No OS Backup for OEM Purchasers?

I bought a computer with Vista (to save $400 off a special order with XP) and
2 days ago moved all my "work" to it. After 30 days it seemed stable but I
had not yet installed Ghost & bought a external backup. Now it has crashed
and the "system recovery" and even "restore point" gets stuck in a loop-So no
windows Vista. The Mfg. (HP) only offers a complete restore option which
would trash all my data and downloaded programs (including Office/waiting on
disks) back to "original settings".
I have been told there is some way to make a bootable disk from another OEM
Vista I have (laptop-home premium) but elsewhere I have read this is not
possible on Home Premium.
Will I have to go buy a new copy of Vista "off the shelf" to get disks? Or
will that even get me a "boot from disk" option with Home Premium?
I cannot believe Microsoft is "hard-selling" an OS with no "boot from disk"
option or way to burn one from OEM.

Hi,

Microsoft isn't selling it that way, HP is. Even were it a full retail disk
and installation, a "repair" install, like XP does, is not an option. It
doesn't exist in Vista. Only a parallel installation which would allow you
to recover data but not programs.

HP's laptops generally included a program to facilitate a one time creation
of a set of recovery DVD's, and other than that their only option is to
recover from their system recovery partition. Either way both only offer a
wipe and reload. Basically, as you had not gotten around to creating the
image for recovery, you're stuck with the options at hand. If you or a
friend has the faculties, you might have the hard drive pulled and slaved to
a desktop for data recovery prior to running HP's proprietary recovery
install.

By the by, Norton/Symantec Ghost is not supported in Vista, you'd need their
newer program, Norton 360 (and it's not cheap). Other third party
alternatives include Acronis' True Image and terabyteunlimited's Image for
Windows.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"DDT" <DDT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:89851829-4244-415C-B089-373F6E7DD89B@microsoft.com...
>I bought a computer with Vista (to save $400 off a special order with XP)
>and
> 2 days ago moved all my "work" to it. After 30 days it seemed stable but I
> had not yet installed Ghost & bought a external backup. Now it has crashed
> and the "system recovery" and even "restore point" gets stuck in a loop-So
> no
> windows Vista. The Mfg. (HP) only offers a complete restore option which
> would trash all my data and downloaded programs (including Office/waiting
> on
> disks) back to "original settings".
> I have been told there is some way to make a bootable disk from another
> OEM
> Vista I have (laptop-home premium) but elsewhere I have read this is not
> possible on Home Premium.
> Will I have to go buy a new copy of Vista "off the shelf" to get disks? Or
> will that even get me a "boot from disk" option with Home Premium?
> I cannot believe Microsoft is "hard-selling" an OS with no "boot from
> disk"
> option or way to burn one from OEM.

I have had limited success running Startup Repair from another Vista DVD -
but most times the error isn't repairable by the Startup Repair.

Good Luck!

- John

"DDT" wrote:

> I bought a computer with Vista (to save $400 off a special order with XP) and
> 2 days ago moved all my "work" to it. After 30 days it seemed stable but I
> had not yet installed Ghost & bought a external backup. Now it has crashed
> and the "system recovery" and even "restore point" gets stuck in a loop-So no
> windows Vista. The Mfg. (HP) only offers a complete restore option which
> would trash all my data and downloaded programs (including Office/waiting on
> disks) back to "original settings".
> I have been told there is some way to make a bootable disk from another OEM
> Vista I have (laptop-home premium) but elsewhere I have read this is not
> possible on Home Premium.
> Will I have to go buy a new copy of Vista "off the shelf" to get disks? Or
> will that even get me a "boot from disk" option with Home Premium?
> I cannot believe Microsoft is "hard-selling" an OS with no "boot from disk"
> option or way to burn one from OEM.

"usasma" wrote:

> I have had limited success running Startup Repair from another Vista DVD -
> but most times the error isn't repairable by the Startup Repair.
>
> Good Luck!
>
> - John

I have been told there is a "boot from CD (or DVD) option on the original
disks. Also that there is a way only Microsoft knows (for $60) to burn a DVD
with a Vista backup.
Are you saying this is incorrect? (MS told me the original disk would allow
to boot from DVD)

I am not needing to do anything but get Vista to load, once inside I think I
can find whatever problem it's having. But if you can't get it...

Also regarding Ghost I have a copy still in the box Norton assured me was
Vista compatible (12) this resuted from me buying 360 and it trashing my kids
XP computer, Norton acknowledged all the problems with 360 and sent me the
2007 Internet Security for free because they were not even sure the new 2008
product was bug-free. At that time they assured me that Ghost 12 WAS Vista
compatible even though others have said no...but I also heard mixed reviews
on Acronis.
I finally got it (internet Security 07) to work on their XP box after about
4 hours but haven't removed 360 from the Vista HP in question. I really think
that where the problem lies, a conflict between my disk management
(Diskeeper) and 360 but I can't get into Vista to disable 360 and see if that
doesn't fix it. (Based on previous 360 issues I am 98% sure it would be a
good start)

I still have an extra XP box that's stable, any tips on saving that data
from the Vista disk by sticking it in the XP box and taking it off to an
external or whatever? Or would the corrupt Vist glitch out the XP box
installed as a second drive. (sadly it's not my workstation loaded with tools
as it isn't SATA capable. I also have a brand new Gateway laptop with the
same Vista running fine and no programs or data even activated or installed
yet-that new- if there are any ideas how to use it to help this ailing
desktop like with a belkin cable or whatever?)

DDt - Some info not "entirely" correct. Vista does provide a "Repair"
option (Starup Repair) via Win PE on the Vista DVD. Also "standard" HP
recovery does provide for reinstallation of original OS and applications
without loss of data - or a complete "wipe and restore".

Utilizing the "Startup Repair" option from the DVD boot menu may require
running it more than once - for some reason if there are multiple problems
Starup Repair may not correct all at one pass.


"DDT" <DDT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:89851829-4244-415C-B089-373F6E7DD89B@microsoft.com...
>I bought a computer with Vista (to save $400 off a special order with XP)
>and
> 2 days ago moved all my "work" to it. After 30 days it seemed stable but I
> had not yet installed Ghost & bought a external backup. Now it has crashed
> and the "system recovery" and even "restore point" gets stuck in a loop-So
> no
> windows Vista. The Mfg. (HP) only offers a complete restore option which
> would trash all my data and downloaded programs (including Office/waiting
> on
> disks) back to "original settings".
> I have been told there is some way to make a bootable disk from another
> OEM
> Vista I have (laptop-home premium) but elsewhere I have read this is not
> possible on Home Premium.
> Will I have to go buy a new copy of Vista "off the shelf" to get disks? Or
> will that even get me a "boot from disk" option with Home Premium?
> I cannot believe Microsoft is "hard-selling" an OS with no "boot from
> disk"
> option or way to burn one from OEM.

"AJR" wrote:

> DDt - Some info not "entirely" correct. Vista does provide a "Repair"
> option (Starup Repair) via Win PE on the Vista DVD. Also "standard" HP
> recovery does provide for reinstallation of original OS and applications
> without loss of data - or a complete "wipe and restore".
>
> Utilizing the "Startup Repair" option from the DVD boot menu may require
> running it more than once - for some reason if there are multiple problems
> Starup Repair may not correct all at one pass.
>
So when Microsoft tech said you could boot Vista from an original CD he was
not correct?
IE Vista con only boot from a hard disk installation, no way to "boot from
disk" for repair work as with older versions of Windows?

No! and No! Vista "Startup repair" is available booting from the Vista DVD.
Several options are available via the menu presented when booting from the
Vista DVD - including System Restore.

"DDT" <DDT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1541A9C7-9D36-4589-B70A-5E543D667920@microsoft.com...
>
>
> "AJR" wrote:
>
>> DDt - Some info not "entirely" correct. Vista does provide a "Repair"
>> option (Starup Repair) via Win PE on the Vista DVD. Also "standard" HP
>> recovery does provide for reinstallation of original OS and applications
>> without loss of data - or a complete "wipe and restore".
>>
>> Utilizing the "Startup Repair" option from the DVD boot menu may require
>> running it more than once - for some reason if there are multiple
>> problems
>> Starup Repair may not correct all at one pass.
>>
> So when Microsoft tech said you could boot Vista from an original CD he
> was
> not correct?
> IE Vista con only boot from a hard disk installation, no way to "boot from
> disk" for repair work as with older versions of Windows?