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Thread ID: 83414 2007-10-01 04:12:00 Recovery Disks HP a450a xineohp (3165) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
596643 2007-10-01 04:12:00 My recovery disks have been damaged, is there away to make another set. I have tried the recovery wizard but it tells me that only 1 set can be made. Anyone got any ideas? xineohp (3165)
596644 2007-10-01 05:32:00 well you could simply use ghost or acronis or a similar program to make a complete image of your harddrive......that'd be useful in the event of a major failure...... drcspy (146)
596645 2007-10-01 05:33:00 you could image your HDD with other software. there are a few recent posts on similar topics.

advice for anyone getting a PC or laptop that only allows to make one set of restore disks. is to image the PC with some other software first. so you have an image the can make more disks if / when needed. but then that makes it redundant as you can just use that image instead of restore disks. although the restore disks may be able to repair.

Norton Ghost comes to mind straight away. but there are better ones out there.

Unless you are in dire need of them now. how badly are they damaged? could possibly repair them if its only minor scratching. then make an image of that if it allows you to. not sure if a video store would fix it for you since it is on writable media. could always ask.

Im guessing it's Vista that you are running. could ask the HP helpdesk. and see if they can give a soloution. im outta ideas now.
Cho (12330)
596646 2007-10-01 06:03:00 My recovery disks have been damaged, is there away to make another set. I have tried the recovery wizard but it tells me that only 1 set can be made. Anyone got any ideas?


There is a possible way to make new Install Disks, but its a bit long winded -

As per the other posts above, you can copy the whole drive using imaging software to another Drive - theres plenty about.

Unplug the original drive. Plug in the newly made copied drive. Leaving your current drive alone.

Then from the copied drive, Start up the PC to make sure it's copied OK - as long as the original has a recovery partition you run the full system recovery/format the lot from this copy.

This will remake the drive as if its just been purchased as you brought it. Then you remake the recovery CD/DVD's.

Told ya it was long winded :lol: But it works - I've done it before.
wainuitech (129)
596647 2007-10-01 06:20:00 Thanks for the help. I shall try tomorrow. Many thanks xineohp (3165)
596648 2007-10-01 19:13:00 If you contact HP, tell them what happened to your copies and pester them a bit, they should supply replacement recovery disks for a price. The last time I did this it cost me $70, but it was much easier than trying to image my hard drive. wiselark (12849)
596649 2007-10-01 20:51:00 why pay for something that should have come with the computer in the first place. this is why i custom build my PC's although ive heard that you can only get upgrade versions of Vista now, which sucks and i do want to eventually either buy a copy of ultimate, or wait till windows 7 is released in 2010 Cho (12330)
596650 2007-10-01 21:43:00 why pay for something that should have come with the computer in the first place. this is why i custom build my PC's although ive heard that you can only get upgrade versions of Vista now, which sucks and i do want to eventually either buy a copy of ultimate, or wait till windows 7 is released in 2010

Who told ya you can only get upgrade versions of Vista ? thats rubbish.

If you custom build your own PC's then the best way is to purchase OEM - Lots cheaper than retail, and if you are building a PC you get OEM hardware to go with the OS.

These are VERY rough prices But Retail from Dick Smiths - Vista Ultimate $998.00

OEM around $300.00 (depending on where you get it from) I Know what I'd rather pay.

With the OEM the option to "upgrade" is not there, only full install.
wainuitech (129)
596651 2007-10-02 02:53:00 Recovery disks are not the same as OEM copies of Windows . HP, Dell and other OEMs put recovery partitions on their hard drives from which you can restore back to factory settings, including all the 'free' software and trialware they provide .

My understanding is that HP in particular stopped providing recovery disks for consumer desktops some years back with the rationale that a recovery partition will not be lost or damaged as easily as separate recovery disks, and it was easier for their helpdesk to direct people to use for a reinstall . As many customers still wanted disks, they left a facility in to create them, but it was a Microsoft license condition that only one backup copy be able to be created .

HP should generally continue to support their installs (such as by supplying recovery disks) until they are no longer allowed to sell a particular operating system . In the case of Windows XP, Microsoft has allowed copies to be available through retail and OEM suppliers until at least April 2008 .
wiselark (12849)
596652 2007-10-02 02:58:00 Just download a copy of Windows off the internet, you legally own a copy Windows so its not illegal. Then do a clean install and you get the added bonus of not having all the HP bloatware. All the drivers should be downloadable from the HP site so that shouldn't be an issue either. Pete O'Neil (6584)
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