Envy 14 Recovery Media Creation hangup.

I'd like to get started on a clean install for my HP 14 which arrived two days ago. First things first, I want to burn those 4 dvds just as a back up in case I run into trouble (this comes highly recommended). However, every time I start the media creation process the laptop freezes up some way into the burning of the first dvd. Only way to cure this is to do a hard shutdown by holding the power button.

1) How important are these 4 recovery discs?

2) Can recovery to factory settings/install be achieved by just using the RECOVERY (D: ) partition? It is, after all, separate from the system partition.

2) I understand I could use a thumb drive to create the recovery images but my largest thumb drive is 8gb. Will this be enough?

3) I copied entire C:\SwSetup directory to another thumb drive and I have a windows 7 installation disc. Is this also a viable alternative?

4) I don't plan on deleting the RECOVERY (D: ) partition but what's the difference between that and the C:\SwSetup directory?

Thanks

EDIT: OK, I just read this on the HP Support FAQ:
Computer stopped working while creating recovery discs

If the computer is just paused, it may not be a problem. The disc creation process has to do a lot of error checking and the computer may pause and wait for 30 minutes or more before it takes the next visible action during the creation process. Use the correct type of DVD disc and try creating the recovery disc again. Be patient and allow the creation process to complete.

But seriously, the pointer was completely frozen and computer would not respond for like 10 mins. Am I just being impatient here?