Creating Recovery Media for HP Computers

Before you begin:
If you are creating recovery discs, ensure that you have several blank DVD±R discs. Note that you cannot use DVD±RW or DVD±R DL discs to create the recovery media.

Close all open applications. You will not be able to use the computer while it is creating the recovery media.

You can use HP Recovery Manager to create a personal set of recovery discs. When you select the Recovery disc creation process, the HP Recovery Manager examines the PC and determines how many blank DVD discs will be required. Depending on the model, you will need up to three DVD-R or DVD+R discs. The creation process can take up to an hour or more. Do not interrupt the creation process.

Create a set of operating system recovery discs by following the steps below.

1. Click Start and type "recovery" without the quotes in the search field. Select Recovery Manager from the list to open the HP Recovery Manager window. Alternatively you can click Start , All Programs , Recovery Manager , and then Recovery Manager.

2. When the Recovery Manager application opens, click Recovery Disc Creation. The computer will restart and launch the Recovery Manager again.

3. Select Recovery Disc Creation again to start the process. The program will appear to pause for about ten minutes while it examines the computer and calculates how many DVD-R or DVD+R discs are needed. Do not interrupt this process. The discs must be either DVD-R, or DVD+R. Do not use DVD-R/W read/write type discs because the creation process will fail.

4. When prompted, put a blank disc in the DVD drive and follow the on-screen instructions to create the recovery discs.

5. After all of the recovery discs are created, label the discs and store them in a safe place.

Reference:
HP Support. Creating the Recovery Disc Set in Windows 7.
http://bit.ly/ftJRKW

HP Support. Creating the Recovery Disc Set in Windows XP.
http://bit.ly/evR90I