System Recovery

Should your system fail or become corrupted, you have options. You might be able to recover your system from the recovery partition on the hard disk drive, from a recovery disc you made before the system failed, or from the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system (OS) disc included with your computer.

Recovery methods are described here, after the instructions for making your own recovery disc.

Making a System Recovery Disc

One of the first things you should do when you purchase a new computer is make a system recovery disc. This disc can be used in the event of a system crash where your system stops working altogether, or if your system becomes corrupted. If this happens, and you do not have a recovery disc, it may be impossible to recover your system.

With this procedure, you create a disc from the recovery image on your hard disk drive. This image contains the operating system and software files originally installed on your computer at the factory.

Creating the recovery file

First you create a recovery file that you record, or burn, to a disc.

1Click the Windows Vista start button, and then click All Programs.
2Click HP Tools and Support, and then click Create Recovery DVD.

A window opens, showing a progress bar. The creation process can take up to 15 minutes.

A .iso file, VDRS.iso, is created on your desktop.

Recording the recovery file to disc—method one

There are two methods for writing the VDRS.iso file to disc. This first method takes a little longer, but it allows for write verification, so it ensures that your disc works and that the data is verified.

1Click the Windows Vista start button, and then click All Programs.

2Click CyberLink Power2Go, and then click Power2Go.

3In the Disc Type field, select DVD, and then click OK. The Power2Go window opens.

4In the Select Source field, find and select the VDRS.iso file.

5In the main menu at the top of the window, select Burning, and then click Burn Disc Image.

A Burn Disc Image window opens.

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