Recovery Partition prt 2

[Dave Johnson]

Thanks for the help all.

I am just investigating as far as I can in regards to xp and that recovery
partition thing.
This newsgroup is proving very informative.
I personally still feel more comfortable with a full installation cd myself
but was given the impression that this recovery partion thing was the new
way of doing it to avoid installing on more than one machine.
Guess I will have to do some more research
The feature of being able to push a button and have a clean version of
windows before anything was done sounded to cool.
Maybe still to good to be true though?
Thanks

 

[Yves Leclerc]

Recovery partition is the new way of giving the purchaser a Recovery CD.
The Windows version in this partition has been configured and tweaked for
all the factory default installed hardware and may be BIOS locked to the
type of machine it is installed on. Like with the Recovery CD method, this
forces the purchaser to remian with the install base of the manufacturer. It
also make upgrades very difficult, since you can not force a full install of
XP upgrades since you do not get a full XP install disk.

Y.

 

[walter k]

The recovery partition is in its own partition, meaning 99% of the time you
will not need to access it (little or no wear and tear over these sectors).
I think if you use the machine with some care, your hardware generally last
at least 3 years or more. By the time 3 years are up, Longhorn or whatever
the next Windows release is marketed, may require "newer" hardware due to
its 3-D transluscent interface design plus next generation of wireless
protocol and structure. I'm not sure if you want to upgrade or if your
current hardware is upgradable to the next Windows release.

In the meantime, the recovery partition should restore your PC to it's
factory intitial state "faster" than doing a clean install from a retail XP
cd disk. That's why, more users (depending on what they do with their pc)
are more prone to consider low-end OEM machines, where upgrade may no longer
be viable with older hardware (your current hardware may be deemed obsolete
in 3 years).

- - - - - - - - - - - -

 

[Dave Johnson]

I am not understanding something you wrote.
"It also make upgrades very difficult, since you can not force a full
install of XP upgrades since you do not get a full XP install disk"

I am currently running Win 98, the machine I'm looking at runs XP. I don't
have any experience with XP.

Could you explain that for me please?

Thanks

 

[Alex Nichol]

I am just investigating as far as I can in regards to xp and that recovery
partition thing.
This newsgroup is proving very informative.
I personally still feel more comfortable with a full installation cd myself
but was given the impression that this recovery partion thing was the new
way of doing it to avoid installing on more than one machine.
Guess I will have to do some more research
The feature of being able to push a button and have a clean version of
windows before anything was done sounded to cool.

It is fine as a way of restoring the machine to ex factory state; which
is why it is beloved of OEM makers and their ''tech support' that can
always insist on that as the first action for the metaphorical cut
finger.

They are no use at all if you want to replace one damaged file, or do a
'repair' reinstall of the system, retaining software and data. Nor if
what happens is a complete crash of the hard disk

 

[Alex Nichol]

I am not understanding something you wrote.
"It also make upgrades very difficult, since you can not force a full
install of XP upgrades since you do not get a full XP install disk"

I am currently running Win 98, the machine I'm looking at runs XP. I don't
have any experience with XP.

It would be relevant if you had such a machine currently as Win98 and
wanted to upgrade it to XP. You would have, each time you needed a full
reinstall of XP, to reinstate that Win98, and to keep the hidden
partition so as to be able to do it. This does not happen that often,
but it should be possible more easily. And in buying a new machine with
XP installed in that way, you would have such trouble with any successor
system upgrade

 

[Dave Johnson]

Thanks for the clarification much appreciated. I understand what you mean.

Was concerned as well with what would happen with a complete system crash
being that you couldn't reinstall.
Salesman told me that if I couldn't boot it up to access that file that
computer was probably toast.
The more I research this feature the less I am liking it so much.
Convenient yes but in the long run not so much.
Thanks again for the explanation

 

[Malke]

Thanks for the clarification much appreciated. I understand what you
mean.

Was concerned as well with what would happen with a complete system
crash being that you couldn't reinstall.
Salesman told me that if I couldn't boot it up to access that file
that computer was probably toast.
The more I research this feature the less I am liking it so much.
Convenient yes but in the long run not so much.
Thanks again for the explanation

(snippage)

You know, that bit the salesman told you about the computer "being
toast" is just crap. Yes, of course Bad Things Can Happen and your
whole computer could die a zappy death if lightning strikes your house,
but it is far more likely that if you have a hardware failure, it will
only be one component. Usually if hardware fails, it does so right away
or chugs on for years. But again, Bad Things Can Happen. I just had a
client with the exact situation you've been warned about by other
posters - older HP not very far out of warranty and the hard drive
failed. HP wanted him to send the whole machine back in order to
replace the hard drive. They didn't just want to send him a replacement
cd because the machine was out of warranty. Since this was his business
machine and he couldn't wait, he felt he had to buy a new hard drive
and of course, a retail copy of XP. So because it is easier and cheaper
for HP to not even give their customers a lousy Recovery Disk, my
client had to fork over $200 for an operating system which he really
had already paid for.

So be smart, always have a real cd of your operating system in your
possession. Best of luck to you,

Malke