I have two important questions. Both have to do with system recovery.

First off, how do I remove all but the most recent restore point?

Second, I have made discs from the backup feature, which can restore the PC to factory condition. My question is would these work if the recovery partition were to be damaged? Or, what if I put in a totally new HD and removed the old one, would the discs be able to restore it to the factory condition despite the fact that it's a new hard drive?

Thanks in advance.

First let me tell you that I understand you are asking the above two questions in connection with your Vista HP notebook. Here are the answer to each one of your questions.

1. Run Windows Vista Disk Cleanup tool described herein to delete all except the last restore point.

2. No because:

a) The recovery DVDs you created will work as long as the hidden partition on the HD is left intact. If you replace the HD, the recovery DVD you created will be rendered useless.

b) A new HD has to be tattooed by HP authorized service Center (i.e., Geek Squad at Best Buy). Only the authorized service center has access to proprietary HP HD tattoo DMI utility tools.

c) The hidden partition must be rebuilt using special Recovery Partition rebuild set available for purchase through HP Sales department. When the rebuild is done and Windows finally load, you will be prompted to create new Recovery DVDs for your use.

i_Xp/VistaUser

On your #2, you should be looking at a disk/partition imager program.

These programs make a byte-for-byte copy of your hard drive and/or partition (depending on what you choose), compress the image, and store it on cd's, DVD's, or other drives.

IMO, this is by far the best way to back up a system. You can load all of your programs and set them up as you wish, then do a disk image. If you ever need to reinstall the image, then it will be EXACTLY the same as it was when you did the image, right down to all your personal settings. Many people also use this for transferring to a new drive.