System Recovery CD.

A friend has a system which came with a System Recovery CD, which he would like to use because of a real problem he has encountered.

When I read up on this Recovery Utility however, it was unclear as to whether the O/S alone would be repaired, or whether it would wipe out all his Programs and other Data as well, as in - Format the HD and start again.

Would anyone happen to know how this works?

Many Thanks.

 

If it's a Dell computer, the restore CD should offer the option to do a repair install, which should leave the data intact.

Otherwise, start the computer with the CD in the CD drive and see what options it offers. If you're unsure, cancel the installation, post back with exactly what it says it's going to do and somebody will try to help interpret what it's telling you.

 

BreezyCricket--By all means, do as Miz has suggested. But if this problem occurred just recently might either running scanreg /restore or System Recovery do the job? If you tell us the operating system involved, I, or someone, can give you the specific instructions if you do not know them.
FWIW, however, my Dell PC came with a PC called Operating System and I am told that will only restore the OS when used.
Whereas, my IBM came with a CD called Product Recovery, and I know from experience that it wipes everything, so you must reinstall all programs, hardware, personal data, etc. If your friend can backup the personal stuff to external storage (like CD, DVD or even the online storage that many ISPs and email providers now offer) that might be a solution. I assume he has the CD's for the other software/hardware, etc, so, while a nuisance and time consuming ,they can be easily reinstalled.
P.S. If you know how to slave her HD to yours that would be another way to save data. What a friend!
P.P.S. There are some who say that if all you have is a Product Recovery CD and the OS is prior to WinME, you can restore just the OS from the rbxxx.cab files which should be on the HardDrive. But I have never done it and would not know where to find "instructions ".

 

Unfortunately, any solution would now appear to be academic, because when I called on him again, I found that he had decided that there was not ^all^ that much on the PC so he had gone the - Format and Re-Install route.

Many Thanks for the replies.