$20 for Recovery Disc??

Hi,

Does anyone know why HP charge 20 bucks for a Windows Recovery Disc???

I was planning to buy a HP notebook and format it or do a clean windows install but,, charging me for a recovery disc,,, not cool

Can I but the disc at somewhere else for cheaper??


Dell just gives it for FREE.....

 

You can burn one for free. HP charges for convenience - oh, and to make money.

 

So it comes with 1 recovery disc?? How do I burn one for free?

 

It is stored on the hard drive, and as long as you supply your own not-so-free disc...you can make your free copy of a bloatware-infested Vista install CD.

Seriously, just pick up a Windows Anytime Upgrade DVD and follow our guides to install Vista the real way.

 

Huh, $20? When I bought my 8510p it was $5 for an XP Pro recovery CD and $5 for the driver CD. To me it was completely worth it since they allowed me to do a clean install of XP Pro.

 

The recovery dvds on the consumer-line side are not the same. As Greg said, they are full of bloat. I needed one dual-layer blank dvd just to make my own os recovery disc..............

 

Im a lil dissapointed. I spent $16 to get mine and it came full of bloat (installs virus software and other programs). Big disappointment.

 

You don't need the recovery disc to reinstall the os.

 

You can just use the built-in partition to re-install everything. Pres f11 at startup

 

You always want to have/make restore discs. It should be one of the first things you do when you get your computer.

 

Sad, but gone are the days when HP used to offer a clean Windows XP disc and another containing the software and drivers which let you install what you wanted and uncheck the bloatware.

These days they make you burn the recovery discs yourself or charge to provide the same thing.

 

The clean install sticky has a link to compusa anytime upgrade. I ordered one and total cost was 5.25 Yes HP does not put that in but its relatively easy and cheap to get.

 

When you first boot up it will recommend to do a backup recovery disc and will remind you on and off until you turn off the reminder or do a disc burning. Believe it or not f11 will restore the original OS but leaves the program you installed (directories) intact but rendered useless because the main Windows program has changed. You could probably re-install all the programs you had but since the original directories are intact might install faster.

 

or, once you receive your computer, call and complain that you did not receive recovery disks,and you need them.

 

That doesn't work if he didn't order them in the first place.

 

The ones you pay $20 for are not really custom to your system. You're much better off burning them yourself, as you can be sure they are specific for your system. You'll need 2 DVD+R discs (-R and RW discs will not work reliably). Discs will cost you less than $1 each.