Proactive Disaster Recover for Windows 8 HP Notebook

[heintze]

I have an HP Envy I bought a couple of years ago and it is running great (so far!). However, I got scared when my friend's fujitsu windows 7 notebook would not boot.

I'm doing a partial cross post with Link because I'm interested in getting a vendor independent perspectives.

(1) What the heck is a windows recover disk as described at Link? How can it help me recover from some corrupted boot files or a MBR (master boot record)?

(2) What is this extra "RECOVERY" partition I see? does it help me recover should my OS files become corrupted? How? Does it have a copy of all my critical files?

(3) How do I get an installation DVD for Windows 8 HP notebook since my computer came with Windows 8 already installed. Can I download an windows 8.3 image and burn a DVD? I don't see a windows 8 serial number on the bottom of my HP notebook. I thought I was supposed to have one but I don't see one on the bottom.

(4) How can I create bootable backup of the OS installation? Does windows come with such a backup program? Do you recommend a third party products for restoring a corrupted OS?

(5) What do you recommend as proactive disaster recovery? recovery disks? installation disks? Bootable backup What else?

Thanks
Siegfried

 

[rclarke250]

1. A recovery disk, is like when your computer fails to boot, and windows boots to recovery mode, and gives you options to try to make your computer boot again, it has a few more tools in it then booting from the hard drive, which may fail, it also can get you to your BACKUP you created, and restore from it.

2. Recovery partition is what replaced recovery disks, you boot to a hidden partition to get back to factory defaults, usually by pressing a key like F11 at boot.

3. In windows 8, the key is embedded in the bios, you HP, has a program to make an image of the drive in case you have a hdd failure.

4. see 3 above, yes, and True Image is a great program.

5 yes, take it as far as you want and how safe you need your files to be, I recommend a cloud based storage for your most important data.

 

[goombawaho]

Personally, I prefer Macrium Reflect for backup, having used both Macrium and Acronis. Ideally, you would store an image backup of your PC offsite in case something really bad happened + store data only backups offsite for the same reason.

You could store an image backup in a safe deposit box, a friend's house or bury it in the flower bed. The offsite data backup is much more important because, after all, a PC can be replaced, a hard drive can be replaced and Windows reloaded from scratch, but you can't get data back very easily.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[linney]

On a working Windows 8.1 machine, see Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Recovery\Create a Recovery Drive.

Create a Recovery Drive and use that to boot from in a faulty machine and try accessing the advanced startup options/safe mode.

When you create a Recovery Drive you are given the option (via a check box) to copy across the hidden recovery partition from your machine. If you choose that option then the size of USB required will be many times larger than if you don't choose the option.




Most new machines come with a recovery partition allowing you to go back to the time of purchase, you will have to check your user guides (or the manufacturer's Web Site) for instructions. Choosing that path requires you to save all valuable data first.


These options are built-in to Windows 8 also.



How to restore, refresh, or reset your PC

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/restore-refresh-reset-pc

How To Fix The Windows Bootloader

http://www.tweakhound.com/2012/11/13/how-to-fix-the-windows-bootloader/

Fixing the Windows Bootloader via the setup DVD

https://neosmart.net/wiki/recovering-windows-bootloader/

How to create a system image to refresh your Windows 8 PC

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2748351

How to create a custom refresh image in Windows 8

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/create-custom-refresh-image-in-windows-8/