I've just discovered that the new HDD I installed a few months ago doesn't have a Recovery partition. This is a particular problem, because - according to the tech department at the old job - the Recovery partition holds some of the files needed for a reinstall of Windows XP. The other files are spread across three CDs, and no, I am not making this up. Someone was PAID to come up with this idea.

Obviously, there's no problem unless or until I need to do reinstall the OS. But I'd like to be ready well in advance of that happening.

I still have the original HDD, and that would have the Recovery partition. I'm wondering if I could clone that across to the new disk, but on the other hand I think I'd be better off tossing that idea entirely. I have looked around the net and it seems that I could create my own setup boot disk with downloads from Microsoft.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994
There are lots of non-MS sites offering advice and instruction too, but I thought I'd check with the experts here first.

Recovery Partitions are used by some manufacturer's in lieu of Recovery CD's.

Who is the manufacturer and what is the exact model?

If they gave you CD's the Recovery Partition would be moot.

How did you install XP on the new hard drive?

The computer is an Acer 3600GT desktop, XP Home installed before purchase. I didn't do the copying myself. I asked one of the techs at work - like me, no longer with the firm - to clone the old hard drive to the new and adjust the partition settings. He advised me that I could copy all the data across with a USB connection, but the proportions of disk size would have been maintained. Which would have left me with an 80Gb Recovery partition. Since then I've bought Partition Manager by Paragon to avoid problems of that sort.
The Rec partition is accessed by a very tiny button inside a hole in the front wall of the computer - you need a pin to press it. I could put it to the test, I suppose, but if the partition is empty and I do need both its data and the disks to recover, I'm stuffed.
If they gave you CD's the Recovery Partition would be moot - I know, it sounds like an extremely stupid setup to spread the data across three disks and a partition. But if that is how it is, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. Did I ever mention here that I worked for three years as storeman of a computer firm? My 3600 is a pretty good machine mostly, but lots of other people haven't been so fortunate with Acer product.

EDIT - I just realised that I wasn't quite clear in my earlier post. The Rec partition is there, but it's empty. The 20GB are sitting around with no data to preserve.

Just a quick reply as the sun is rising ...

A recovery partition is used by some manufacturers rather then supplying CD's.

This partition contains the data to reinstall XP. If this partition is over 3 or 4 GB then it is something else.

If it was/were 80GB then I might suspect if your drive were 160GB they had set up a RAID mirror.

Anyway I will look up that ACER info tomorrow.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Being a hidden Partition you would have no access to view it. It would appear blank. It is an Image: no data.



...

Acer eRecovery Management
Developed by Acer's software team, Acer eRecovery Management is a tool that
provides you with an easy, reliable and safe means of restoring your computer
to its factory default state from an image stored in a hidden partition on the
computer's hard disk drive.
Acer eRecovery Management also provides you with an easy-to-use facility to
back up your system and data as an image stored on the hard disk drive, or to
optical disks.

http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/dat...or%20%20DT.pdf

Hmm - I have to say this is mostly new information - the user manual discusses the Recovery button, but I don't think it says anything about these other options.
I'll have to check when I get home. Thanks again j.

The essence here regarding "Recovery Partitions" is this:

Manufacturers do this simply so they do not have to send you a CD or DVD (Vista).

The "Hidden Partition" is an ISO which is an image. This is what an Operating System CD/DVD is.

There is no "viewable" data. It is an "image" which creates the GUI to install the Operating System.

In your case they also mention a "Backup Image" tool which might explain the size of the partition.

I doubt that any "Cloning procedure" would have cloned the "ISO" "Image".

If you reinstall your original drive you might be able to "Copy" "Burn Disk Image" the ISO to a CD.

Hence you would have your OS on CD.



...

Worth a try!

Well, I didn't get far along with this before more excrement collided with the cooling device. I was backing up all data from the new HDD when a massive lightning strike blew out my phone connection; it also shorted out the computer and terminated the backup.
I decided to pass the computer back to the techs at the old job. They haven't been able to reimage the new HDD, and they say it has bad sectors. I'm a little doubtful of that since even after the power went out I was still able to use the machine, booting it with Bootit. Anyhow they're going to reinstall the old HDD and I can manage with that for the time being.

EDIT the good news is that I was able to complete the backup with no apparent problems.

Wow! A lot of energy going around down under.

With all due respect to all involved: you, paulthomasno6, have the ability to address all these issues yourself and need not be tied or limited to others' opinions.

Computers are not that complex from a general Hardware / Software perspective.

If I can add just one point I find it necessary to have my OS on a CD or DVD.

In this respect I build my own computers and purchase the OS for each computer.

If you do buy a manufactured computer the first thing to do is to get a Recovery CD or DVD.

Many have the option to create a recovery disk from the hidden partition if they do not supply a CD / DVD.

Anyway my only point is always have a copy of your OS on a disk.

If you do not at some point you will need to purchase a new OS.

Or use Ubuntu etc.