The partition on a new laptop

[GunBlade008]

My cousin and I both bought new laptops recently. I went with compaq, he went with HP. Well, both our laptops have a partition supposedly to 'reset' the laptop to its original settings. My cousin wants to wipe his C:// clean, as in restore it to the state it was in when he first bought it. (No need to install drivers, software, etc). Neither of us recieved a CD with the laptop, and I've no idea how to use the partition to do this. Any help?

 

[falconguard]

Start>All programs>Accessories>system tools> there should be a file for system restore

 

[GunBlade008]

Oh system restore. According to him, he has restored his laptop to the earliest possible point.

 

[Admiral Michael]

Usually with a restore partition there's an option on boot to recover or a start menu shortcut. The system restore option is a windows tool and isn't associated with the restore partition.

 

[falconguard]

On my hp the option for system recovery was under the system tools. Of course this was an older model, and the new partitions might be in bios. to get at that reboot the computer and hit f2 at the begining.


Doh!

Also Start>all programs> hp tools > system recovery. Completely forgot about this place.

 

[Admiral Michael]

My cousin got a new Compaq, first thing I did was delete the partition and install XP Home off of CD. I hate recovery anything.

 

[damnyank]

If memory serves me correctly, after the class action lawsuit against HP over their "hidden recovery partition" (using about 4 GB of your harddrive) in lieu of a real XP disc, both Compaq and HP started adding a program that enables you to make a one time backup copy of that partition - the idea being to store it away and using it to be able to return your PC to the original "out of the box" condition. Thus being able to delete the info from the HDD and recover that space.

So I would say that within HP/Compaq Tools, there is an option to "backup" that partition. I believe it's called a Recovery CD/DVD Creator. Bear in mind, that program will only run once. After the cd is made there is another option in Recovery Tools CD to start the Recovery CD/DVD.

I would highly recommend that if you have not created that Recovery cd/dvd yet, you do so, as if anything happens to the harddrive, the recovery function will be lost without the cd. Hope this info helps some!

 

[GunBlade008]

Thanks for all the replies guys!! I'll definately give all these options a go! Thanks again!