Alright, settle an argument.
Okay, it wasn’t really an argument. ;D
My friend and I were discussing the functionality of the System Recovery Partition and had different opinions.
She has 2 computers … a Compaq Desktop and an Acer Laptop, which she got both used from ebay years ago. In more recent times, as a result of her constant playing around with Linux Distro after Linux Distro, somewhere along the line, she inadvertently wiped out her Windows Vista from the one she had set up to Dual Boot. I don’t think her other computer had Windows Vista anymore, by choice.
NOW … she says that she tried to reinstall Windows Vista with her System Recovery CDs, but that it didn’t work because the System Recovery CDs NEEDED the System Recovery Partition. Is that true? I told her that didn’t make sense. I told her that what good would System Recovery CDs be if they needed the System Recovery Partition to be intact?
Aren’t the CDs / DVDs that one makes of the System Recovery Partition … FULL copies of what’s in the System Recovery Partition? Aren’t those System Recovery CDs / DVDs supposed to be fully capable of recovering your system on their own … completely independent of the System Recovery Partition?
She then seemed to imply that both her computers were set up that way (For a CD System Recovery to NEED the System Recovery Partition) because when she bought them USED off of ebay, the Hard Drives were wiped clean and that the System Recovery Partition was hidden and inaccessible and THAT’s why she couldn’t actually copy the contents of the System Recovery Partition onto CDs.
Does that make sense? COULD that be the way they set up USED computers that you buy from ebay? I sure hope that’s NOT the case with NEW computers. I sure hope that on ALL NEW computers, you CAN copy all the contents of the System Recovery Partition onto CDs / DVDs and be able to fully recover your system solely from the CDs / DVDs if need be.
Buying used computers off eBay could have almost anything done to them. If it was just a rescue CD it would need the restore partition because it basically boots the PC and gives access to restore options.
Joe
Hmmm? Who knows, Joe? Maybe that’s what my friend has for her 2 computers … Rescue CDs instead of System Recovery CDs.
Well, either way, whatever the deal is, I did warn her on several occasions that her perpetual rapid fire Linux Distro experimentation :o would eventually cause a disaster. And now she lost her Windows Vista entirely with no way of getting it back without buying a new copy.
What new copy you refers? You NOT need to buy a new copy of Windows, you will be losing more and is not the solution. The only you need is the Recovery Disc from the company. For this, you only need to know the Model/Serial of your computer and buy the recovery disc from your vendor (computer manufacturer, in your case is Compaq (HP) and ACER) visit their website and search for the recovery disc of product.
Yo say that (someone) wiped the Hard Drive, if the HD is wiped, means that WINDOWS & RECOVERY partitions was deleted. You can’t recover the OS if you not reformat the windows partition. And yes, is true that you need the system recovery partition, but, this partition need to be reformatted too before installing the OS.
First, you need 2 disc (also depend the computer manufacturer, in HP, are 2 disc) the first disc will boot the system into recovery manager, reformat the windows partition. And the other one will install the programs.
Llanziel, this is NOT MY computer. It’s my friend’s computer.
So, I don’t have to buy anything either way.
Besides, Ehhh, my friend doesn’t seem to be super bummed about having lost her Windows Vista.
She despises Windows and Microsoft and uses them as little as she can get away with.
She said she’s really only been using Windows when she wants to mess around with Photoshop.
Otherwise she’ll do everything in Linux.
I was simply trying to get to the bottom of whether it was really true that System Recovery CDs could possibly NEED the System Recovery Partition in order to work.
Chim
I just sorted through my disks and found the Vista Rescue disk it is on a CD. The Restore set I burned from my HP when it was new for Vista Ultimate took 3 DVDs. So if it’s on a CD it’s probably a rescue disk.
Joe
Oh, my friend knows about Wine, Frank.
I think she’s also mentioned something like Wine Doors.
And she’s used one or the other or both not only with Photoshop, but with other Apps like FastStone Image Viewer, IrfanView and a couple of others.
Anyway, Frank, I don’t know if my friend didn’t use Wine / Wine Doors properly or what, but she had problems with the Apps she installed with them. I kid her that it is because the Fat, Beer-bellied Linux mascot Tux has been drinking again. ;D
She’s perpetually raving about how great Linux is and that I should switch over to Linux because my computer would be way faster and Blah Blah Blah. I counter with, “What for? Why would I want to do that? So that I too can have the Problem Dujour like you? I want to just simply install Apps and start using them. I don’t want to have to engage in Calculus Equations, Physics and Computer Science research to find out why none of the Apps that I install in Linux work properly” ;D She of course counters with that it’s only the Windows / Microsoft Apps that give Linux problems and that if I used the Apps from the Linux Repository there wouldn’t be any problems.
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