Hey there,
My computer uses a feature to recover to bring my computer back like when i bought it at the press of a button. I didnt get any windows xp cd with it. My question is, are these files the same as on the CD? If so, where could these files be on my HDD? Or is this feature just using system restore to restore my computer to the day i bought it?
Thank you for your time!!!

It is a restore disk that you got with your computer. Unfortunately it is not a complete operating system that can be used if your hard drive dies. If you pressing a button after you use programs>accessories>system tools>system restore, that is system restore built into XP.

Right click on your Start button and click on Explore. See if in Windows Explorer there is a D drive labeled System Sav or System Disk. If there is, that is your Windows Xp files.

"to bring my computer back like when i bought"

These files are usually located on a hidden partition.

On mine, using Disk Management tool I can see the hidden partition but can not access files on that partition as in my case the files are an image of the original drive/partition.

Otherwise, if you are just looking for the WinXP files then look in C:\I386

Bryan