--- In 4EmulatorsandRoms@yahoogroups.com, "Tom" <odysseyx2002@...> wrote:
>
> Recovery discs is old school nowadays considering all PC makers no
> longer package them along with their PC. Recovery partitions are great
> and convenient, but you get a better sense of security if you back
> them up on discs just in case. So if you got 3 hours to spare, get
> going if you haven't CHAIRMAN Mo!:D


Oh, believe you me, in the cases of both my HP desktop and my Compaq
laptop, I burned the recovery disc sets for each the same day that I
bought them. ;)



> I have use the recovery partition (pre-Vista SP1)a few times already
> as well as reinstall XP and i don't recall during both the processes
> the option to partition the HD, but then, a lot of that stuff that
> pops up is still gibberish to me.
>
> I'm currently satisfy with the current state of my healthy HD (knock
> on wood),but if I were to replace it,then...
>
> 1) physically install the new fresh drive
>


I could be wrong, but the one thing I would worry about with using a
fresh hard drive in this case is that the HP-Recovery may not work
(i.e. the recovery program may have hidden data/info on the original
hard drive itself that it needs in order to run). A full OS disc of
Vista, however, should install just fine onto a new drive.



> 2) I can either install the OS (from backup discs) first or prior to
> that, access the boot up menu to find the partition option and
> partition it beforehand? I'm assuming you can adjust the size of the
> partitions right then and there as well?


Unfortunately, as I said before, my experience of
clean-or-re-installing Windows has been limited to using full OS
discs, not recovery discs. I know for sure that the former lets you
partition the drive, and as I haven't yet tried the latter, I can't
say for sure that the case will be the same.

I would suggest calling HP's 1-800 number and asking them directly
about whether or not the recovery discs/process let(s) you partition
out the hard drive (I know you have said before that you didn't think
much of HP's support, but hell, it's worth a shot as you are still
under the default one-year warranty, right?). And/or if/when you do a
re-install, read the gibberish, see if at some point it prompts you
about creating partitions (or allocating disk space, another way of
putting it).



> 3)That all partitions should be in the NTFS format?


I would suggest doing all the partitions as NTFS, which, as I
understand it, is more stable than FAT or FAT32 (at least for modern
versions of Windows, it is).



> 4)If I were to choose to install the OS first, I can then open disk
> management and adjust it from there? If I were to screw up (more
> likely than not) the amount alloted for each partition, I can redo them?


I don't see why not (you can delete and redo "extra" partitions using
Disk Manager). Just don't put any files on the partitions first, or
they will get nuked. <:P



> 5) To restore my PC's software recovery partition, do I simply copy
> the entire content from the backup discs into one of the newly created
> slot?


As I have never done it, I can't answer that. :(



> Thanks for files CHAIRMAN Mo, I'm going to save them because they WILL
> come in handy someday.:)


Welkies! Happy Holidays to you and yours, Tom! :D

Co-Chairman MO