Recovery partion "D". What do I do with it?

[mtbarbee]

Hi folks. I have a question that i cant seem to find the answer to. I am ready to install Win7 on my HP Pavillion that came with a recovery partition that is the D drive. I should not need this any more since it would take me back to the factory state with Vista if I was to use it after Win7 install. How do I get rid of it? Will the new install give me the option to delete it? Or would Win7 make its own recovery partition if needed? I plan to do the custom installation by wiping the C drive clean. When I am at that state can I delete both? Thanks in advance from a new forum user and hope to be perusing this place alot in future. Also, I just ran a full back up to 10 DVDs for music, photos, vids, etc. Would I need the recovery partition to re-install these items? That is something that very much concerns me.

 

[sup3rsprt]

Yes I think you will be able to delete it during installation. Or perhaps try to delete it before installation by using Disk Management.

 

[whs]

Make sure you burn the Vista installation DVDs from the recovery partition. It takes 3 DVDs. Just in case you ever want/need to reinstall your Vista.
For your files on the DVDs, you do not need the recovery partition. Just make sure the DVDs work. An external disk or a bigger USB stick would have been a better deal for backup.

 

[sup3rsprt]

Also, I just ran a full back up to 10 DVDs for music, photos, vids, etc. Would I need the recovery partition to re-install these items? That is something that very much concerns me.

No, the recovery partition is pretty much useless except for what whs pointed out.

 

[gregrocker]

You can create your own primary Recovery partition after installing Win7 by using it's excellent Backup Imaging utlity to save an image there which can reimage your HDD in 15 minutes flawlessly, making reinstalls never again necessary.

Be sure to back up the image to an external drive in case of HDD failure.

 

[Wii Master 64]

I have a recovery partition on my machine as well (it never came with a recovery disk or driver disk or anything), how do you burn a partition to a disk?

 

[gregrocker]

I have a recovery partition on my machine as well (it never came with a recovery disk or driver disk or anything), how do you burn a partition to a disk?

If you are asking how to burn recovery disks from that recovery partition, you need to look through your Program files to find the utility which does this. Check programs under the manufacturer's name, Recovery, make recovery disks, etc.

If you cannot find these after a thorough search and read of your manuals, call your manufacturer's tech support to ask how to do it.

 

[mtbarbee]

thanks so much for the quick replies. That was the only question keeping me from installing Win7. Gonna pull that trigger this a.m. see ya guys soon nuff!

 

[whs]

On many makes of PCs, you can type RECOVERY into the start/search field and "Recovery Disk Creation" will turn up. This is the wizard which will guide you. Have 3 DVDs handy.

 

[noyb]

I have a recovery partition on my machine as well (it never came with a recovery disk or driver disk or anything), how do you burn a partition to a disk?

For a HP/Compaq .. look in Programs >> PC Help n Tools ... (Or something like this) ..
And find the recovery DVD creator.

 

[Wii Master 64]

Well, I erased Windows.old a couple of days ago, and I never knew how to do this before, so I never transferred over the program that creates recovery disks. So, it got blown away.

 

[gregrocker]

Use Win7 backup imaging to create a backup image of your HDD stored externally and you will never have to reinstall either anyway. Just boot into the Win7 installer repair console and recover using the image in 15 minutes.

If you ever do need the old recov disks, order them then, or borrow a Vista disk which will work as well.

 

[Wii Master 64]

Unfortunately, I don't have an external hard drive.

 

[gregrocker]

The next best thing then is to create a primary formatted partition and have Win7 Backup imaging save the image there. Then if you need to reimage your HDD, just boot from the WIn7 installer or repair disk, choose "Recover using an image" and your HDD will be reimaged flawlessly in 15 minutes.

The risk without an external backup is if your HDD fails and the image isn't detectable by WIn7 repair console. But you can do that later when you get an external, or use multiple DVD's (RW will allow you to refresh image periodically) or even save the image to another location on your network.

 

[noyb]

Unfortunately, I don't have an external hard drive.

There are only two types of Computers made nowadays ...
Those that have got corrupted, or crashed .. And those that will.

Depending on which one you have ... You will probably wish you had got one.

 

[Wii Master 64]

How much do they cost? I'm saving up for other things at the moment...

 

[Darryl Licht]

thanks so much for the quick replies. That was the only question keeping me from installing Win7. Gonna pull that trigger this a.m. see ya guys soon nuff!

Well mt, how'd it go? We havent seen you for a few days, please tell us your experience...

 

[noyb]

How much do they cost? I'm saving up for other things at the moment...

I build my own.
I get an Enclosure .. Something like one of These ...
Put a HDD of my choice in it .. Maybe This or This ..
And top it off with some good Backup Software.

There's a big advantage of being able to get to the HDD in the enclosure.