How does system recovery work

was thinking of upgrading from vista homepre to win7 homepre and was curious how system recovery works. Do I need to keep my partitioned space on my HD for vista? then if I need to recover I re-install vista then re-upgrade. Or, will a new partion be created/ current partition be upgraded as well?

Also I have an HP dv6910us any known isusses with upgrades? I have been pretty confidant that I would update untill I came to this forum and begun to read all the issues people are having with a non-clean install

You can get a clean install using upgrade by choosing Custom install which will wipe out the Vista installation as soon as it verifies it's license, then install Windows 7 fresh in that space, moving your files to a windows.old folder where you can easily redistribute them (then delete that ginormous file). This is pretty close to a clean install compared to the upgrade install, which also overwrites the Vista after saving your programs, settings and files, then replaces them after installing Windows 7 where the Vista was. I have about equal luck with both methods using Win7 for six months now.

There is a fantastic new feature in Win7 that allows you to make a Backup image of your Hard Drive (even a dual boot) in about 20 minutes saving the image to the place of your choice, which is then available to reimage your HDD from the OS or booting from Repair/Install Disk if it is unbootable. This is the way you would want to go to recover your Windows 7 installation without having to reinstall Vista and upgrade over it. It even saves your activation.

On each of our computers, I have the Image Backup utility tell me how much disk space it needs, then create a slightly larger primary partition, save the image to that Partition (which it views as a drive) where it is easily discoverable to reimage the entire HDD. Then I copy that Image Backup to an external drive in case the HDD fails, in which case you boot from your Win7 installer/repair disk, Repair My Computer>Image from Backup and your new drive is re-imaged in about 20 minutes. Flawless!

Hi Linden5150

1)Your recovery partition will NOT BE UPGRDED

2)download the win7 Upgrade Advisor.

thanks for the help gregrocker !

Now let me make sure i understand this clearly, either way I decided to go my original partition will be deleted? and in its place i should create a hard drive image?

which is better, to upgrade or custom install (not clean) I purchased the student upgrade promo and am not sure what the advantages would be to ado a custom as opposed to a regular upgrade.

Hi Linden and welcome to the SevenForums.

I assume you are talking about a HP Recovery Partition on your laptop. It contains your original OS (Vista Home Premium) and the bundled drivers and software to allow system recovery to factory defaults. This partition contains also a tool to create a DVD / CD recovery set, allowing you to burn these files to discs. This Recovery Disc Creator only works once, allowing you to burn just one set of discs. The reason ,as so often, is copyright regulations; OS and software makers don't want to give you the right to make several installation sets. There's no really working and legal way to bypass this.

When you install Win7, the recovery partition stays there but becomes useless, you can not boot to Recovery Options (F10 or F11, depending on the model) anymore.

So I really recommend you to use this Recovery Disc Creator before you upgrade your computer with Seven. Burning the discs means you can always go back to the factory defaults if something happens.

Kari

ok thanks for the info Kari, I will be making some back up discs tonight after school. once I installed 7 should I then unpartition the space ? is this possible(no need to go in depth here as I wont be upgrading untill next week) I know gregrocker recomended then making a hd image and transporting this to an external HD do you recomend? My real question is what happens if I experience a problem with my system and need to recover, I would then use the HD image, or, insert original vista backup and re-upgrade to windows 7?

also you have any preference in an upgrade or custom upgrade?

If you search these forums or the net, you'll find 99 % of users tell you to do a clean install. I am one of those weird but happy upgraders. At home and at work I have several HP's, desktops and laptops, and I have noticed everything works better after an upgrade installation.

But you have to understand my version of "upgrading" is a little bit different. You could almost say it is a half clean installation; I erase all data on Vista computer, make then a recovery to factory defaults, afterwards I let Windows update the Vista to the point where Windows Update tells me Windows is up to date. Then, before installing any software i.e. when the computer has only the factory defaults plus Windows updates, I do a Seven upgrade installation.

This method has surprised me positively. All HP's I've updated are working like a dream. No blue screens, no crashes, no problems. All the drivers are working. Shortly, I never believed computing can be so easy and fun.

The above is my subjective opinion. To find more pros and cons, you can read about clean vs. upgrade here and about my own experience here.

Kari

In your case, I would do an upgrade of your Vista to see how it works and then test drive it to make sure it is what you want, fast with no hangs. If not, you can always resinsert the disk and do a Custom install which overwrites the OS while moving your files to windows.old for redistribution. But you have to reinstall your programs with Custom so that alone is a good reason to try Upgrade first. With Vista you could also do a Custom upgrade to a formatted second partition which is an even cleaner install - it remains to be seen if that will work with Win7, but you can always try it.

About your recovery partition: After you make those disks, I would delete that recovery partition which is useless after Win7 upgrade. In some cases, the partition cannot be deleted in Disk Management or even using free utilities like Easeus or Partition Pro (bootable). There is a diskpart override command to achieve this from the command line. After you upgrade with Win7, you can then create a new recovery partition to the size needed for a WIndow 7 Imaging backup and save it there. Just be sure to make a copy to an external in case you should lose your HDD, since a new HDD can easily be imaged by booting from your Repair/Install disk.

Important: If the recovery partition you are grappling with is the FIRST partition, then it contains the boot and will require some additional steps to recover the boot (Startup Repair) and move your Vista>Win7 partition into that space to the left (Easeus, Partition Pro). I have been doing all of this quite a lot lately so will check your progress here.

Thanks for the help (exp the hot link to those threads, I have been searching and couldn't find it) I apreciate the quick responses and I will be sure to update in the future

ok I created a set of recovery dvds (3 actually) and deleted the old partition I just have one question how do I know If the recovery cds will work? is there any way to test them?

Linden5150 said:

ok I created a set of recovery dvds (3 actually) and deleted the old partition I just have one question how do I know If the recovery cds will work? is there any way to test them?

Click to expand...

You can put DVD's one by one to a DVD drive and open them in Explorer. The first disc is bootable, you can also boot your laptop from that but be careful not to start recovery process accidentally.

Take care of your recovery discs, label them for example Recovery 1,2 and 3 and put them in aa safe place. They can be important!

Kari

Ok I opened them all and they all contain some sort of information


Thanks again for your help Kari

I'm always a proponent of keeping the factory recovery partition, just in case. It usually isn't very large and if HP stores the factory image as a .wim (windows image file), then the recovery partition is not useless and the system can be restored to the factory shipped state with just that one file along with imagex. This is true no matter what has been done to the C:\OS partition as long as you have the .wim file, imagex and can boot into some sort of recovery environment (BartPE, VistaPE, System Rescue CD, etc.).

So...does anyone know whether current HPs use a .wim file for recovery?
Tom

Remember that those recovery disks have all the bloatware on them that most tech enthusiasts work hard to get off their new machines. In fact, since Norton and Office trial (for example) create system file corruption when removed, laced throughout the registry like a virus, most techies I know locate an OEM copy of their OS and do a clean install. Previously manufacturers would provide a clean copy but now profit margins are so thin they need to enforce their sponsors' bloatware so it is almost impossible to get one from them or even access to apps like Works which are truly valuable - they must be located elsewhere, while important drivers are posted on the machine's download page. This method of clean install is the only way to know for sure you have the cleanest possible install, FYI.

Manufacturers tech reps are trained now to dissuade us from trying a clean reinstall, most saying that it will void the tech support (but not hardware) warranty. So I do not tell them that I am working on a clean install from OEM disk. For this reason, it is good to have their recovery disks handy in case you need their support for a reinstall to bloaty factory condition. Better yet to learn the true clean install process so the machine is truly yours and not bloated out by a bunch of paid sponsors.

zrtom said:

I'm always a proponent of keeping the factory recovery partition, just in case. It usually isn't very large and if HP stores the factory image as a .wim (windows image file), then the recovery partition is not useless and the system can be restored to the factory shipped state with just that one file along with imagex. This is true no matter what has been done to the C:\OS partition as long as you have the .wim file, imagex and can boot into some sort of recovery environment (BartPE, VistaPE, System Rescue CD, etc.).

So...does anyone know whether current HPs use a .wim file for recovery?
Tom

Click to expand...

Zrtom:
I just want to ask what makes you doubt what I've told here earlier? What makes you to tell the OP something that has nothing to do with HP computers, something what in this case is only BS?

Linden:
Please try to forget you ever saw this post from zrtom. HP Recovery Partition only works when original boot data is intact; after installing Win7 or any other non-OEM OS it is absolutely, completely useless.

You have done the right thing by creating the recovery disc set. I also see no harm done deleting the recovery partition because, as already told earlier it is useless after installing other than original OEM operating system.

I still hope people could learn the check their facts before posting.

gregrocker said:

Remember that those recovery disks have all the bloatware on them that most tech enthusiasts work hard to get off their new machines. In fact, since Norton and Office trial (for example) create system file corruption when removed, laced throughout the registry like a virus, most techies I know locate an OEM copy of their OS and do a clean install. Previously manufacturers would provide a clean copy but now profit margins are so thin they need to enforce their sponsors' bloatware so it is almost impossible to get one from them or even access to apps like Works which are truly valuable - they must be located elsewhere, while important drivers are posted on the machine's download page. This method of clean install is the only way to know for sure you have the cleanest possible install, FYI.

Manufacturers tech reps are trained now to dissuade us from trying a clean reinstall, most saying that it will void the tech support (but not hardware) warranty. So I do not tell them that I am working on a clean install from OEM disk. For this reason, it is good to have their recovery disks handy in case you need their support for a reinstall to bloaty factory condition. Better yet to learn the true clean install process so the machine is truly yours and not bloated out by a bunch of paid sponsors.

Click to expand...

The method I told earlier is the only one to burn HP recovery discs. There's nothing a user can do not to burn this "bloatware", too.

Kari

^^^ yeah I feel the same way I have had a seperate XP machine for like 6 years and never had to use the recovery option, I mostly use my computers for school, home entertainment, and surfing the web, and, I never download things. So the relative risk of my system's OS failing is really really low. I feel good . . . . just trying to prepare for the upgrade next week and if all fails maybe I will just have to buy a new machine

Linden, just to clarify: I don't mean you can delete the recovery partition because it's not probable your computer will crash. On the contrary, I think maintaining recovery options is important.

My point was and is you don't need the recovery partition because A) you created the disc set, and B) because you told you are going to install Win 7 which automatically makes your recovery partition useless.

It's always good to have a backup plan. Your recovery disc set is just that.

Kari

Kari said:

Linden, just to clarify: I don't mean you can delete the recovery partition because it's not probable your computer will crash. On the contrary, I think maintaining recovery options is important.

My point was and is you don't need the recovery partition because A) you created the disc set, and B) because you told you are going to install Win 7 which automatically makes your recovery partition useless.

It's always good to have a backup plan. Your recovery disc set is just that.

Kari

Click to expand...

Exactly

Kari,
Sorry. I was out of line.
I didn't mean to discredit your good advice on this case.
I babbled on and on about restoring a factory image at the wrong place and at the wrong time.
Really, my question was whether current HPs have a factory.wim hidden somewhere in the recovery partition.
Tom

zrtom said:

Kari,
Sorry. I was out of line.
I didn't mean to discredit your good advice on this case.
I babbled on and on about restoring a factory image at the wrong place and at the wrong time.
Really, my question was whether current HPs have a factory.wim hidden somewhere in the recovery partition.
Tom

Click to expand...

No problem, mate. I was really out of line with my response. Hopefully everything is OK.

No, HP doesn't use .wim.

Kari