backup in Vista

My Recovery drive [D:] has only one file showing, called RECOVERY, with a
date about a week prior to my taking delivery of the computer; so I presume
it was created when HP loaded Vista Home Premium onto the machine. It looks
like the capacity of the D: drive partition is about 7.75 GB and it shows
Used space of 7.16 GB. I have never put anything else on the D: drive, and
basically do not touch it, and have never had any problems. What error
message did you get that led you to burn the Recovery drive to DVD?

"Charles W Davis" <> wrote in message
news:8C95D149-62AA-4310-B3BE-...
> Mike, et.al.
> I bought a new HP with Vista Ultimate on March 31, 2007. Three days later,
> it wouldn't let me continue without buring the recovery (D drive to
> DVDs. It was a first time experience, I even got to use the Lightscribe to
> label the disks. Do others simply ignore this somehow? I don't know how
> other HP buyers have fared with this.
> "Mike Hall - MVP" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>>A lack of warning is a failing on the part of the OEM computer
>>manufacturer.. tell them about it..
>>
>>
>>
>> "Eileen" <> wrote in message
>> news:3F1E2DB1-29CB-4636-B31B-...
>>> Oh, and I never got any warning not to alter files in the D: drive. I
>>> hope I
>>> have not deleted anything unrecoverable. Vista came on my machine, so I
>>> don't
>>> have any recovery disks.
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> Mike Hall
>> MS MVP Windows Shell/User
>> http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/
>>
>>
>>
>

I stand corrected, thanks.

"Cal Bear '66" <> wrote in message
news:EEB4491F-1F11-476D-A25E-...
> The Recovery Partition, D:, is NOT used for system created Restore Points.
>
> It is an "image" of the system and programs originally installed by the
> factory. It is used to "Recover" your system to a factory shipped default
> condition.
>
> It has NOTHING to do with System Restore Points.
>
> It should NOT be used for ANYTHING else -- not file backups, not Complete
> PC Backup, nor temporary storage. Anyway, the available space is too
> small for anything really useful.
>
> Leave it alone -- unless you made recovery DVDs.
>
> --
> I Bleed Blue and Gold
> GO BEARS!
>
>
> "John Hanley" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> From what I understand: the 'Recovery drive' feature (D is something
>> provided by the manufacturer of your computer (like Dell or HP), as a
>> place
>> for your system to make Restore Points. and not something designed by
>> Microsoft or Windows or Vista. But Vista, per se, looks around for
>> likely
>> destinations for your 'automatic backup' and sees this apparently
>> available
>> separate 'drive' called D:, observes that it is different from your main
>> hard drive (C and suggests it as a location choice for your automatic
>> backup. One could say that Vista, per se, does not know that HP has set
>> up
>> this D: drive on the same physical disc as the C: drive.
>>
>> So, how do you know that you do *not* have use of your Recovery Drive
>> (D?
>> The intended use of the recovery drive is for System Restore points; is
>> D:
>> working for those? Perhaps a first thing to do on that is to check and
>> see whether your system has been making regular Restore points. On your
>> Start button, type System in the search box; then click on System
>> Restore;
>> if you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type
>> the
>> password or provide confirmation by clicking Continue. In the System
>> Restore
>> window that comes up, click on Next. This will give you a listing of all
>> the Restore Points for the last 5 days; if you want to look further back,
>> click the box for "Show restore points older than 5 days". My system has
>> Restore points about every day, and additional ones when there has been
>> an
>> event like a Windows Update. The question at this point is whether you
>> do
>> have one or more Restore points listed. If you do not, what *is* listed?
>> If you have several recent Restore Points, then your D: is working as
>> intended.
>>
>> Keep in mind that it is *not* recommended that you use the D: drive as a
>> location for Automatic Backups, even though D: is given as one of the
>> location choices. Keep your D: drive strictly for System Restore points.
>> Check and see what you have and write back.
>>
>>
>> "Eileen" <> wrote in message
>> news:50EEA730-9C84-48E4-BB20-...
>>> Well you're right, I should backup to an external drive anyway.
>>> But is there any way to recover the use of my Recovery Drive (D? I'd
>>> still
>>> like to have an automatic backup to save "snapshots" of settings and
>>> everything, in case C: fails.
>>> And yes, I believe the small D: Recovery Drive is the default for these
>>> automatic backups (what were they thinking?).
>>> The automatic backup feature was one of the reasons I got a non-Basic
>>> Vista...
>>
>
>