Recovery disc Vista version

[tomreid]

Hi

I managed to wipe out my recovery sector on my HD before I made recovery discs. My support has expired and I see that HP will ship Windows recovery discs for a small fee.

However when I check the system spec of the machine they shipped in 2009 I see that it states it was shipped with: "Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)" but when I check the options available on the webpage for the recovery software they will ship I only see: "Vista Home Premium 32b 91NAv3PcA1 SP1 + Supp 4 Recovery Kit".

Is it an issue if I re-install the system with the 32bit version? Will the install process detect that this was not the OS the system originally shipped with? Why are there no recovery disc options for the 64 bit version?

cheers

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

It shouldn't matter, unless you have installed more than 4 GB of memory in your PC. A 32 bit system can only "see" 4 GB. If you have more than 4 GB of memory in there, you don't need to remove it. It just wont use whatever is in excess of 4 GB.

A 32 bit OS will work fine with 64 bit hardware. You may want to check to see if there are 32 bit drivers readily available on your PC's support page. I can't check that for you, since you didn't provide the model number of your PC.

If there aren't 32 bit drivers listed for your OS, you would see what 64 bit drivers are there and you can do a search on HP's support website for their 32 bit counterparts.

However, a decent recovery disk set will have loaded the drivers for you, so that shouldn't matter either.

The recovery disk set should not need to be activated. If you look at the COA sticker on your machine, I would be surprised if it stated it was Vista 64 bit. It probably just states it is "Windows Vista Home Premium OEM Act."

As for your last question, you will need to direct that to HP when you talk to them to order a recovery disk set. Maybe they do have one.

Paul

[tomreid]

thanks