it was
when it left the factory.

 

[Richard Urban]

Because, when you create the recovery media you are actually copying the
recovery partition that is on the drive. This includes much more than just
the operating system! It includes all the crapware that HP includes on their
system, which is tons.

When you are done you can delete the recovery partition and merge it with
the main partition, as you now have the bases covered.

 

[Daddy Tadpole]

Use DVDs.. you only need three or four of them..

The recovery media creation process does not back up the running operating
system. It creates the disks from the recovery partition, so no amount of
operating system customization will alter the fact that use of the new
recovery disks will leave you with a machine as it left HP manufacturing..

Are CR-R and DVD-R disks sufficiently reliable for this sort of thing? I
have no end of trouble trying to make recordings that stand the test of
time. It's difficult even to get information on the best recording speed
when reliability matters.

This seems to be common situation, as testified by the huge amount of burner
software that's available. Some is bloated, some is crap and some is
impenetrable to non-geeks. Freeware and OEM packages are the worst, but I
don't see why I have to pay for this sort of stuff.

Plenty of drives - like some of those that come with Dell - don't work
properly either. Perhaps it's a conspiracy by the (fictitious I hope) Blank
Disk Manufacturer's Association.

In the long run it would be better to buy a few hard disks that are cheap
because slightly obsolete, together with a USB/firewire cable or box. Keep
more than one copy.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Are CR-R and DVD-R disks sufficiently reliable for this sort of thing? I
have no end of trouble trying to make recordings that stand the test of
time. It's difficult even to get information on the best recording speed
when reliability matters.

This seems to be common situation, as testified by the huge amount of
burner software that's available. Some is bloated, some is crap and some
is impenetrable to non-geeks. Freeware and OEM packages are the worst, but
I don't see why I have to pay for this sort of stuff.

Plenty of drives - like some of those that come with Dell - don't work
properly either. Perhaps it's a conspiracy by the (fictitious I hope)
Blank Disk Manufacturer's Association.

In the long run it would be better to buy a few hard disks that are cheap
because slightly obsolete, together with a USB/firewire cable or box. Keep
more than one copy.

There are unknowns re home recorded disks: The speed at which they are
created, quality of the disk, how they are stored, the fact that home
recordings are not as robust as commercially produced disks.

I see them more as a last resort, to be used only in the event of complete
hard drive failure where the recovery partition is non-existent too.

I only back up data, and have it in at least three different locations

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

I saw many reports of failing recovery disks that were burnt from the
recovery partition. As a minimal precaution I would always keep the
recovery partition. If you want to go the safe route, take periodic
images with an imaging program such as Norton Ghost, Acronis or many
others.

I would sooner keep a recovery partition than rely on home burned disks too.
Depending on the make and type of disk, there is even a chance that an
optical drive replacement could render a home made recovery set pretty much
useless..

 

[Gordon]

I would sooner keep a recovery partition than rely on home burned disks
too.

Until the HDD goes belly up?

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

That's where Imaging comes in: 'Ghosting approaches - summary because
of popular demand « How-To Geek Forums'
(http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topi...-summary-because-of-popular-demand?replies=46)

The best you can do it to have both if possible and hope that one or the
other is there for you when you most need it..

 

[Bill Sharpe]

The best you can do it to have both if possible and hope that one or the
other is there for you when you most need it..

The real advantage of an imaging disk or backup to an external hdd is
that it contains your computer setup as it now exists rather than when
you purchased the machine. I've got an Acronis backup as well as HP
recovery disks, but I never expect to use the recovery disks.

Bill