system image and system repair disc

To add to the confusion... :)
Here's a couple of scenarios and how you might use all these different disks.

1. Your computer is working just fine but you want to see if a previous system image you made really works.
(a) Connect your external USB hard drive to the computer (the external hard drive containing your system image.) In the start menu search box you can type backup and restore or you can open the control panel and click on backup and restore. Either one will take you to a dialog box where you can click on Recover system settings on your computer > Advanced recovery methods > Use a system image you created earlier to recover your computer. Follow the prompts to restore your machine to the system image.
(b) Or, connect your external USB hard drive to the computer (the external hard drive containing your system image.) Make sure you have your BIOS set to boot from CD/DVD drive as the first option. Insert your system repair disk into the CD/DVD tray and start your computer. Your machine will boot from the system repair disk, load a bunch of files, and eventually get you to a dialog box that gives you the option to restore your computer to a system image you made earlier.
(c) Or, connect your external USB hard drive to the computer (the external hard drive containing your system image.) Make sure you have your BIOS set to boot from CD/DVD drive as the first option. If you have an official Microsoft installation DVD you can start your computer and let it boot to that DVD. Select the repair option and you can use the option to restore to a system image.

After restoring to a system image always make sure you update Windows, your antivirus, and any other programs the get periodic updates.

2. Your computer is having problems and you NEED to use a system image to fix things. If you can boot your computer you can use any of the above options. But if you can't start your machine you'd have to use either 1(b) or 1(c) above.

3. If for some reason your system image becomes corrupt and won't work, or your external hard drive dies and you can't access it, you might then have to use your Factory Default 4-disk set. Again, your BIOS has to be set to boot from CD/DVD as first choice. Insert Disk # 1 into the CD/DVD tray and start your computer. Follow the prompts and simply change to Disk # 2, # 3 and # 4 when told to do so. Your machine should be returned to factory specs (just like it was the day you brought it home from the store.) Of course, you'd have to reinstall all your programs, applications, etc from scratch and make sure everything is updated including your Windows Updates and antivirus updates. For this reason a lot of people recommend making more than one system image on more than one external hard drive.

4. And yet another possibility is that your computer has a hidden recovery partition containing the exact same data that's on your 4-disk recovery set. This is usually accessed through the start menu providing your computer can still be started.

Hope this helps to clear things up a bit.

EDIT: Bill2 and I were typing at the same time. He's a lot faster on the keyboard than me so I apologize for repeating some of what he said. Sorry Bill!

Bill2 said:

dhu said:

Further question, if I may........

Upon starting up my new Home Premium 64-bit Windows 7, I was prompted to create Factory Default discs, which I did ( 4 discs in total ).
Yes, I know they are recovery discs.

I would likle to know how to use them.
Can I use them if my computer just won't boot at all ? If yes, how ?

Thank you.

Yes you can. If your computer doesnt boot at all and you decide its time to REINSTALL the OS, this is how you go about it:

1) The 4 recovery disks would be in a sequence. So insert the disk #1 in the tray/slot. If the optical drive is set as the first boot device, the computer will automatically boot from that or it may prompt you to press any key to boot from dvd.

2) if the computer is not set to boot from the optical drive first, press F12 (depending on brand it may be F9) to call the one time boot menu, select the cd drive there, hit Enter.

3) The computer will now boot from disk #1 and start the recovery process, follow any onscreen prompts. The computer will prompt you to insert the remaining 3 disks one by one.

marsmimar said:

To add to the confusion... :)
Here's a couple of scenarios and how you might use all these different disks.

1. Your computer is working just fine but you want to see if a previous system image you made really works.
(a) Connect your external USB hard drive to the computer (the external hard drive containing your system image.) In the start menu search box you can type backup and restore or you can open the control panel and click on backup and restore. Either one will take you to a dialog box where you can click on Recover system settings on your computer > Advanced recovery methods > Use a system image you created earlier to recover your computer. Follow the prompts to restore your machine to the system image.
(b) Or, connect your external USB hard drive to the computer (the external hard drive containing your system image.) Make sure you have your BIOS set to boot from CD/DVD drive as the first option. Insert your system repair disk into the CD/DVD tray and start your computer. Your machine will boot from the system repair disk, load a bunch of files, and eventually get you to a dialog box that gives you the option to restore your computer to a system image you made earlier.
(c) Or, connect your external USB hard drive to the computer (the external hard drive containing your system image.) Make sure you have your BIOS set to boot from CD/DVD drive as the first option. If you have an official Microsoft installation DVD you can start your computer and let it boot to that DVD. Select the repair option and you can use the option to restore to a system image.

After restoring to a system image always make sure you update Windows, your antivirus, and any other programs the get periodic updates.

2. Your computer is having problems and you NEED to use a system image to fix things. If you can boot your computer you can use any of the above options. But if you can't start your machine you'd have to use either 1(b) or 1(c) above.

3. If for some reason your system image becomes corrupt and won't work, or your external hard drive dies and you can't access it, you might then have to use your Factory Default 4-disk set. Again, your BIOS has to be set to boot from CD/DVD as first choice. Insert Disk # 1 into the CD/DVD tray and start your computer. Follow the prompts and simply change to Disk # 2, # 3 and # 4 when told to do so. Your machine should be returned to factory specs (just like it was the day you brought it home from the store.) Of course, you'd have to reinstall all your programs, applications, etc from scratch and make sure everything is updated including your Windows Updates and antivirus updates. For this reason a lot of people recommend making more than one system image on more than one external hard drive.

4. And yet another possibility is that your computer has a hidden recovery partition containing the exact same data that's on your 4-disk recovery set. This is usually accessed through the start menu providing your computer can still be started.

Hope this helps to clear things up a bit.

EDIT: Bill2 and I were typing at the same time. He's a lot faster on the keyboard than me so I apologize for repeating some of what he said. Sorry Bill!

Thank you to both Bill2 and marsmimar.
Your replies have been copied and pasted and printed for future reference. They will come in handy if such issues arise.

One question to marsmimar..........
>>>>
4. And yet another possibility is that your computer has a hidden recovery partition containing the exact same data that's on your 4-disk recovery set. This is usually accessed through the start menu providing your computer can still be started.

Found my " hidden " Recovery Partition, see screenshot......


My computer is Acer Aspire 7741Z.
How do I use the recovery partition instead of using the recovery discs ?

Not absolutely certain, but I think Acer's keyboard combination is Alt+F10 at start up to invoke the recovery procedure.

dhu said:

Bill2 said:

dhu said:

Further question, if I may........

Upon starting up my new Home Premium 64-bit Windows 7, I was prompted to create Factory Default discs, which I did ( 4 discs in total ).
Yes, I know they are recovery discs.

I would likle to know how to use them.
Can I use them if my computer just won't boot at all ? If yes, how ?

Thank you.

Yes you can. If your computer doesnt boot at all and you decide its time to REINSTALL the OS, this is how you go about it:

1) The 4 recovery disks would be in a sequence. So insert the disk #1 in the tray/slot. If the optical drive is set as the first boot device, the computer will automatically boot from that or it may prompt you to press any key to boot from dvd.

2) if the computer is not set to boot from the optical drive first, press F12 (depending on brand it may be F9) to call the one time boot menu, select the cd drive there, hit Enter.

3) The computer will now boot from disk #1 and start the recovery process, follow any onscreen prompts. The computer will prompt you to insert the remaining 3 disks one by one.

marsmimar said:

To add to the confusion... :)
Here's a couple of scenarios and how you might use all these different disks.

1. Your computer is working just fine but you want to see if a previous system image you made really works.
(a) Connect your external USB hard drive to the computer (the external hard drive containing your system image.) In the start menu search box you can type backup and restore or you can open the control panel and click on backup and restore. Either one will take you to a dialog box where you can click on Recover system settings on your computer > Advanced recovery methods > Use a system image you created earlier to recover your computer. Follow the prompts to restore your machine to the system image.
(b) Or, connect your external USB hard drive to the computer (the external hard drive containing your system image.) Make sure you have your BIOS set to boot from CD/DVD drive as the first option. Insert your system repair disk into the CD/DVD tray and start your computer. Your machine will boot from the system repair disk, load a bunch of files, and eventually get you to a dialog box that gives you the option to restore your computer to a system image you made earlier.
(c) Or, connect your external USB hard drive to the computer (the external hard drive containing your system image.) Make sure you have your BIOS set to boot from CD/DVD drive as the first option. If you have an official Microsoft installation DVD you can start your computer and let it boot to that DVD. Select the repair option and you can use the option to restore to a system image.

After restoring to a system image always make sure you update Windows, your antivirus, and any other programs the get periodic updates.

2. Your computer is having problems and you NEED to use a system image to fix things. If you can boot your computer you can use any of the above options. But if you can't start your machine you'd have to use either 1(b) or 1(c) above.

3. If for some reason your system image becomes corrupt and won't work, or your external hard drive dies and you can't access it, you might then have to use your Factory Default 4-disk set. Again, your BIOS has to be set to boot from CD/DVD as first choice. Insert Disk # 1 into the CD/DVD tray and start your computer. Follow the prompts and simply change to Disk # 2, # 3 and # 4 when told to do so. Your machine should be returned to factory specs (just like it was the day you brought it home from the store.) Of course, you'd have to reinstall all your programs, applications, etc from scratch and make sure everything is updated including your Windows Updates and antivirus updates. For this reason a lot of people recommend making more than one system image on more than one external hard drive.

4. And yet another possibility is that your computer has a hidden recovery partition containing the exact same data that's on your 4-disk recovery set. This is usually accessed through the start menu providing your computer can still be started.

Hope this helps to clear things up a bit.

EDIT: Bill2 and I were typing at the same time. He's a lot faster on the keyboard than me so I apologize for repeating some of what he said. Sorry Bill!

Thank you to both Bill2 and marsmimar.
Your replies have been copied and pasted and printed for future reference. They will come in handy if such issues arise.

One question to marsmimar..........
>>>>
4. And yet another possibility is that your computer has a hidden recovery partition containing the exact same data that's on your 4-disk recovery set. This is usually accessed through the start menu providing your computer can still be started.

Found my " hidden " Recovery Partition, see screenshot......


My computer is Acer Aspire 7741Z.
How do I use the recovery partition instead of using the recovery discs ?

I googled for an answer :

Acer Aspire System Recovery Partition
Acer Aspire System Recovery Partition

whs said:

Here is the whole Acer procedure - if that helps: ACER PC Restore to factory settings

Thank you for the link.
Will saved it for future use.