Recovery Disks
Traditionally computers have come with recovery disks (or system disks) containing the operating system, and all the software that allows the computer user to reinstall the operating system and the software that came with the computer. Recently, rather than selling a computer with recovery disks, some computer vendors are expecting users to make their own recovery disks from a recovery partition on the hard drive. This saves money because there is no need to ship a disk with the computer, but it is in no way good for the computer buyer.
Most people use their computer for regular tasks such as working with documents, spreadsheets, email, and browsing the web. They do not know about the complex inner workings of their computer, nor how their machine setup can affect data loss. Do computer companies expect these regular people to make their own recovery disk? INSANE! They will not do this. The only time they will want to do it is when their computer crashes and they need the recovery disk. Then they go through the box of goodies that came with the machine only to find they have been given a piece of paper with a picture of a disk printed on it telling them they should make a recovery disk from their now broken machine. Genius!
Worse still, from my investigation, it seems that the recovery partition is not on a separate hard disk in the computer, but just a different partition on the same hard drive. CRAZY! To the user, it appears as a different disk, but it is just a different partition. Regular users do not know the difference. They have never heard of partitions. If the hard drive crashes, the recovery partition is useless!
Not including a recovery disk does not save any money. If the user is expected to make their own disk they first must buy the blank media (most probably in a spindle of at least 10 disks) and then take the time to burn it. The computer vendor is the perfect low cost producer of these disks. Save us the hassle, please!
Computer buyers, never buy a computer if it does not come with recovery disks. Ask the assistant in the store, “Does this come with recovery disks? Tell me about them.” If there are no recovery disks do not buy the computer, walk out of the store.
© Danny Haynes
