Recovery DVD

iviv · 20 Dec 2009 at 11:43

Hey, just picked up a laptop for my brother for christmas, and its not come with a windows reinstall DVD. Instead, I've just started setting it up (Read: Uninstalling all the junk it came pre-installed with) and its encouraging me to create a 'Factory Default Disc' with an estimated size of 9.16Gb, and will need 3 blank DVDs to burn. Now, this is silly, my Win7 install fitted on one DVD.

So, could I just use a regular windows 7 home premium DVD to reinstall if needed, using the product key on the bottom of the laptop, with no problems? I know with my dell laptop, I always used their CD, and used that to create dell based slipstream SP cds, because I thought there was something fancy on them that meant they activated automatically, not needing you to enter the key during install. But could I forget all that and use an OEM home premium DVD to reinstall if needed?

Thanks!

theheyes · 20 Dec 2009 at 13:19

Yes, as long as it's an OEM disc and not a retail. You'll be missing the crapware (hurray) but also the drivers. This used to be a pain a few years ago but now it's solved with a Windows update or a trip to the manufacturer's website.

iviv · 25 Dec 2009 at 16:38

Thanks for the reply. Does anyone had the md5 for the OEM x64 Home Premium DVD? Make sure I've got the right thing before I install it. Thanks ^_^

R34pz · 25 Dec 2009 at 16:49

One point to add, if your network card isn't supported in windows 7 you won't be able to update the drivers. So I would still create a recovery disc set just incase. The best thing to do tbh is remove as much of the cack as you can and then see if it will fit onto 1 dual layer dvd.

iviv · 25 Dec 2009 at 17:01

I checked before and after deleting stuff, the estimated size and number of DVDs didn't change at all :/
And checking the drivers on the Acer website, it says:

This page shows only drivers that are not contained in Windows 7.
Wireless LAN Atheros Wireless LAN Driver (HB93, HB95)

So, seems that everything should be fine. Wipe, use that driver for wireless, and everything will be peachy. Just want to make sure I've got a propery good copy of 7 before I install it XD

R34pz · 25 Dec 2009 at 17:07

Ahh it must be a standard recovery disc size like on my Toshiba laptop. But your standard network card will almost definately work straight away in Windows 7, so you could just goto windows update for your wireless driver and the rest of your bits and bobs. That's what I did on mine, as the recovery disc was full of useless rubbish that takes almost as long to get rid of as just doing a full clean install yourself lol. Not to mention windows is much quicker and smaller that way without 1000's of useless registry entries even after uninstalling all the rubbish

iviv · 26 Dec 2009 at 01:34

R34pz said:
Ahh it must be a standard recovery disc size like on my Toshiba laptop. But your standard network card will almost definately work straight away in Windows 7, so you could just goto windows update for your wireless driver and the rest of your bits and bobs. That's what I did on mine, as the recovery disc was full of useless rubbish that takes almost as long to get rid of as just doing a full clean install yourself lol. Not to mention windows is much quicker and smaller that way without 1000's of useless registry entries even after uninstalling all the rubbish

Acer didn't even give me a recovery disc. Got into windows and it said I should make one, and it would take 3 DVDs >_<
And it would be a huge hassle to dig out ethernet cables and plug them into the router, much easier to just download the wireless drivers onto a flash drive

R34pz · 26 Dec 2009 at 02:38

You almost always have to create your own recovery discs, I had to with my Toshiba. If you partition your drive you could stick all of your drivers and other programs on D: with no risk of ever losing them or needing to use a flash drive. Either way you have the right idea mate, as setting up ethernet is a pain when you have wireless just to setup windows

theheyes · 26 Dec 2009 at 11:36

R34pz said:
You almost always have to create your own recovery discs, I had to with my Toshiba.

It really depends and is somewhat hit and miss. All the HP stuff I've ever bought has come with recovery discs yet with two different models of Lenovo laptops one did and the other didn't.

R34pz said:
If you partition your drive you could stick all of your drivers and other programs on D: with no risk of ever losing them or needing to use a flash drive.

The downside of this is HD failure as all your eggs are in one basket. Given the choice I'd rather stick them on optical media and keep them in a drawer.

R34pz · 26 Dec 2009 at 14:53

I always backup everything to D: partition and also my external HDD. If it's something really important it goes on DVD also.
I think my way is quite old-fashioned nowadays theheyes, but I haven't had a HDD failure in 7 years now unbelievably

Ever since buying ONLY seagates, before then they never seemed to last over 6 months, but that's a different story. I wouldn't mind a nice fast 64gb USB stick, but until they're much cheapness i'll stick to DVD's heh.

theheyes · 26 Dec 2009 at 15:43

Hey, any backup that works is a good backup. You'd be surprised how much tape is still used.

I went a long, long time without a hard disk dying on me and then had two in the space of two years. Suffice to say I have a RAID1 setup on my main computer now.

R34pz · 26 Dec 2009 at 15:50

You're not wrong there theheyes, it's surprising what people still use for backup. If it works though there's no knocking them, each to their own eh. I have 2 identical 250gb seagates in mine atm, but I just use the 2nd for storage. If I had 2x500gb drives I would have them RAID1 also