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Explore HP Recovery Partition. Make more recovey DVDs?

post #1 of 19
1/2/07 at 3:18pm
Thread Starter 
I just received my HP Pavilion dv9075.
After instaling TOTAL COMMANDER and enabling show hidden files i could explore the entire recovery partition.


I made 2 recovery dvd (the second is scratched but I can still see the files) so I compared the files with those from the hidden recovery partition. They are the same. Only some files are not present but the structure of folders and the sizes are the same.

I also managed to copy the files from the recovery partition on an external hdd. I have noticed that it contains boot.ini file and others............ that means boot instruction.

My ideea... to copy all these files on another partion and from there burn it.

This parition is too big for one dvd so it will need a dual layer.

Maybe it will work to burn all the files on one dual layer dvd and use it as a recovery DVD.
That means that the limit of only one DVD from HP recovery tool may be gone.
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post #2 of 19
1/2/07 at 8:13pm
Whats to stop you from making the the original limited copy (1) recovery dvd, then making copies of the the recovery dvd itself? rather than new copies from the backup partition???
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post #3 of 19
1/2/07 at 9:30pm
Thread Starter 
I can not make copies of the dvds because the second one is scratched
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post #4 of 19
1/3/07 at 1:45am
Well that sucks, maybe next time make 2-3 copies to begin with to avoid this situation.

On a more positive note, scratched Disks are now fixed pretty easy in most cases! They have do it yourself kits all over the place, and for a small fee like 5.00$usd ALL my local GameCrazy's do disc repair!!! It doesnt work everytime, but the guys there says it works most of the time. For 5$ Id gve it a shot, prolly easier than any other route, and if it does work, make yourself 2-3 backup copies just in case!!!
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post #5 of 19
1/3/07 at 10:04am
Thread Starter 
I read here on some topic that there is a utility from HP that lets you make one more backup?
Does anyone knows about this?
I could not find it
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post #6 of 19
1/4/07 at 3:24am
On the dv9008tx, you can use windows search (include hidden files and folders, show known file extensions) to find the following file: hpcd.sys

There will be 2 copies,1 in C:\WINDOWS\SMINST and 1 in E:\

Just rename them to .bak and you can use the HP PC Recovery disc creater again.
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post #7 of 19
1/4/07 at 3:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zodie
On the dv9008tx, you can use windows search (include hidden files and folders, show known file extensions) to find the following file: hpcd.sys

There will be 2 copies,1 in C:\\WINDOWS\\SMINST and 1 in E:\\

Just rename them to .bak and you can use the HP PC Recovery disc creater again.

Wow Clutch info!!!! Ill remember that when my HP arrives next week, although Ill prolly never need or use it, its still a great piece of information!
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post #8 of 19
1/4/07 at 8:36am
Thread Starter 
It is working.
Now I have my backup on a dual layerd dvd.

Thanks a lot Zodie.
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post #9 of 19
1/9/08 at 5:48am
well i'm not so lucky here with my DV6000t.

i can't find the hpcd.sys in my C:\WINDOWS\SMINST folder and it is only in E:/

the content in it is: c:\Temp\HPCD.sys

when i change to bak, i get the message saying thagt 'this computer does not have a drive capable of creating CDs or DVDS. Contact HP support'

any idea how to get around this?
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post #10 of 19
1/31/08 at 4:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zodie View Post
On the dv9008tx, you can use windows search (include hidden files and folders, show known file extensions) to find the following file: hpcd.sys There will be 2 copies,1 in C:\\WINDOWS\\SMINST and 1 in E:\\ Just rename them to .bak and you can use the HP PC Recovery disc creater again.
Dude! You rock! Why this information isn't a sticky is beyond me?? Time to delete that 8G partition, now that I have my back up DVD's Now if I could get some PC 3200 SoDimm, that would rock!
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post #11 of 19
2/1/08 at 11:30am
Does this thing with the file hpcd.sys work with Vista or it works only with XP?
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post #12 of 19
2/5/08 at 3:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sofg View Post
Does this thing with the file hpcd.sys work with Vista or it works only with XP?
I will load vista and let you know.
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post #13 of 19
12/11/08 at 12:42pm
Yes, deleting HPCD.SYS works fine for Vista too.

Sometimes, HPCD.SYS is in the Recovery partition, sometimes it is in %windir%\SMINST (hidden).

My question is: is there a way to make recovery retain partitions other than the C: drive? If I have a D: partition, how can I prevent recovery from wiping it out? Without this, I have to back up everything before recovering from DVDs.

Thanks.
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post #14 of 19
2/1/09 at 5:57pm
hi peeps,

I have found HPCD.SYS file on my C:,
but its bin deleted from my E:

Does anybody know what i can Do?


Thanks
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post #15 of 19
2/2/09 at 8:52am
Tried going back to post#1 above and going through the motion? Taking that you wanted to make recovery CDs.

cheers ...
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post #16 of 19
8/6/09 at 1:30am
why not get an external hard drive and use a program called snapshot of the entire hard drive laptop hard drive.
this way it is a complete image and when you want to get it back, reimage the hard drive and u will still have the hidden partitions etc.
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post #17 of 19
8/6/09 at 2:24am
Sensible suggestion :-)

cheers ...
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post #18 of 19
12/30/11 at 2:36am

 

Hi,
 
I've got a new HP which doesn't generate the hpcd.sys file once you've created a media set.
 
On my Windows 7 Home Premium x64 box I found you need to delete the files called "hpdrcu.prc".
 
This file will be located on our recovery partition and in the Program Data folder as follows:
 
c:\ProgramData\Hewlett-Packard\Recovery\hpdrcu.prc
d:\hpdrcu.prc
 
After deleting these files using WinRAR I can now make another media set.
 
My original USB media set failed to work straight after creation and DVD set I've now made works fine.
 
This must be a good money spinner for HP as most people wont know how to make aditional media sets.
 
Hope this helps, and thank you to MathX from Brazil who pointed me in the correct direction.
 
Regards,
 
Sam Magee
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post #19 of 19
12/30/11 at 7:10am
Nice tip - thanks

cheers ...
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