My new PC has come with XP Home pre-installed and no original installation disk, should the HD fail & need replacing I would be up a certain creek without a paddle. I know that you can make backups of your installation files in XP Professional but how do I do this in XP Home? I thought there was a one-off function which would copy my recovery partition to CDROMS. Thanks. Who cares who wins

you can call the computer manufacturer's support number and ask them to send you the backup CD's. I believe they now charge you for them, but the small cost is good insurance in case of a crash. You may have a recovery section on your hard drive which contains all those files. When you call the manufacturer, they will explain the procedure to use in case of a crash.

Sean, like me u should have a Restore CD and one with Drivers on from ur supplier. shudda been supplied if u bought a package. bcoz most of the drivers on it r now out of date i copied new ones to a CD, and use a Backup program like Powerquest Drive Image, or Acronis 7. But if u do have a mega-crash, the Restore CD will put ur PC back the way u bought it. So u would then have to download all the MS updates, or buy them on a CD from MS. I Will Not Fail !!!

Thanks both, much obliged Who cares who wins