Recovery discs/ OS re-install

smallblueplanet

I asked this on the end of a laptop thread, but I'll ask it again because I'd like to know a bit more about what you buy when you buy an os with a Dell (or other oem-loaded) pc?

"I'm looking at a Dell pc purchase for a friend - just what does a 'recovery disc' create?

Are they different from the £5.88 OS discs to buy with the system? (eg Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 (Incl Operating System Re-installation CD) [add £5.88] )

I'm wondering cos say, if after 12 months/waranty period the hard-drive crashes and I buy a new hard-drive, not from Dell, will I be able to install the oem OS on the new hard-drive???"

Is the info on the hidden partition just to tell the recovery disc what drivers etc to load? Will the recovery discs do a clean install on any hard-drive?

johnmc

A recovery disk from most manufacturers relies on some data that is in a hidden partition on the harddrive.

In other words it relies on a reinstallation on the current harddrive and even then it checks for hardware. They won't work on new machines, blank or fully reformatted drives.


HTH.