Vista Recovery Disk

[arturox]

I've had a quick scan through various things on this forum and without reading every single thing written, I don't know if the subject has arisen before.

When I purchased my earlier Desktop computer form NovaTech is came with a Windows XP recovery disk.

When I recently purchased the Novatech Laptop it did not come with a Vista recovery disk.

Novatech support informed me that they do *not* now supply a recovery disk because, as part of the licence agreement with MS they are not permitted to do so.

I've had some discussion with MS support recently about this very matter, and it transpires the Tech excuse is a load of groin hanging male parts.

That said, the answers from MS Support were also unsatisfactory.

I explained the situation and asked, what happens if Vista or the HD have a catastrophic failure?
Reply:
Dear Dave,

Thank you for your email about recovery disk for Windows Vista .

From January 1, 2001 Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) who have a direct relationship with Microsoft Corporation are no longer required to ship Microsoft branded Operating System media.

A recovery CD may be made available to you as part of the document kit received with the PC. The media or CD will be branded by the OEM and may not specifically reference the Operating System or other software contained within it. The purpose of a recovery CD is to return the PC to the state it was in when originally shipped.

If you feel you are missing any media I would recommend contacting your Original Equipment Manufacturer for obtaining it.
<End quote>

I replied, yes, all well and good, but my question remains unanswered, how do we reinstall an OS we've paid for if there's no recovery disk?

Second email

As, mentioned in my previous email I, suggest that you contact your computer manufacturer as they will purchase the software from us and they will modify according to the hardware requirements.
<End quote>

So my question remains.
How do I reinstall Vista if it breaks, or the HD fails?

Dave S

[Taxation]

a recovery disk isnt yet available, for some reason.
but if it does get borked, then send the whole unit back and they can do a recovery on it.
thats what i would do anyway

[arturox]

Mmnnn!
Sending it back would be fine and dandy if within guarantee, but what about after... In case you haven't noticed, all machinery is governed by by a clause in Sod's law... To the effect, when something is a couple of weeks out of the guarantee period, the odds are it will break down.

My Novatech desktop computer is now five years old, and during that time I've needed to reinstall Win XP four times using the recovery disk.

It's actually five times but the fifth was early 2006 when I had to replace the hardrive.

This is particularly relevant as I'm talking about a Laptop... Devices particularly prone to going belly up with so much stuff crammed into a small space.

I've been told, when Vista OEM is installed, it grabs a piece of HD space and makes a secret partition into which the install files are put.
Where is this partition, how can it be exposed, why can't the files in it be taken off and burnt to CD/DVD in case of trouble?

Until the purchase of this Laptop, I was a very satisfied Novatech customer, I no longer am.
My Desktop machine is due for replacement sometime soon, but I'm absolutely not purchasing from a company that doesn't supply a recovery disk.

If they (NT) change the policy then I shall be a returning customer, otherwise it's Hello PCW or some other box shifters.

cheers
Dave S

[Taxation]

pcworld have no clue about vista.
i worked there for a while, and they dont have a recovery disc or anything like that.
and as for windows xp
that gets so many things shoved into the registry, that it runs slower when more things are installed, uninstalled, upgraded, cos all registry inputs are left there.

vista doesnt show some of the files, because (my view of it) people tend to mess around and hack etc through them.

[Coops]

We have taken a commercial decision to provided Vista via Hard Drive based recovery. This allows access to other tools as part of the Hard Drive recovery partition.

The partition is hidden in order to keep it protected and stop accidental deletion or tampering which might result in its failure.
It would not be possible to access the files of the OS as they reside in a single image file within the partition.

We are working on a recovery disc which will be avaliable at a later date as an option. Currently it is in testing and we are hoping for general avaliability end of Q2 07 but could slip to Q3 07

Regards

[redrick]

I assume the decision to put Vista recovery on the hard drive was made by your accountants, and not the technical people.

Could ypu please clarify one point for me:
If I buy a barebones PC from you with an OEM version of Vista, will I get an installation DVD of Windows Vista? On the other hand, if I buy a prebuilt PC, all I would get is the recovery partition on a hard disk?

I'm planning to buy a new (preferably prebuilt) PC in the next few days. I'll be looking elsewhere if there's no revovery or installation CD/DVD with it.

Thank You

[arturox]

Thank your for that bit of information about the recovery disk John.

It does prompt another question though.

Will those of us who have already purchased a machine with Vista installed, be eligible for a copy of the recovery disk, as and when it becomes available?

Cheers
Dave S

[Danno]

redrick, at the moment if you buy anything with vista pre-installed the recovery files come on the hard drive.

if you order an OEM copy of windows with a bundle, laptop, PC or other hardware you will receive the vista DVD so that you can install it your self.


arturox, when we finally have the recovery dvd's we will be able to supply them to customers on request. as john said in his post its going to be a while before we have the dvd's but as soon as we have them or have a good idea when they will be available there will be a post on the forum.

[arturox]

Thanks for the info.
I'm now back to being a satisfied Novatech customer.

Cheers
Dave S AKA arturo x

[Bazzer]

Any sign of the Vista recovery disc yet?

[Coops]

Yes we have now finished this and are in stock

Please contact our sales department with regard to this item.

[Bazzer]

When I purchased my Executor system I was told you would send me a recovery disc when they become available on request . I just contacted Sales and they want to charge £20+ for the disc

[Coops]

Do you know who you spoke to.

The Recovery Disc is an optional extra for customer and will not be provided with every unit as standard. Our preferred method of recovery is from the HDD partition however if customer wants to have recovery DVD we have produced this for them to buy should they want it.

[Bazzer]

It was discussed via the Telesales Chat Service and in this thread:-

http://forum.novatech.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=21325

My understanding was the Recovery Disc would be available for anybody requesting it once they become available. At no time was it mentioned there would be a cost incured.

As I stated at the time, I would of bought a PC with no operating system together with a boxed OEM version of Vista had I known there was no Recovery Disc

[Coops]

I suggest you email customer service again with your request and they will get back to you on a 1 to 1 basis on this matter.

customer.service@novatech.co.uk

Best regards

[paven]

I would of bought a PC with no operating system together with a boxed OEM version of Vista had I known there was no Recovery Disc

This echoes my thoughts. Obviously I need to email too when I get a moment... :roll:

[Bazzer]

Be forwarned, they told me months ago I could have a recovery disc when they become available but now they want to charge me for it.

As far as I'm concerned they can keep their disc, it's not the cost of the disc it's the fact they've gone back on their word and for the sake of one disc they've lost this customer.

[paven]

I'm particulary wary after suffering a hard drive failure 18 months from purchase (not from Novatech I might add), but once bitten, twice shy.

Could someone from the Company please explain to us what the position would be if any one of us in this position were to suffer a HDD failure just outside of warranty?

Where do we stand as customers who would wish to reinstall our legitimately purchased software onto another HDD, either because of failure, or a wish to upgrade capacity?

Thanks in advance!!

[paven]

anyone from Novatech care to reply?

[Coops]

Officially at this time the answer to that question is as follows:

As far as access to the software disc. Recovery disc is made avaliable to customer to purchase should they require it.

Any repairs that we carry out on behalf of the customer outside of the warranty period we will of course reload that image for the customer as part of there service with us.

[arturox]

I've been busy with other things, and have just dropped back into this conversation.

So you guys want 20 quid for something we should have had supplied in the first place... Customer service, now what is that I wonder?

Additional problem guys and Gals.
I initially purchased Vista Basic, and I recently considered upgrading to Vista Home Premium, via the MS Update Anytime site offer.

That's a laugh and a half, as it says on the site with regard to the upgrade. "You will need a Windows Anytime upgrade Disc. The disc may have come with your computer..."

What disc, we didn't get one when the machine was supplied, though of course we did pay extra for the OS install.
Arturox

[beardyman]

Ubuntu can be downloaded for free...... :P

[arturox]

And the relevance of Ubuntu to an MS-Windows Vista discussion is?

Particularly, considering the most important application I use has *not* been ported to Linux.

Arturox

[Coops]

Only Microsoft Windows Upgrade Media or Microsoft Edge to Edge OEM CD's featuring the Windows Anytime Upgrade Logo can be used to perform a Windows Anytime Upgrade of Vista.

Therefore even with Recovery DVD you would not be able to use this for Windows Anytime Upgrade as these Discs do not contain the Vista Windows Anytime upgrade files.

I have noted your comments about the recovery disc and i will pass those on to the relevant people however there is nothing further i can add about this situation at this time other than what has already been said. I will of course let you know if anything changes, but simply there is nothing more i can say.

Best Regards

[arturox]

Thanks for the response.

Lets hit this nail with a slightly different hammer.
If I wanted to upgrade from Vista Basic to (say) Vista Home premium, and I purchased it from Novatech, I assume I'd order the upgrade version, or because it's a complete change from one version to another, would I need an OEM version?

What would I get, a CD or a download?

Arturox

[Coops]

Depending on how you wanted to do this it could be done in more than one way.

You could buy pack version of the software and do reinstall.

or

You could use the Windows Anytime Upgrade which would require you to buy and pay for the upgrade online directly with MS. If you have a Vista CD that contains a Windows Anytime Upgrade Logo on it then you require nothing else. If you don't then you would need to purchase a Windows Anytime upgrade Kit. The purpose of the anytime upgrade files is to allow changing from one OS version to another without reinstalling. This is why you need media that supports this function.

[arturox]

What's a Pack version of the software?

I'd only had the darn machine for a couple of months and had to do a from scratch reinstall, and I certainly don't want that rigmarole again for at least a few years.

I can't get an anytime upgrade, because I don't have an install disk. You guys don't supply disks... And I interpret what your saying is/as...

Even if I bought a copy from you (Catalogue page 51) I would have to do a complete new install, rather than install over my existing copy.
Who knows, I certainly don't anymore.

'Wunce' upon a time, I was enthusiastic about, and really enjoyed computing, using it in my business, and also my hobby, but unfortunately in recent years it has become nothing but a PITA.

Arturox

[Coops]

Pack Being either OEM or Retail.

As i already stated just by having a Vista install disk that does not mean you could use anytime upgrade. ONLY media that contains the Anytime Upgrade Logo can be used for Anytime upgrade. This is because if you do not have the Anytime Upgrade software files you cannot perform the upgrade. Because this process requires special Media, for customers that do not have disc with Anytime Logo on they can request a Disc to do the Anytime Upgrade from Microsoft during the process of purchasing there OS upgrade.

If you bought copy of Windows from us you could do an install over the top however it would depend on which version OS you were starting from and going to. Some allow over the top and some don't.

Best Regards

[arturox]

That is interesting.
Would you know which version From and version To can be installed over?

For example, I have Vista Basic, so would Home Premium install over that?

Thanks
Arturox

Yes.