D:Recovery folder is missing

[roving]

I have a 2 year-old HP desktop and a 9 month-old HP laptop. Desktop came with Vista, and laptop with Win 7 64. Yesterday I finally got around to making Recovery disks for the laptop, which worked perfectly. I then went to the desktop unit and tried to do so and found that the D: Recovery folder that I remembered it having originally was not there and the C: drive now shows "C-HP(C)", D: drive is now Programs, etc. There is no recovery partition anymore. Attempts to make Recovery Disks just takes me to links to HP for finding such disks, and a futile search because of the missing D:Recovery folder. I did install (upgrade) to Win 7 32 when it first became available last Oct. Is this the reason for the change and loss of the D:Recovery folder? Is my only 'recovery' option the using of the Win 7 upgrade disk? Your thoughts and information appreciated.

 

[theog]

1) You can not make HP Vista Recovery disks from Windows 7.

2) When you install Windows 7 did install to D:?

 

[roving]

No, I installed it to C as I recall. It just was an upgrade to the Vista that was on C. I figure that Win 7 installation was the reason for the change that I just noted. No harm done, but wouldn't mind having a recovery disk if using the Win 7 upgrade disk isn't going to do the job.

 

[theog]

You could call HP for Recovery disk. (may be a postage fee)

OR

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html?ltr=C

 

[gregrocker]

If you will post up a screenshot of the folders in D: we can help you look for the Recovery image file which can be burned to DVD, backed up to later mount and run, etc. Unhide hidden files in Control Panel>Folder Options>View first. Use Snipping Tool in Start Menu. If you include a Disk Management drive map screenshot also, we can spot any other potential probs.

Recovery disks for your model can also be ordered from Gateway now or when needed, or you can use any Vista installer for your version which will activate with the Product Key stickered to the machine.

If your Recovery partition has been overwritten, once you determine if the image file is retrievable you can wipe the HD to do a clean reinstall of Win7 which should perform better than the in-place Upgrade over Vista with it's messy partitioning.

Finally, once you have Win7 running perfectly, save a Win7 backup image externally so you never have to reinstall again - just reimage the HD or a replacement in 15-20 minutes using the DVD Repair console or Repair CD.

 

[roving]

Fortunately Win 7 is working perfectly now. Fast start and quick close, etc. I was just wanting to beat Murphy's Law at some time in the future. Will follow your advice and do the backup image, which should cover me for future problems. I did my own partitioning of Win 7 install using Part Wizard. Thanks for your time and info!