There is no vista cd in my HP2718CA box!!

I though there should be a vista operation system cd from MicroSoft, but I didn't find it. And HP said they no longer provide that CD.

Thus I can only use the recovery CD to reinstall my system.
But the recovery CD will remove all the data in my hard drive, so I cannot use it unless there is a huge problem, it is not good to backup the data all the time.

Is there any good solutions if I want to the reinstall the operation system on the system driver (c and keep all data in other drives (d:,e . Thanks.

 

Search around there are ways of making your very own Vista recovery CD

 

so you didn`t get recovery cd,am i right?

 

Yeah, but I burn it by myself.

 

you can shrink your hdd into 2 drives....

 

i think that its a standard for companies now to include a hidden partiition on your hdd that has the recovery disc on it. look up on google how to burn that to a dvd and youll have your recovery disc.

 

Yep, most actually charge you $20 for the CD nowadays.

HP does still offer it for some laptops, but for others it's a system recovery DVD for $19.

Business models are usually the actual MS CD/DVD not a bloated recovery disk.

Here's the one for their 8 series, you can see it just under the recovery disks;
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/5923/osdvdfs5.jpg

BTW, it's $19 for the recovery DVD for consumers, but $5 for the recovery DVD and $5 for the OS CD for business customers, so $10 for both if you buy a Business laptop, nice deal.

 

It would be a better deal if these companies started shipping raw OS discs so that I could use the software I paid for in the manner I have a right to use it in. You know, with a clean install.

 

Actually it would be a better deal if they didn't ship the damn OS, I already have 4 copies of XP and 2 of Vista, I don't need any more with or without CD/DVD, charge me the $20-50 less for an empty drive please.

That it often costs more to get a laptop with Linux than a M$ is ridiculous.

 

Save everything on an external hdd?

 

Is the OS CD a licensed and autobootable CD from MS, or a Microsoft Anytime Upgrade CD? Thanks.

 

Yeah, but I find the smallest size for system disk is 100G. I think I need a clean installation. And I think we should have the right to install the clean system because we have paid for that.

 

Unfortunately I don't know. It looks like an autobootable CD like you would get if you purchased an OEM copy.

I didn't get and HP this time around, and my 2 friends who did didn't get the CD/DVD the other did the 'downgrade' to XP with only the driver/recovery CD.