Is recovery possible if recovery partition says its 100% free?

Hi

I earlier wanted to format my Lenovo laptop (with vista home basic SP1) but then dropped the idea when i found out i had not received the vista OS disc with the laptop.

Now i discovered tht a recovery cud be made from my computer itself through the recovery partition, but when i checked, the recovery partition SCREAMS THAT ITS 100% FREE! , although I have never formatted it since i bought it!
It was my understanding that a recovery is pre-installed...

Now i need to know if a recovery is still possible....!

As a bonus, my DVD optical drive is also not working!

Please help!

Thanks in advance!

Welcome
I would not be concerned, the partition is not the way to go, anyway. If you use the partition you must upadate, install software, change settings etc. Why not use the free Macrium Reflect, put an image on your hard drive (upadate once a month). When disaster comes use the image to reinstall. Hey its free and you do not have to worry about reinstalling software etc.
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
For the record the partion should really be there. You could donwload the free windirstat and see just what is on that hard drive.

For the record the partition is probably there, but they usually hide it. In that case Windirstat may not be of benefit, either.

EDIT: In addition, if you put the image on your external hard drive (as you should) you have protection even if the HD fails.

As a little addition to what Rich says, here is a tutorial on how to use free Macrium. It appears on the Win7 forum but works the same in Vista.

Imaging with free Macrium - Windows 7 Forums

thank you for ur valued replies guys!

but the issue is that I DO want to reset my computer to the default condition it was in when i bought it. currently my drivers are all messed up, and i'm not able to reinstall them either. theres many instances of softwares n games that i cant get rid of even through add/remove programs and complete deletion of the files n folders.

in short the pc has gone nuts and i'm trying to wipe the slate clean..! :huh:

now since it didn't come with a vista installation disk i was kinda hoping the recovery drive wud help me, but since it says that there's no info on it, i'd like to know IF I CAN RECOVER THE DEFAULT SETTINGS...

WHS and I agree, you probably have the recovery partition. We say the it is most likely that you can restore from that partition.

any ideas how..?

Boot the computer and then repeatedly hit f11
Hidden partition

thanks for trying to helping out richc46 !

unfortunately the F11 thing didn't work ...guess it was for older systems. n after countless hours of surfing the forums for a solution, it finally dawned on me to CALL the lenovo support (duh!).

but sadly, the tech support guy said tht since i had made an extra partition in addition to the two measly partitions tht come as company standard; and because the company is too cheap to provide the users with a dvd of the OS tht has been rightfully bought by the customer, ...i can't use the recovery partition to return my pc back to the default setting!

this is just outrageous, aint it!? i mean who wud keep just two partitions!!? n if that was the case, they shud put "DON'T CHANGE THE NO OF PARTITIONS" on the dam wallpaper!! cuz i'm sure as hell tht no salesman wud warn u abt this when u buy the stupid product!


oh and another thing... the drivers on the lenovo website havent been updated since 2007-08! this company is full of bull.... !

Hmm, it does not look good. Unfortunately there is no legal Vista.iso on the web - see here.. That is strange though since there is a legal Windows 7 .iso on the web. But that does not help you.

One option you might want to entertain is to download and install the free Windows 8 Consumer Preview. That works very well and will be operational until mid Jan. 2012 - but it is a bit different. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/consumer-preview

Another option you have, of course, is to find someone who has a Vista installation disc with your edition (e.g. Home Premium). Install with that and apply the product key that is on the COA sticker of your PC.

Send me a private mesage with your postal address and I will end you a copy of my install disc.
It will give you Vista only with no software supplied by the computer maker.
I have a Toshiba laptop and I have reformated and installed just vista.
All versions are on the disc but you can only install the version you have the key for.(what the computer had)
Download ABR from here and save your key to a usb stick for reinstalling.

http://directedge.us/content/abr-activation-backup-and-restore?page=5

wow u guys are the most helpful bunch i've ever come across online! many thanks to WHS, RICHC46 and ILIKEFREE !

@whs: it really is quite strange tht MS does not provide vista online, especially since it has now stopped selling it officially. If ur not selling it, why not put it out? STRANGE!
i gave installing W8 a good, long thought cuz it looks so awesome... but since it is only a preview n not completely bug-free, i guess i'll wait for the official release of W8, n stick to vista for now...
guess ur right... i'll have to find a friend with a vista installation disk. thanks for the suggestions!


@ilikefree: it is really very thoughtful and courteous of u to offer mailing me the disk, but since you're in NZ n i'm in India, i wouldn't want to burden you with the huge cost of sending it across nations..!
it wud, however, be gr8 if u cud mayb share the Vista Home Basic SP1 iso online (on dropbox, or something similar) for me to d/l here. since u wudnt be sharing the product key, i dont think it wud be illegal. completely your call... no pressure.

also, thanks for the ABR software tip! seems pretty good and safe to use. Just one question... do i use it before or after reinstalling vista, cuz i wanted to do a complete format as my drivers are acting crazy n its better if i install them afresh! i dont want any drivers or settings info saved to be re-used after the re-install...
thanks again!

Quote:
also, thanks for the ABR software tip! seems pretty good and safe to use. Just one question... do i use it before or after reinstalling vista, cuz i wanted to do a complete format as my drivers are acting crazy n its better if i install them afresh! i dont want any drivers or settings info saved to be re-used after the re-install...
thanks again!

You use it both now and after reinstalling
It will search your computer to find your key and save it to a text file
After you reinstall run it again and it will install the key where it should be.
If it fails just open the text file and copy and paste the key into the box that opens when you click activate
I can send you a disc at a normal letter rate and have sent them to Australia and USA for other forum members.
As you say your dvd reader is not working you would have to fix that first to use it.
I will look into the dropbox idea later today.

OK have put it on dropbox but it will take a while to upload.
It is a retail disc and has all versions of Vista on.
To activate it you will HAVE to select the version you paid for as that is the only version your key will work on.
All programs supplied by the computer manufacturer will be gone after you install Vista.