"no recovery discs" question

[mycfs]

Hi all,
Not sure if this is the right forum to ask this question but if not maybe the admin can move it.
I'm considering buying a computer on Ebay and I'm confused about something.Can someone clear this up for me? I see that alot of computers are being sold with an OS loaded but no recovery discs. Let's say I buy a used computer and it is sold to me without any recovery/driver/OS discs. If the harddrive dies,do I now have an expensive doorstop?Will I have to go out and buy a new copy of windows and then figure out where to get all my drivers, or do I just need to make sure I make recovery discs as soon as I get the computer and will the discs I make have the OS,drivers,apps on them? Even if I make recovery discs doesnt it ask you to put a serial # in at some point?
Any help is appreciated, thanks GG.

 

[A True Folder]

Depending on the age and brand of the laptop some come with a hidden partition that you can make Recovery Disks from. These restore your laptop to "factory condition" so all the OS, drivers, apps etc that came with it new will be on them.

If you do not have disks and the drive dies then yes you will need to buy a copy of Windows and find all your laptops drivers.

Recovery disks do not ask for a serial as the OS is OEM, if you're worried about losing your serial then use Magic Jellybean Keyfinder to extract it from the OS as soon as you get the pc (not that it will work with any OS other than OEM of course)

 

[root]

if you want to make a backup you can do as A true folder has said and extract the key, (though then you have to find a disc from somewhere else).

you may also look at some software like Ghost, or Acronis, that'll let you take an image of the PC (with all the programs installed) to make for a muh speedier recovery. (takes less time to restore an acronis image than it does to install the OS fresh, and you have all applications installed as well!)