Recovery d drive storing program files (86) and is almost full.

That's OK, Sharon.


If this is all new to you it's bound to be confusing.

1. The System drive contains your boot files and should not be touched.
2. The C drive is used for Windows, your installed programs and your personal data.
3. The D drive is your HP recovery partition and should not be used for installing programs or storing personal data.
4. The HP Tools drive contains HP's utilities to assist you in looking after your computer and once again should not be used for anything else.
5. Uninstall anything you have installed to the D drive then re-install it to your C drive.
6. Once you've done that, we'll walk you through creating a set of recovery discs.
7. Next, we'll help you create a backup. The only drive you should be backing up is your C drive at present.

Cool, that's a relief:). I have looked at the HP set up manager and think I can see where to create the recovery discs. I want to do it on the external drive as I have no discs but have already used this for the 'windows back up and restore'. Should I delete this informations first from the external drive?

seavixen32 said:

theog said:

You may like to have look at those tutorials:
System Image Recovery
Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
Restore Backup User and System Files

   Information

We always assume you have made your Recovery Disks using the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Media Creator app the first day you had your new PC.

& made the Startup Repair CD.
startup repair disc-create

Did you make the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disks?

How to use HP Recovery:
Recover Windows 7 Operating System Using HP Recovery - HP Customer Care (United States - English)
Performing an HP System Recovery in Windows 7 - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

How to make HP Recovery DVD disks:
Recover Windows Vista Operating System Using HP Recovery - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

How to make HP Recovery USB disk:
Creating a Recovery Disk on a USB Flash Disk HP Pavilion dv6700z CTO Entertainment Notebook PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

or
You can Order HP Recovery Disks from here:
Compaq Mini CQ10-500 PC series*-* HP Notebook PCs - Order Recovery Discs for Windows 7, Vista, or XP - c00810334 - HP Business Support Center

Theog gave you all the information possible to get you out of trouble, have you looked at any of it?

I must repeat, you should be using your C drive for installing your applications and storing your personal data, and not your D drive, which is there to allow you to recover your system to its factory state.

You obviously haven't created any recovery discs and if you're not careful you're going to corrupt your recovery partition.

Please take your time to read through the information we've given you then post back with any questions so that we can give you good help.

Sharon, once again, please use the links above to show you how to create your recovery discs.

You cannot use your external hard drive for this task.

Recovery discs are used to recover your system to its out-of-box factory state.

An external hard drive can be used for a system image backup and/or personal data back up, it cannot be used for a factory restore.

You cannot burn recovery DVDs to an external drive. How much space do you have on your external? Your best choice is to create a Windows Image Backup on your external drive after deleting the previous data through backup and restore. Then rename the WindowsImageBackup folder on the external drive to WindowsImageBackup_Restore or something so it doesn't get overwritten later. When you are able to buy DVDs, you can then burn your factory restore discs. But at least with the image backup, if something happens between now and then, you have a restore image to return to.

I don't have recovery DVD's. Here is what is on my external drive already, so I think I've already done one part. Now I need to create the discs via the HP set up manager. Does that sound correct? My external drive has 270 GB free, so I'm not sure if that will be enough space.

The WindowsImageBackup you have there is of your old configuration. You would restore everything back to having your programs installed on the incorrect drive. You need to go into your drive, delete WindowsImageBackup (accepting all dialogs that pop up), and then make a new WindowsImageBackup of where your computer is today by using backup and restore. Then go into your drive, right click on WindowsImageBackup, click rename, accept the dialog box, and rename your backup as WindowsImageBackupRecovery so it is not overwritten on subsequent backups.

Edit: You then need to BUY DVDs to create your recovery discs using the HP utility. I would recommend doing this ASAP, but at least with the above image stored, you could restore your computer from it if something happened between now and when you are able to buy your DVDs. You cannot use the HP utility to backup the recovery discs onto your hard drive without third party software for emulating a DVD burner, which is probably beyond the scope of this thread.

Recover Windows Vista Operating System Using HP Recovery - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

Create a set of operating system recovery discs
HP Recovery Manager allows you to create a personal set of recovery discs. When you select the Recovery disc creation process, the HP Recovery Manager examines the PC and determines how many blank DVD discs will be required. Depending on the model, you will need up to ten or more CD-R or CD+R discs, or up to three DVD-R or DVD+R discs. The creation process can take up to an hour or more. Do not interrupt the creation process.
CAUTION:The discs must be either CD-R, DVD-R, or DVD+R. Do not use CD-R/W or DVD-R/W read/write type discs because the creation process will fail.
Create a set of operating system recovery discs by following the steps below.
Click Start and enter Recovery in the search field. Select Recovery Manager from the list to open the HP Recovery Manager window. Allow the action to continue, if prompted.
Alternately, click Start , All Programs , Recovery Manager , and then Recovery Manager . Allow the action to continue, if prompted.
Click Advanced options , Recovery disc creation , and then click Next .
The program will appear to pause for about ten minutes while it examines the computer and calculates how many DVD-R or DVD+R discs are needed.
When prompted, put a blank disc in the optical disc drive and follow the on-screen instructions to create the recovery discs.
NOTE:If a disc is inserted before the Insert Disc prompt appears, and the Recovery Manager does not recognize the new disc, press OK to clear the error message, then eject and re-insert the blank disc. In the event that this happens, no data loss will occur nor will the computer be damaged. It simply "pauses" the recovery process until the Recovery Manager can identify the blank disc.
After all of the recovery discs are created, label the discs and store them in a safe place. If the recovery discs fail during the creation or become corrupted, you can order replacement recovery discs from HP.

Your advice has been invaluable. Thanks to everbody who has helped me to figure all this it. It's greately appreciated

Sharon.