A person that wants to gp back the computer to an earlier time or to use the Windows XP operating system after upgrading to Windows Vista OS, can use the recovery discs or restore discs to make this happen. For a lot of computers, these discs are provided by the manufacturer. You can’t just go online and download a restore disk, like you do with software programs. Perhaps if you keep a written correspondence with a technicianor a representative from the manufacturer and he delivers you the information via e-mail, this could work. I don’t know exactly, all I know is that you need a disk to perforn the operation mentioned before.
In fact, you cannot even find a restore disk suitable for your computer containing the information related to the operating system that you are using and other software programs that the manufacturer puts at the customers disposal. For some computer models, the manufacturers provide certain applications, for others they provide different applications. In other words, you can buy a computer from Lenovo, let’s say, and you own a computer created by Lenovo; you download a certain application software from the site of the manufacturer and you realise after downloading it, that it doesn’t work for your computer. This is not good, but it would have been worse, if you paid for that software.
When you get a program from the manufacturer’s Website, normally it is free. Just make sure you get the right software. For example, Microsoft offers updates and programs for free. Of course, there are paid products from Microsoft as well, but not all of them. You can try to download a speciffic application from the Internet that can help you restore the computer to an earlier phase, instead of trying to get a restore disk from the Internet.
You can return your system to an earlier time, to a time when you used another operating system, like Windows XP, if you use a restore disk or a recovery disk. I mentioned something about speciffic applications in my previous paragraph. Here I am talking about applications like VAIO Recovery Wizard. Some computer models don’t use recovery disks, because the information is stored somewhere in the hard drive. In this situation, it is wise to make a checking for drivers and software updates, before performing the recovery. The updates come free, if you use a Microsoft operating system. Don’t interrupt the power when the recovery process is functioning. Always use your laptop on electric power, provided by a wall outlet. Don’t rely on your battery, if you have a laptop computer, because it might remain without power. Also, it is good to disconnect all the peripherals connected to the computer.
To begin the process, click Start, then All Programs, go to system recovery (you must have an option like this in the All Programs section) and when you have access to that or to the application downloaded from the Internet, select the desired operation. You can create your own recovery disks, restore Windows only, reinstall applications and drivers (this is the most used form of an application restore software), restore only the C: Drive, restore complete system or reconfigure RAID.
Of this last option I have spoken a few months ago; this is not available to all models. You need to use recovery disks from the Recovery Media Kit, which is not available for all the users when they buy their computers. The manufacturers recommend that when you don’t have a Recovery Media Kit, nor the access to it, this including a sort of software that is able to recover the operating system and other important software, you should create one.
In this case, the important files and drivers will be saved on more discs if the computer doesn’t start after recovery. You can use those discs to start up the computer. If you see that it doesn’t start, whatever the method you use, you better address to a technician. The recovery discs are bootable, that’s why they can be used to perform a recovery. Don’t use them when you don’t need them. You can disassemble a computer, to see what it has inside, but don’t use recovery discs, because this will bring you all back to the state in which the computer was a long time ago, or a short time (this depends on your selections).
In order to perform a recovery, you must have some free space in your hard drive. Usually, the required space for this operation is of at least 200 MB. You can restore only the main drive, which is the C: Drive obviously or the whole system. You can restore also other drives, if the situation requires it. Your data won’t be lost, unless you don’t save it. The software programs and the applications installed in your computer may be lost after the recovery. I know that today there are great applications, which allow you to not lose data, still it is wise to save the data on discs or on storage devices, like external hard drives or on the Internet. Find a Web hosting server, that gives you free access to a file hosting server. Usually, you can keep your files there for a limited period. After you save the data and restore the computer, you have to go to the site where you have saved the data and download it back into your computer. You cannot copy and paste the data. You must download it to be sure that it is inside your computer again. The data should be saved somewhere, if you’re planning a full restore.
