some of these systems got a hidden recovery partition on the hard disk ,which when you boot it briefly gives you option to press F10
to recover from that partition.
some of them got a wizard that gives you option to put the recovery media on a set of DVD or cds but unfortunately when you do that the
hard disk recovery partition is disapears and the space is reclaimed
back which means you loose the security of the recovery. from hard disk.
and some customers make a mess of the CDs or Recovery DVDs and
at same time the hard disk image is lost !!!
some may copy it success fully and loose the hard disk rcovery partition , but they leave them around and get scratched .
my advise is do not demolish the hard disk recovery partition.
(ie that wizard reclaimes the space automatically I do not know if this is an agreement with microsoft or what ??
ghost the complete hard disk as the NIGHT OWL the ghost expert
going to advise you.
then you will have a copy of the hidden partition as well
the only thing that ghost do not cover for you is the MBR which
contains the boot manager F10 thing .
so as a precution may be is a good idea to to back up the MBR
just incase.
sorry to intrupt
I wait to see with intrest to see what nightOwl says.
edited corection: 3nov 2006
apparently Packard Bell Cd/DVD maker wizard offer you a chance to keep your restor partition :
""Not a valid computer" error with Smart Restore on iStart 3055
Situation
When starting Smart Restore on a Packard Bell iStart 3055, the following error message appears on screen: "Not a valid computer".
Details
The recovery process on the iStart 3055 (model: PB49202502) is started with the <F11> key.
Solution
To solve this issue follow the steps below:
1. If you did not create Master CDs/DVDs you need to follow steps 2 through 7 to create them. Otherwise you can move to step 8.
2. Click Start and click Control Panel in the Start menu.
3. If Control Panel is in Category View, click Switch to Classic View.
4. Double-click Setup my PC. The Setup my PC Wizard will appear.
5. Follow the Wizard and mark the Start Master CD/DVD Creator checkbox and click Next.
6. Follow the instructions given by Master CD/DVD Creator.
7.
Make sure you keep the Backup Partition, when asked about it. After the process has finished, the Master DVDs/CDs are ready to use.
8. Put the Master CD/DVD in the top CD/DVD drive of your computer.
9. Boot the computer from the Master CD/DVD. After a while a menu will appear.
10. Press the O for OK to continue. In the next menu type 4 to return to DOS. After a few seconds a black screen with white text appears.
11. Type Q: followed by <Enter>.
12. Type CD DRIVERS followed by <Enter>.
13. Type TATTOO /CREATEDMIFROMHS followed by <Enter>.
14. Perform a system recovery using the <F11> key after the process has finished.
Regards Ben