Update Recovery Partition

Windows Vista Basic came preinstalled and I upgraded to Ultimate. Therefore, the recovery partition contains Vista Basic. Is there a way to change the recovery partition to have the Vista Ultimate so that I can use the Base Admin and reinstall Windows with ease?

Also, what exactly is on the recovery partition? If I delete it, will I still be able to use ThinkVantage?

 

If you delete it, you won't be able to restore from it using the blue ThinkVantage button. Many people choose to delete the partition so that space can be used for other things.

Since you have Ultimate you can just use the Vista built-in recovery program to make a set of recovery disks. (The Vista built-in recovery program is also available in Vista Business edition)

 

How do I access the built-in recovery program?

 

This is a cut & paste from my frequently asked questions in my clean install guide. You might want to look over the guide (link in my sig). Especially have a look at the Frequently Asked Questions in the guide. It also contains information about getting rid of the hidden partition if you are interested in doing that.

• If I don't use the blue ThinkVantage button, how can I restore my clean install? If you have Vista Business or Ultimate, there is a back-up and recovery program built in to Vista. It can be located in the control panel -> under "System and Maintenance" click "Backup your computer". It is very simple to use. You can use this utility to make a set of recovery DVDs that will back-up and restore your entire system. For other versions of Vista you should consider a thirdparty back-up and recovery program such as Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost. Another option, for everyone, is to redo the clean install.