[DKTaber]

Have a friend with a really screwed up hard drive; need to reformat C: and do a clean Win XP reinstall. Am not familiar with the way HP sets up their computers with C: and D: partitions, the D: partition being the "recovery" partition. I first thought I could use that to restore the HD to what was there when the computer was purchased in 2005, but it appears that the only items in the recovery partition are the original application programs and drivers -- no Windows OS.

So, my first question is, have I missed/am not seeing that Windows IS on the recovery partition and that running the recovery program will wipe C: clean and reinstall everything INCLUDING Windows XP. . . or will it just reinstall the original applications and drivers, but leave everything else as is?

2nd question: If the recovery partition does not include Windows, will I encounter any problems if I reformat C: to wipe it clean and reinstall XP from a genuine MS Win XP CD, then use the recovery partition to reinstall the original applications and drivers?

3rd question: The original OS was actually Windows Media Center, but this person uses her computer only for e-mail and the Internet, so I see no reason to put WMC back on; Win XP Home should be all she needs. Is that a valid conclusion, or is the hardware set up to expect WMC XP instead of plain ol' XP Home and we will have problems if we install the latter and then load the drivers from the recovery partition?

[ozrom1e]

The best solution to this is to contact Compaq/HP and order new recovery disk set for this model computer they will arrive in the mail and cost less than you can imagine.

HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - Obtaining a Recovery CD or DVD set
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...cname=bph07143

[DKTaber]

Originally Posted by ozrom1e

The best solution to this is to contact Compaq/HP and order new recovery disk set for this model computer they will arrive in the mail and cost less than you can imagine.

HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - Obtaining a Recovery CD or DVD set
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...cname=bph07143

After roaming around from the site above, I did find the following on HP's Web site:

"To perform a destructive recovery, click Advanced , (select Destructive Recovery ) and then click Next .
CAUTION: A destructive recovery will format the hard drive. This will delete all the information on the hard drive and reinstall Windows XP and the original software that came with the computer."

It also indicates that you can create your own CD's from the recovery partition. Based on the above, I am assuming that the CD's so created will contain the OS. The reason I'm so apprehensive about this is that, due to my 3-yr.-old XP machine having a problem booting, I was forced to hurriedly purchase a new computer. It was an HP Pavilion with (ugh!) Vista (could not get XP). I fixed the XP computer 3 weeks later and have not used the Vista machine since (in fact, it will be advertised for sale this weekend). But I distinctly remember investigating the creation of recovery disks on that machine, and it clearly said that the recovery partition would restore the applications and drivers, but NOT Vista. In my mind, then, calling it a "recovery" partition is a fallacy, and when you have problems with Vista (which is a virtual certainty), you would have to purchase a copy in order to reinstall it from scratch. Real bummer.