Cannot access HP recovery (F11) after using Macrium Reflect

Hi, previously I used Macrium Reflect to do an image of my HP laptop's hard disk, and yesterday, i tried to recover using the image, everything was successful, however, I cannot access the recovery partition anymore. Pressing F11 while booting does not boot into Recovery Manager anymore like it previously did, instead it went straight into booting windows... and i tried to access the folders inside the recovery partition, it says that the files are corrupted and unreadable... does it mean that i cannot do a full recovery using the recovery partition anymore?

Maybe this will help?

https://www.sevenforums.com/installat...-run-boot.html

when i flagged it as active and reboot, it just stops at a screen with a flashing text cursor... it won't continue on to launch the recovery manager... when i tried to open the folders in the recovery partition, it says that the files are corrupt and unreadable, and after i reboot one more time, chkdsk will auto run, and then the whole recovery partition changes from 0GB free to 15.7GB free.. alot of files inside the recovery partition went missing... and the worst thing is, there is no HP Backup and Recovery Manager installed, and there is not even a single link to download the recovery manager...

HP's have the worst load of factory crapware and useless duplicate utilities that have better versions built into Win7. Most tech enthusiasts would never run this install but instead Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Try running HP Diagnostics by tapping the F2 key from boot and if it won't run from it's partition then you can delete all partitions during Custom install.

bigmck said:

This sounds to me as if when you did the Macrium backup, you did not backup the Recovery Partition. When you restored, it was overwritten on the HD. Do you know for a fact that the Recovery Partition had a check mark to be backed up?

Yes, I asked opinions from other users in this forum before I did the macrium imaging, they told me to include all 3 partitions, the SYSTEM partition, the C:\ and the D:\ (HP_Recovery)... but when i tried to do an image restore, two folders inside the HP_Recovery partition went corrupt and became unreadable...

gregrocker said:

HP's have the worst load of factory crapware and useless duplicate utilities that have better versions built into Win7. Most tech enthusiasts would never run this install but instead Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Try running HP Diagnostics by tapping the F2 key from boot and if it won't run from it's partition then you can delete all partitions during Custom install.

i would also like to do a clean install, but because I purchased this laptop from my school, it contains software that I require in my studies, for example, a fully activated Office 2010 Pro Plus. If I do a clean install, I would be kissing those softwares goodbye! Those are not cheap to purchase...

It's best not to image the Recovery partition since it can lose it's hotlink or encounter other problems like you have.

If you did not make your Recov disks you can also order them from HP Tech Support if you want the bloated factory preinstall: HP Factory Recovery

You can always reinstall Software using it's disk or installer often available on the program's Support Downloads webpage. Ask your school how to obtain the Office installer for your version - they must have provisions for this in case the OS becomes unbootable or HD dies.

All Product Keys should be backed up at all times. You can audit them now using Belarc Advisor

my Office 2010 Pro Plus was activated with a MAK key, I've tried Belarc and ProduKey to get the product keys, but the key they retrieved are non valid keys... therefore I can't backup the product keys...

Your school must have provisions for reinstall for if the OS or HD fails.

We don't just go by blind luck on these things. If you own a copy of the OS and software then you own a key which can be reinstalled along with the software. If your school sold you the laptop then they are required by law to provide the OS and software keys to prove they are genuine.