hp System Recovery

Passive

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I wanted to reformat my computer, but then found out that you have to have your OS on a disk to boot it from later on. The problem is that when I bought my computer Wndows XP was already installed and I didn't get it on a back up disk.

I was searching on my computer how to reformat and I found instructions on how to do a system recovery. It says that it returns the computer to the orginal software it had when it was shipped from the factory. Does this mean that it would be all the software that was on it when I first connected it and started it up? (Excluding Norton Security, I know I would have to reinstall that) I bought my computer from Best Buy and I don't know if they installed the OS or if hp did, would it matter?

Thanks for your help in advance.
 
You should have got a startup recovery disc yes with the system that could be used to send the computer back to its original state, and yes, if it says it will restore it to when you got it, it will restore the other programs too. Though back up first, like all the saved files, documents, etc.

I hope this helps
 
Thanks for the help. I'll try searching my house again for a recovery CD, I probably just shoved it in some drawer when I first got my comp and forgot where it is now. If I don't find it though, could I make make a recovery of Windows XP?
 
Hmm I'm not sure, and wouldn't you want your other programs too? Plus if your going to format it, you'd keep recovering it to the state it is now which isn't what you want.

I would call HP. They'll be able to send you a recovery CD, but I don't know if your programs would be recovered then.

By any chance when you open my computer do you have an extra partition? (this happens sometimes) and that (Drive D:\ maybe) can contain all the data which you can run and have it format and install it on C:\ again (can be used sometimes instead of giving you a restore CD)

So just check for one. You'd then have to run a command at bootup specified maybe (Might be there when you boot which will tell you to press F10 or something) which will then ask you if you want to start from scratch
(might also be a readme to tell you the command if its there in an extra partition)

I hope this helps :)
 
I was just going to put all of my files and programs that I still use on dvds and reinstall them back onto my computer. My main worry is having the OS on there, I want to erase everything else but not the OS (and if possible, not the other programs that came on the comp) since I don't have or can't find a recovery cd.

I suppose I'll just contact hp, hopefully they can help.

hmm..yeah, I have a drive D and when I open it it has two files: Recovery and TEMP. So, if I were to double click the lock icon (Recovery) would it automatically take me through steps to reformat my computer?
 
Yes this is the way it has been done :) This is why you cannot find your recovery CD since it is all in Drive D instead.

I'm not sure how it works, but you should be able to run that yes to restore everything. It'd restore it to how the computer was, and so should keep the programs, and also send the OS back, though you'd still have everything. You'd then just have to put all your documents and saves, etc back on.

If you go into this folder (if its not an exe or something) and has a readme, open it and it might tell you what you need to press at bootup to start Drive D copying data across to C again to restore back.

What Drive D will be acting like is an image which will just copy exactly what it was like, and copy the whole lot onto Drive C, so it'll be as new again (fast and all)

I hope this helps :)
 
Yay! Thank you for your help. I think I'll back up all my data before I try opening the recovery since I've had such bad luck with computers in the past(due to my own idiocy) Hopefully this will work though, thanks!
 
No problems :) Yes, back up everything like saved data since this wouldn't be recovered since what it would do is format the C drive, and then decompress the data on D and copy it back to C, so handing it back as it was.

Copying the programs though is very hard to do, and copying it from Program Files if it uses the registry too won't work on its own and so might not run when you copied it back. If its a file that works on its own though (like an exe file that just runs from a folder) then that would be fine. But things like Microsoft Word wouldn't be able to be copied that way.

It should restore back thoguh with all this, so don't worry too much :p I hope it works fine for you, and it gets working again soon! :)
 
Okay, I went ahead and opened it anyways and I can't see any files. There's an hp logo then it says:
Recovery Partition
Warning!

This area of your hard disk (or partition) contains files used for your system recovery.

Do not delete or alter these files.

Any change to this partition could prevent any recovery later.


How would I go about decompressing drive D? When I right click on it it has a few options where it's compress (to wherever)
 
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