Same restore disk after SP2?

[Maureen Goldman]

My two-year-old emachine came with a restore disk rather than a full
copy of XP. In case of emergency, can it still be used now that SP2
has been installed?

 

[Jeff Gaines]

My two-year-old emachine came with a restore disk rather than a full
copy of XP. In case of emergency, can it still be used now that SP2
has been installed?

Restore disks usually restore the system to its original state when you
bought it, i.e. everything you have added since it was in its original
state will be lost (e.g. extra programs, data, your address book, your
email etc.).

There is no reason not to use it but you you must back up all your data
first and then re-install any programs you may have added, including
SP2.

It's a bit tedious but sometimes necessary.

 

[zeldaber]

hi
the system restore disk tells your machine where on the disk it can find xp.
Your computer maker has installed a copy of xp files on your hard disk so
that you can use these files to restore you machine back to its original
state. This is fine providing the location where these files are stored
doesn't become corrupt. In answer to your original question if you use the
restore disk, it will restore your computer back to the original state
(without any of the updates you have done). You then will have to download
all the updates including sp2.
by the way I hate the way manufactures do this system it saves them alot of
money not providing you with an original xp disk

hope this helps

zel\

 

[joust in jest]

zeldaber:

The first three sentences of your description of "restore disk" is accurate
_ONLY_ for some manufacturers, and _ONLY_ for some models sold by those
manufactures.
Some companies that currently provide a "restore disk" as you describe
were _NOT_ doing so two years ago (when the OP purchased his computer).

Some companies eschew hidden partitions on hard drives and provide an actual
set of restore CDs (or DVD). Currently shipping HP computers, upon the very
first boot, offer the option, to create a full set of restore CDs using the
built-in CD burner. The Gateway laptop that I purchased two years ago came
with a non-customized windows XP on CD, a CD with drivers, and a CD with
customized Gateway trouble-shooting software.