Create Your System Recovery Disks BEFORE You Need Computer Repair Assistance

I recall a service call I once made to a couples home that was experiencing PC problems, that I later determined to be a combination of viruses and spyware. I asked the couple for the original CD’s that had come with the system, and they stated that they never received any disks. After some investigating with the PC manufacture, I determined that the couple had accidentally thrown the CD’s away when they discarded the original boxes that their new computer came packed in.

A few days later, I had a similar service call. But this time I located a backup utility in which the user needed to create their own recovery disks, which required 7 CD’s to perform. The manufacture of this particular computer had included a recovery partition to make the CD’s in lieu of providing the CD’s. The owner was completely unaware of this, since the documentation provided with the new PC only provided a single paragraph referencing the procedure.

A few years ago a new computer would come with a pile of disks or CDs for all the various programs that were pre-installed.Then the brand name computers started to include what they called recovery disks, or system restore disks. Most of these companies have gone one step further now, and they don’t even include the disks with the computer. A copy of all the original software is stored on the hard drive where it can be accessed if it’s necessary to reload the computer.

The problem with this method is if the hard drive itself “crashes” or dies,  then the copy of the software is lost along with everything else. As unlikely as this is, these kind of computer problems do occur. So making a copy of these disks is highly recommended.
Most new computers, brand-name computers in particular, come with a utility program that will create a set of recovery disks for you to use if you should ever need them. The problem is, some new users never bother to make these disks and/or don’t realize how important they are until it’s too late. As with the couple described above, the computer manufacture no longer provided the original disks so they were forced into buying new copies of their software programs.
If your system has the ability to make a set of recovery disks for you, this should be one of the first things you do after you set up your new computer system. You will need some blank CD’s or DVD’s to make the disks. Blank CD’s or DVD’s can be purchased from most retailers of computer accessories.  When you run the program, it will normally tell you how many disks you will need. Sometimes the program will also provide information as to the use of CD’s or DVD’s as the recommended media.
The process of making the disks is automated – all you will have to do is put in a new disk whenever it asks you to. Once the disks are all made, put them away somewhere safe – that you won’t forget – in case you ever need them.

Side note: Some manufactures only allow you to make one copy of the recovery disks. So keeping the single copy protected is very important.

[tags]system recovery disks, computer, repair, help, automated, process, software, [/tags]