Windows 7 recovery media

mistycom

Baseband Member
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Has anyone tried that? How is it different from a Windows Repair disc? I have a reinstallation DVD for windows 7 so is creating a recovery media still necessary? Or backup? And most importantly, how does it work? If there's already been an article on it, can someone pls link me to it?
 
the recovery media is basically a windows install disk. some new prebuilt systems don't come with the install media, so Windows has this so if something happens you can have a copy.
 
Generally speaking, recovery media differs from an install disk in that the recovery media will restore your computer back to the way it left the factory. Win 7 install disk might not have all of the necessary drivers and won't have any of the software applications that were installed on the computer when you bought it (no crapware either!).

A better solution to either is to get your computer setup with all necessary drivers & OS updates, crapware deleted and essential apps installed then use software like Macrium Reflect to create a system image which will allow you to restore your system back to the way you like it.
 
Generally speaking, recovery media differs from an install disk in that the recovery media will restore your computer back to the way it left the factory. Win 7 install disk might not have all of the necessary drivers and won't have any of the software applications that were installed on the computer when you bought it (no crapware either!).

A better solution to either is to get your computer setup with all necessary drivers & OS updates, crapware deleted and essential apps installed then use software like Macrium Reflect to create a system image which will allow you to restore your system back to the way you like it.

Thank you for your reply, I bought my laptop 2 months ago and have since introduced new things to it. I haven't made any changes to its default settings, only brought in some downloads and softwares. In this case, is it still possible for the windows to detect the state when it left the factory while creating this recovery?

As for the system image, it's something new to me. What can it do? Does it recover everything and restore the system to the state before it experiences a crash like the recovery media does?

Another question regarding the recovery media, can i create it using a >8 GB flashdrive or pendrive? It's recommended to use CD-R or CD-RW btw.
 
If you use the recovery media to restore your system, it overwrites everything currently on the drive which means you lose any software that was installed since you bought it. You will need to have install disks to reinstall that software. It will also overwrite any data you have created which is why you need to keep your data backed up.

With a system image, the system can be restored back to exactly how it was when the image was created. Think of it as taking a picture of the contents of your drive at that moment in time.

Flash drives aren't the most dependable backup media. Depending on how big your hard drive is and how much of that drive is full, your best bet for creating a system image is an external hard drive that you can attach via a USB port. You need something with enough storage space to copy the entire contents of your drive.
 
If you use the recovery media to restore your system, it overwrites everything currently on the drive which means you lose any software that was installed since you bought it. You will need to have install disks to reinstall that software. It will also overwrite any data you have created which is why you need to keep your data backed up.

With a system image, the system can be restored back to exactly how it was when the image was created. Think of it as taking a picture of the contents of your drive at that moment in time.

Flash drives aren't the most dependable backup media. Depending on how big your hard drive is and how much of that drive is full, your best bet for creating a system image is an external hard drive that you can attach via a USB port. You need something with enough storage space to copy the entire contents of your drive.

Thank you for the detailed explanation, i get the idea now. The system recovery media will bring the system back to its original state.

I did a windows backup after being prompted to do so by several pop-ups. At one stage, i check a box which says something about creating a system image as well so i guess i have done so. This backup is in my another partition since i haven't got a HDD yet. I don't see a purpose doing a backup in another partition since i will not be able to assess it when serious problems occur. Or maybe there are cases where only certain partitions, usually the C-drive needs to be formatted and others remain, so perhaps it will work in this case.
 
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