Custom "Factory" Recovery Disk

[Zuckerton]

So I have another thread open about a hardware issue that I have (which may be solved, but I have to give it a few days to be sure), but I have a software issue at the moment and thought I'd have better luck posting this as a separate question instead of lengthening that one (which wasn't getting much traffic anyway). I apologize in advance for this and for the bit of a long post, but I feel this needs a backstory to add some insight into steps I've already taken.

So I replaced the motherboard in an HP Pavilion P6620f. The motherboard that was in there was an H-Alvorix-RS880-uATX and the motherboard I bought to replace it with was also an H-Alvorix-RS880-uATX, but out of a HP Pavilion P7-1007. That doesn't sound like it should be an issue, however the BIOS version of the old motherboard is version 6.02 whereas the new one runs BIOS version 6.08.

When I put in the recovery disks, I get the "the system recovery does not support this computer" pop up window. When I attempted to write new Recover Disks for it, I get the "Recovery Disks already written for this computer" window.

I was able to use Free Commander to delete the files that tell the PC that Recovery Disks were already made. I was then able to write new ones, but it used the Recovery Partition made by the original discs, which were tied to the Motherboard with the 6.02 BIOS, so it still didn't work.

So what I intend on doing next is installing the OS, then manually download all the software that came stock with the PC from HP. What I would like to do is THEN write a Custom Recovery Disk (the three/four disk setup) that would contain Windows 7 Home Premium and all the software that would auto-install when the disks are inserted.

Is this possible or anyone have any ideas about other ways to go about this? It's my Grandparents PC and they use a lot of the software that came stock with the PC and would like the Restore disks to reinstall everything if something were to happen, such as getting a new Hard Drive.

Thanks in advance.

 

[boosted1g]

Get your system how you want it, install a disk imaging software like macrium reflect and then you can create a disk image of your hard drive and save it to a different partition or a usb key.

You can also have macrium install PE recovery which will give you a boot menu and load recovery software if you ever need it.

 

[Zuckerton]

Get your system how you want it, install a disk imaging software like macrium reflect and then you can create a disk image of your hard drive and save it to a different partition or a usb key.

You can also have macrium install PE recovery which will give you a boot menu and load recovery software if you ever need it.

I was literally just watching a video by Revision3 where they mentioned that. Slipstreaming might be what I'm looking for. Creating a disk that has the OS, Drivers and all the software that came stock on the PC.

My Grandparents are a bit stubborn, they want their Recovery Disks on CDs, but this is in the right direction. Thanks!

 

[boosted1g]

I am sure you could sell them on putting it on a flash drive.

For 1, you only need the 1 flash drive, not 3-5 DVDs. And flash drives don't get all scratched up and unusable.
Not to mention the 8-10x faster read speeds.

 

[USAFRet]

So what I intend on doing next is installing the OS, then manually download all the software that came stock with the PC from HP. What I would like to do is THEN write a Custom Recovery Disk (the three/four disk setup) that would contain Windows 7 Home Premium and all the software that would auto-install when the disks are inserted.

32 or 64GB USB stick
1 x DVD
Macrium Reflect

1. Once the system is built and configured, run Macrium Reflect and create an image on that USB.
2. Create the Macrium Recovery environment on the DVD.

Tape both of these inside the case, so they do not get lost.

When you need to reconstitute the system, pull them out
Plug in the USB
Boot from the DVD
Restore the system to the day you created that USB.

 

[Zuckerton]

I am sure you could sell them on putting it on a flash drive.

For 1, you only need the 1 flash drive, not 3-5 DVDs. And flash drives don't get all scratched up and unusable.
Not to mention the 8-10x faster read speeds.

Something I've been trying to do. The reason they want them on DVDs (aside from being used to them) is that they have a whole big thing of blanks DVDs and a 64gb flash drive is still like $20 at Walmart. The way they see it is: Why spend $20 for that when they have a pack 50 DVDs.

I know the advantages and am trying to sell them on it, but I'm just looking into the options to see what's available.

 

[USAFRet]

Something I've been trying to do. The reason they want them on DVDs (aside from being used to them) is that they have a whole big thing of blanks DVDs and a 64gb flash drive is still like $20 at Walmart. The way they see it is: Why spend $20 for that when they have a pack 50 DVDs.

I know the advantages and am trying to sell them on it, but I'm just looking into the options to see what's available.

That's 50 more chances of fail.

 

[Zuckerton]

Something I've been trying to do. The reason they want them on DVDs (aside from being used to them) is that they have a whole big thing of blanks DVDs and a 64gb flash drive is still like $20 at Walmart. The way they see it is: Why spend $20 for that when they have a pack 50 DVDs.

I know the advantages and am trying to sell them on it, but I'm just looking into the options to see what's available.

That's 50 more chances of fail.

Their DVDs from 6 years ago still worked just fine when I used them on the old motherboard just a few days ago.

I still have a copy of XP I burned over 10 years ago that I used to restore an old laptop just a few weeks ago.

I've actually had more flash drives fail than I have DVDs. They get corrupted and/or say they need formatted or that their format isn't supported by the computer despite working on it before.

I'm still trying to sell them on the Flash Drives, but saying they're more reliable than DVDs is a bit of a stretch.

 

[USAFRet]

I also have older DVDs that work just fine.
But, if you have a sequence of 10 DVD's, and you must have ALL of them, in order...a scratch in DVD #6 invalidates the whole stack. You can't just skip it.


But...for a new OS install with the drivers, updates, and a minimal stack of software....10 DVD's should do it.
And Macrium Reflect will do it to a stack of DVD's.

 

[Zuckerton]

I also have older DVDs that work just fine.
But, if you have a sequence of 10 DVD's, and you must have ALL of them, in order...a scratch in DVD #6 invalidates the whole stack. You can't just skip it.


But...for a new OS install with the drivers, updates, and a minimal stack of software....10 DVD's should do it.
And Macrium Reflect will do it to a stack of DVD's.

I concur entirely. Though the Recovery disks you get from the companies holds everything you need on 3 disks. That has my curiosity piqued.

 

[USAFRet]

I also have older DVDs that work just fine.
But, if you have a sequence of 10 DVD's, and you must have ALL of them, in order...a scratch in DVD #6 invalidates the whole stack. You can't just skip it.


But...for a new OS install with the drivers, updates, and a minimal stack of software....10 DVD's should do it.
And Macrium Reflect will do it to a stack of DVD's.

I concur entirely. Though the Recovery disks you get from the companies holds everything you need on 3 disks. That has my curiosity piqued.

Highly compressed, OS and everything else.
The Macrium will do the actual installed OS, drivers, current updates, and whatever other software the user had installed at that time.
Figure 40GB or so.

A Macrium image of my current Win 10 Pro system, with ALL my installed software, is around 75GB.

I have an image created nightly on a different internal drive, and weekly on a different PC.
Fully automated.

 

[Zuckerton]

I also have older DVDs that work just fine.
But, if you have a sequence of 10 DVD's, and you must have ALL of them, in order...a scratch in DVD #6 invalidates the whole stack. You can't just skip it.


But...for a new OS install with the drivers, updates, and a minimal stack of software....10 DVD's should do it.
And Macrium Reflect will do it to a stack of DVD's.

I concur entirely. Though the Recovery disks you get from the companies holds everything you need on 3 disks. That has my curiosity piqued.

Highly compressed, OS and everything else.
The Macrium will do the actual installed OS, drivers, current updates, and whatever other software the user had installed at that time.
Figure 40GB or so.

A Macrium image of my current Win 10 Pro system, with ALL my installed software, is around 75GB.

I have an image created nightly on a different internal drive, and weekly on a different PC.
Fully automated.

That's nice. They want me to set their PC to do automatic backup after I get it all set up the way they want it. That's something I'll be looking into after getting this sorted out.

I may just buy them a flash drive anyway. I'd rather spend the $20 myself than spend all my time at PC burning DVDs.

 

[Zuckerton]

I also have older DVDs that work just fine.
But, if you have a sequence of 10 DVD's, and you must have ALL of them, in order...a scratch in DVD #6 invalidates the whole stack. You can't just skip it.


But...for a new OS install with the drivers, updates, and a minimal stack of software....10 DVD's should do it.
And Macrium Reflect will do it to a stack of DVD's.

I concur entirely. Though the Recovery disks you get from the companies holds everything you need on 3 disks. That has my curiosity piqued.

Highly compressed, OS and everything else.
The Macrium will do the actual installed OS, drivers, current updates, and whatever other software the user had installed at that time.
Figure 40GB or so.

A Macrium image of my current Win 10 Pro system, with ALL my installed software, is around 75GB.

I have an image created nightly on a different internal drive, and weekly on a different PC.
Fully automated.

I used Macrium Reflect to create a System Image of their Computer. It wasn't 75GB, I was able to fit it all onto 4 DVDs.