Recovery disc

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A recovery disc is a general term for media containing a backup of the original factory condition or favored condition of a computer as configured by an original equipment manufacturer or an end-user. OEM supplied recovery media is commonly shipped with most modern computers to allow the user to reformat the hard drive and reinstall the operating system and pre-loaded software as it was when it was shipped.

1 OEM system recovery
- 1.1 Recovery partitions
2 Disk Image Recovery
3 Criticism
4 See also
5 References

[edit] OEM system recovery

Most OEM recovery systems for Microsoft Windows based operating systems involve booting from a separate CD-ROM, DVD, or hard drive partition, which in turn launches the recovery environment. After accepting the license agreements for the software and operating system, the recovery program will usually reformat the hard drive and then begin copying operating system and software files (although some recovery systems, such as the ones utilized by Hewlett-Packard and Gateway do offer a "non-destructive recovery" option which backs up data before reinstalling the OS^[1]. After the recovery process is completed, first run configuration such as the Windows Out-Of-Box Experience wizard is run (along with any other additional setup the computer may perform), as it was on the initial startup of the computer. Most recovery systems use specialized software, though Toshiba and Dell licensed Norton Ghost technology for their recovery systems at one point, ^[2] though as of Windows Vista, Dell now uses a Windows Imaging Format based image on a partition along with a tool launched from the Windows Recovery Environment's command prompt.^[3]

Some smaller OEM's instead ship sometimes customized Windows XP installation CDs with the computer in lieu of a dedicated recovery system (sometimes accompanied by "driver discs", or slipstreamed into the installation media), and sometimes alongside one.

[edit] Recovery partitions

In recent years, bundled recovery CD-ROMs have become less common, as some OEM's are now utilizing hard drive partitions to store the recovery data. Accessing hard drive based system recovery is usually performed by pressing a specific key combination during or after the computer's POST. Partition based recovery systems are usually faster than their disc based counterparts since the data is directly on the hard drive and no disc swapping is needed. They can also be cheaper for the OEM because they do not need to ship recovery CDs with the computer, adding the price of creating them to the cost of the computer.

However, if the hard drive fails, is fully reformatted, or is replaced, the recovery partition will be lost. An application used to burn bootable recovery CDs or DVDs is sometimes offered in order to allow a backup of the recovery data.^[4] For computers with Recovery Partitions, these recovery CDs can also sometimes be ordered directly from the OEM. If they are used to recover the system, the recovery partition can sometimes be recreated with the recovery CD as well.

[edit] Disk Image Recovery

Main article: Disk cloning

The advantages of OEM recovery media can be had, without their disadvantages, by using disk imaging software such as Mondo Rescue, Acronis True Image, or Norton Ghost to create a bootable recovery CD containing an image of the machine in the desired initial state. For example, a user can install their operating system, install all device drivers for their hardware, install other desired software, and configure other personal settings. Some smaller OEM's even use bootable CDs generated by this software as the actual recovery CD or DVD itself.

[edit] Criticism

Due to the recovery discs containing all the applications and drivers for a computer, many manufacturers are omitting copies of product CDs in favor of the single recovery system to prevent unauthorized distribution of preloaded software, as the recovery media is usually locked to each specific model of a computer. This complicates clean installation with a fresh copy of the operating system, as to perform such actions and get a setup close to the recovery disc's result, they would need to purchase new licenses for any software which came bundled with their system, just so that they could obtain an installation disc for that software, and would also have to download the drivers for their computer's components manually.

In addition, if the hardware configuration of the system changes, drivers and support for the additional hardware changes will not be on the recovery image, requiring users to reinstall their drivers.

Some OEM's however do ship Windows XP CDs along with driver and application discs, sometimes alongside dedicated recovery CDs.

As mentioned earlier, if the system has a recovery partition, and the hard drive fails, is replaced, or if the recovery partition is deleted, the recovery data will be lost unless the user has a recovery CD or DVD set.