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

[seavixen32]

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.

 

[whs]

Your Recovery partition D: looks OK now. It should have at least 10% free space, but the 9% is oK too. It will just show in red in Computer because the free space is less than 10%. But that does not hurt anything - it is just an eyesore. Just make sure nothing gets written on D: again.

This must be an HP PC. They always cut the recovery partition very tight.

 

[sharonyoung]

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]

You may like to have look at those tutorials:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html?ltr=S
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/648-restore-backup-user-system-files.html

   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.

 

[writhziden]

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.

 

[sharonyoung]

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.

 

[seavixen32]

Sharon, I don't think you're understanding us.

You cannot use your external hard drive to create a recovery disc - for this job you need some blank writable discs.

A hard drive can be used for a system image backup, which is different to a system restore backup.

Please take the time to click on and read the links we have given you on more than one occasion for the correct way of creating a set of recovery discs.

 

[writhziden]

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.

 

[theog]

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.

 

[sharonyoung]

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

Sharon.

 

[whs]

Sharon, two things:

1. Get a couple of DVD-R's to burn the recovery disks. They cost pennies.

2. For imaging, I recommend not to use the Windows7 imaging. Too difficult to handle (e.g. for multiple images) and not reliable if you do not know exactly what you are doing. I suggest you use free Macrium. That is straight forward, has more options and is very reliable. Here is a tutorial I made by which you can go: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html?ltr=I

 

[seavixen32]

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

Sharon.

It's not a problem.

We would rather tell you a hundred times and get a right result than tell you once and get it totally wrong.

 

[writhziden]

If you decide you would rather use Windows Image backup, there is a good tutorial written by Brink. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html

Edit: Not to step on your toes, WHS. Just wanted her to know since some users on here seem to prefer not installing third party software to do things Windows is able to do.

 

[whs]

If you decide you would rather use Windows Image backup, there is a good tutorial written by Brink. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html

Edit: Not to step on your toes, WHS. Just wanted her to know since some users on here seem to prefer not installing third party software to do things Windows is able to do.

That's OK. But many members had problems with the Windows imaging - and others love it. All I say is that there are better solutions than Windows Imaging - especially for those that are not very geeky.

 

[karlsnooks]

I 100% recommend. I 100% standbehind, I use, exclusively, Windows Backup.

Windows Backup is marvelous.

An idiot can always mess up the most wonderful piece of software and we see our fair share of them.

The tutorial referenced is excellent. Any questions you may have regarding using Win 7 Backup and Restore tutorial will be promptly and accurately answered by Brink.

There can be nothing simpler than 1 click to choose system image backup and then responding to the prompts.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html

 

[whs]

Karl, it is beyond me how you can be a fan of such a piece of crummy software. But everybody is entitled to his own opinion - and I respect that.

 

[karlsnooks]

I am a a great fan of a great piece of software.

You do not do yourself justice by bad-mouthing products.

 

[whs]

I am a a great fan of a great piece of software.

You do not do yourself justice by bad-mouthing products.

I am really never badmouthing good products. After 35 years of software development under my belt, I think I can tell good software from lesser products.

And as far as Windows imaging goes, besides all kinds of problems I encountered myself (and I have really been trying hard), the product has very few function and is difficult to operate if you want to do anything but the very basic function.

If you take Marcrium, Paragon, Acronis, Ghost and a lot of others, they are far superior - and I have tried/used most of them.

 

[karlsnooks]

I don't like to brag but I've got more than 35 years.

Knowledge is one factor.

Incidentally, I've used all of the products you mentioned.

Have a nice day.