I have a four-year-old IBM desktop with XP Pro. It has a hidden
partition containing a copy of XP Pro and what is called the "Product
Recovery Program". I guess it is common nowadays that the vendor
provides a partition like that (instead of a Windows CD) for getting the
system software back to the factory-new state. I have used it once to
wipe and reinstall the system, and it worked fine.
The computer is out of warranty, so it seems that if the hard drive were
to go bad, I would lose the only copy of the OS and would have to pay
who knows how much for a Windows CD.
So I would like to set up a spare hard drive with a copy of that hidden
recovery partition. Can I do that with ordinary methods (disk
partitioning, file copying)? Is there a howto somewhere for this, or
can somebody offer some advice on the details?
Matt wrote:
> I have a four-year-old IBM desktop with XP Pro. It has a hidden
> partition containing a copy of XP Pro and what is called the "Product
> Recovery Program". I guess it is common nowadays that the vendor
> provides a partition like that (instead of a Windows CD) for getting
> the system software back to the factory-new state. I have used it
> once to wipe and reinstall the system, and it worked fine.
>
> The computer is out of warranty, so it seems that if the hard drive
> were to go bad, I would lose the only copy of the OS and would have
> to pay who knows how much for a Windows CD.
>
> So I would like to set up a spare hard drive with a copy of that
> hidden recovery partition. Can I do that with ordinary methods (disk
> partitioning, file copying)? Is there a howto somewhere for this, or
> can somebody offer some advice on the details?
Another one with backup-phobia I note!
Use Acronis True Image or Windows Backup and back up to an external hard
drive.
"Matt" <matt@themattfella.xxxyyz.com> wrote in message
news:bLJ_j.325$PD1.116@fe107.usenetserver.com...
>I have a four-year-old IBM desktop with XP Pro. It has a hidden partition
>containing a copy of XP Pro and what is called the "Product Recovery
>Program". I guess it is common nowadays that the vendor provides a
>partition like that (instead of a Windows CD) for getting the system
>software back to the factory-new state. I have used it once to wipe and
>reinstall the system, and it worked fine.
>
> The computer is out of warranty, so it seems that if the hard drive were
> to go bad, I would lose the only copy of the OS and would have to pay who
> knows how much for a Windows CD.
>
> So I would like to set up a spare hard drive with a copy of that hidden
> recovery partition. Can I do that with ordinary methods (disk
> partitioning, file copying)? Is there a howto somewhere for this, or can
> somebody offer some advice on the details?
Matt:
Not only would you "lost the only copy of the OS" should your HDD "go bad",
but also all your programs & user-created data as well.
I'm sure you're aware of this but I mention it only to emphasize that what
you should give serious consideration to is establishing & maintaining a
backup system that you would employ on a routine basis; a backup system that
would be comprehensive in scope, i.e., one that would back up the *entire*
contents of your HDD, not just the "recovery partition". So that your
operating system, all programs & applications, all user-created data - in
short, *everything* that's on your day-to-day working HDD would be backed
up.
You can accomplish this rather easily with a disk-to-disk cloning or
disk-imaging program. One method is to use a USB external HDD as the
recipient of the clone, i.e., the "destination" HDD. So that in the event of
catastrophic failure of your internal HDD you would have at hand a "clone"
of that HDD and could use the clone to resurrect your system by cloning the
contents of the external HDD back to a new internal HDD. The process is
relatively simple & straightforward and would similarly be available should
your internal HDD, though not defective, become unbootable/dysfunctional
because of corruption of the OS.
We all have our preferences as to which program we prefer. I'm sure others
will indicate their favorites.
Anna
"Anna" <myname@myisp.net> wrote in message
news:e8ydnYbSDe3w86bVnZ2dnUVZ_gSdnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
>
> "Matt" <matt@themattfella.xxxyyz.com> wrote in message
> news:bLJ_j.325$PD1.116@fe107.usenetserver.com...
> >I have a four-year-old IBM desktop with XP Pro. It has a hidden
partition
> >containing a copy of XP Pro and what is called the "Product Recovery
> >Program". I guess it is common nowadays that the vendor provides a
> >partition like that (instead of a Windows CD) for getting the system
> >software back to the factory-new state. I have used it once to wipe and
> >reinstall the system, and it worked fine.
> >
> > The computer is out of warranty, so it seems that if the hard drive were
> > to go bad, I would lose the only copy of the OS and would have to pay
who
> > knows how much for a Windows CD.
> >
> > So I would like to set up a spare hard drive with a copy of that hidden
> > recovery partition. Can I do that with ordinary methods (disk
> > partitioning, file copying)? Is there a howto somewhere for this, or
can
> > somebody offer some advice on the details?
>
>
> Matt:
> Not only would you "lost the only copy of the OS" should your HDD "go
bad",
> but also all your programs & user-created data as well.
>
> I'm sure you're aware of this but I mention it only to emphasize that what
> you should give serious consideration to is establishing & maintaining a
> backup system that you would employ on a routine basis; a backup system
that
> would be comprehensive in scope, i.e., one that would back up the *entire*
> contents of your HDD, not just the "recovery partition". So that your
> operating system, all programs & applications, all user-created data - in
> short, *everything* that's on your day-to-day working HDD would be backed
> up.
>
> You can accomplish this rather easily with a disk-to-disk cloning or
> disk-imaging program. One method is to use a USB external HDD as the
> recipient of the clone, i.e., the "destination" HDD. So that in the event
of
> catastrophic failure of your internal HDD you would have at hand a "clone"
> of that HDD and could use the clone to resurrect your system by cloning
the
> contents of the external HDD back to a new internal HDD. The process is
> relatively simple & straightforward and would similarly be available
should
> your internal HDD, though not defective, become unbootable/dysfunctional
> because of corruption of the OS.
>
> We all have our preferences as to which program we prefer. I'm sure others
> will indicate their favorites.
> Anna
Anna, I dont have a computer with "Recovery program" but my daughter does
and I fix her computer when anything is wrong, and also if I get another
computer, it seems that all manufacturers are now only providing "Recovery
backups". I was wondering can you not copy the entire contents of your
computer onto another internal hard drive which has nothing on it, rather
than an external hard drive. I have an extra IDE hard drive which I don't
use. (My present computer only uses IDE connectors, I have no SATA drives).
I have never done any complete backups and wouldn't know how to do it, but
this thread has made me think. Is there any free backup programs that are
simple to use to transfer all information on a hard drive to an empty hard
drive?. I use Win 98 but have Win XP on a separate partition for when I need
it. I like Win 98 as its not as cluttered as Win XP, and Vista is something
far into my future I hope.
Somehow I think Matt already has a backup copy of important files.
> Is there any free backup programs that are
> simple to use to transfer all information on a hard drive to an
> empty hard drive?.
The most important folder is probably My Documents. Not sure about
Vista, but that is the folder of interest in most versions of
Windows. So copy My Documents to some removable media or another
hard drive. There might be other user produced data that should be
copied, so try to identify the location of and copy that too. I use
a partition D called KEEP. That's where I put the pictures I've
taken and edited, lots of configuration files, my personal
documents, and whatever other stuff of value like purchased
software. And that's what I regularly copy to removable media.
> Matt wrote:
>> I have a four-year-old IBM desktop with XP Pro. It has a hidden
>> partition containing a copy of XP Pro and what is called the
>> "Product Recovery Program". I guess it is common nowadays that
>> the vendor provides a partition like that (instead of a Windows
>> CD) for getting the system software back to the factory-new
>> state. I have used it once to wipe and reinstall the system, and
>> it worked fine.
>>
>> The computer is out of warranty, so it seems that if the hard
>> drive were to go bad, I would lose the only copy of the OS and
>> would have to pay who knows how much for a Windows CD.
>>
>> So I would like to set up a spare hard drive with a copy of that
>> hidden recovery partition. Can I do that with ordinary methods
>> (disk partitioning, file copying)? Is there a howto somewhere
>> for this, or can somebody offer some advice on the details?
>
> Another one with backup-phobia I note!
The problem isn't with backup, the problem is having to buy a copy
of Windows XP if his hard drive fails.
>
> Use Acronis True Image or Windows Backup and back up to an external hard
> drive.
>
> --
> http://www.kustomkomputa.co.uk
> Personalised Desktop Computers
>
>
>
>
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> NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 21:19:57 -0500
> From: "Dr.Hal0nf1rœ$" <femail nospam.kustomkomputa.co.uk.invalid>
> Newsgroups: alt.os.windows-xp,alt.windows-xp,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
> References: <bLJ_j.325$PD1.116 fe107.usenetserver.com>
> Subject: Re: copying the hidden XP recovery partition
> Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 03:08:01 +0100
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"John Doe" <jdoe@usenetlove.invalid> wrote in message
news:y7L_j.545$89.108@nlpi069.nbdc.sbc.com...
> "Mary" <non@invalid.ddd> wrote:
>
> ...
>
> Somehow I think Matt already has a backup copy of important files.
>
> > Is there any free backup programs that are
> > simple to use to transfer all information on a hard drive to an
> > empty hard drive?.
>
> The most important folder is probably My Documents. Not sure about
> Vista, but that is the folder of interest in most versions of
> Windows. So copy My Documents to some removable media or another
> hard drive. There might be other user produced data that should be
> copied, so try to identify the location of and copy that too. I use
> a partition D called KEEP. That's where I put the pictures I've
> taken and edited, lots of configuration files, my personal
> documents, and whatever other stuff of value like purchased
> software. And that's what I regularly copy to removable media.
>
> Good luck.
I was thinking also along the lines of what John Doe said in another message
when he said:
"The problem isn't with backup, the problem is having to buy a copy
of Windows XP if his hard drive fails."
And like Matt, I was wondering how you can copy the hidden Recovery disk
information onto another drive.
How can you access the hidden Recovery disk information?
When my daughter got her computer, it was ready made and I only added a
video card. I also created Recovery disks.
I thought, though maybe I am wrong, that Recovery disks could be used if
somehow your files got corrupted and you could use the Recovery disks as if
they were a backup and be able to put Win XP back in your system as it if
was a complete WinXP install only its a backup image. I wonder if Matt made
CDR's or DVD copies of the Recovery partition.
> "John Doe" <jdoe@usenetlove.invalid> wrote in message
>> "Mary" <non@invalid.ddd> wrote:
>>
>> ...
>>
>> Somehow I think Matt already has a backup copy of important
>> files.
>>
>> > Is there any free backup programs that are
>> > simple to use to transfer all information on a hard drive to an
>> > empty hard drive?.
>>
>> The most important folder is probably My Documents. Not sure
>> about Vista, but that is the folder of interest in most versions
>> of Windows. So copy My Documents to some removable media or
>> another hard drive. There might be other user produced data that
>> should be copied, so try to identify the location of and copy
>> that too. I use a partition D called KEEP. That's where I put the
>> pictures I've taken and edited, lots of configuration files, my
>> personal documents, and whatever other stuff of value like
>> purchased software. And that's what I regularly copy to removable
>> media.
> I was thinking also along the lines of what John Doe said in
> another message when he said:
>
> "The problem isn't with backup, the problem is having to buy a
> copy of Windows XP if his hard drive fails."
>
> And like Matt, I was wondering how you can copy the hidden
> Recovery disk information onto another drive.
I was trying to answer the simpler question, that appeared in this
branch.
There are hard drive cloning programs that might work, but I'm not
familiar with OEM operating system recovery methods and good cloning
programs are not free.
I have a copy of Windows XP and a disk manager (currently Disk
Director) that is used to make hidden copies of the Windows
installation. Besides having a separate copy of important files, I
use that hidden copy whenever Windows needs fixing and I'd like to
quickly restore it. But that method requires the user to know where
important files are so he (or she) can copy them before deleting
Windows and putting the good copy in its place. It also requires
Windows and a disk manager.
Good luck.
> How can you access the hidden Recovery disk information?
> When my daughter got her computer, it was ready made and I only added a
> video card. I also created Recovery disks.
> I thought, though maybe I am wrong, that Recovery disks could be used if
> somehow your files got corrupted and you could use the Recovery disks as if
> they were a backup and be able to put Win XP back in your system as it if
> was a complete WinXP install only its a backup image. I wonder if Matt made
> CDR's or DVD copies of the Recovery partition.
>
> Mary
>
"John Doe" <jdoe@usenetlove.invalid> wrote in message
news:_8M_j.4751$mh5.1801@nlpi067.nbdc.sbc.com...
> "Mary" <non@invalid.ddd> wrote:
>
> > "John Doe" <jdoe@usenetlove.invalid> wrote in message
>
> >> "Mary" <non@invalid.ddd> wrote:
> >>
> >> ...
> >>
> >> Somehow I think Matt already has a backup copy of important
> >> files.
> >>
> >> > Is there any free backup programs that are
> >> > simple to use to transfer all information on a hard drive to an
> >> > empty hard drive?.
> >>
> >> The most important folder is probably My Documents. Not sure
> >> about Vista, but that is the folder of interest in most versions
> >> of Windows. So copy My Documents to some removable media or
> >> another hard drive. There might be other user produced data that
> >> should be copied, so try to identify the location of and copy
> >> that too. I use a partition D called KEEP. That's where I put the
> >> pictures I've taken and edited, lots of configuration files, my
> >> personal documents, and whatever other stuff of value like
> >> purchased software. And that's what I regularly copy to removable
> >> media.
>
> > I was thinking also along the lines of what John Doe said in
> > another message when he said:
> >
> > "The problem isn't with backup, the problem is having to buy a
> > copy of Windows XP if his hard drive fails."
> >
> > And like Matt, I was wondering how you can copy the hidden
> > Recovery disk information onto another drive.
>
> I was trying to answer the simpler question, that appeared in this
> branch.
>
> There are hard drive cloning programs that might work, but I'm not
> familiar with OEM operating system recovery methods and good cloning
> programs are not free.
>
> I have a copy of Windows XP and a disk manager (currently Disk
> Director) that is used to make hidden copies of the Windows
> installation. Besides having a separate copy of important files, I
> use that hidden copy whenever Windows needs fixing and I'd like to
> quickly restore it. But that method requires the user to know where
> important files are so he (or she) can copy them before deleting
> Windows and putting the good copy in its place. It also requires
> Windows and a disk manager.
These are the things I wondered about. I am not going to be doing anything
about it for now till I know exactly what I am doing and right now, I don't.
I was under the impression that if you make Recovery disks when you get the
new computer by copying the image onto CD's or DVD's as in the instructions
that if you have a problem, you can use the Recovery program CDR's/DVD's to
fix the problem. I thought it also could mean that you could install the
Recovery discs as if they were a backup of your whole system. If you don't
make Recovery disks, you would have to find the hidden OS image on your hard
drive and that sounds tricky. Since I first heard about Recovery disks a
couple of years ago, more and more manufacturers do not give you original OS
CD's - just tell you to make CDR's from the hidden partition on the computer
hard drive (in the cases where you buy a ready made computer or laptop). I
guess it saves the manufactuers money.
"Matt" <matt@themattfella.xxxyyz.com> wrote in message
news:bLJ_j.325$PD1.116@fe107.usenetserver.com...
>I have a four-year-old IBM desktop with XP Pro. It has a hidden partition
>containing a copy of XP Pro and what is called the "Product Recovery
>Program". I guess it is common nowadays that the vendor provides a
>partition like that (instead of a Windows CD) for getting the system
>software back to the factory-new state. I have used it once to wipe and
>reinstall the system, and it worked fine.
>
> The computer is out of warranty, so it seems that if the hard drive were
> to go bad, I would lose the only copy of the OS and would have to pay who
> knows how much for a Windows CD.
>
> So I would like to set up a spare hard drive with a copy of that hidden
> recovery partition. Can I do that with ordinary methods (disk
> partitioning, file copying)? Is there a howto somewhere for this, or can
> somebody offer some advice on the details?
why do other posters wonder off up their own.............lets say, garden
path.
copying the hidden XP recovery partition 
Linear Mode
