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:
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.
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,
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
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