There are lots of reasons why you’ll need a Boot Recovery Disk. First of all, operating systems are not perfect. And even if they are working good for the moment, if you work daily with your computer chances that a fatal error occurs is big. There are so many software, so many drivers that can conflict with other software, modifying registry in the case of the Windows operating system. They are slowing down and sometimes they affect important services that the kernel which is the core of the operating system needs to function properly. A boot recovery disk can help you restore your operating system saving you from lot of waste time and pain.

Many important computer manufacturers provide now a software accessory which let you to create a restore disk from the hidden restore partition. One of the most important things you must do with a new computer is to find the OEM help files and accessories that come with the PC and to create a restore disk. Alternatively, you can watch the OEM Web site which can provide the software and tools for making such a disk.
For Microsoft and computer vendors is convenient to not provide an actual Windows installation disk with new PCs but this can be a real problem for the end PC user. Problems in the proper function of the Windows operating system can arise from just a single system file or small portions of it. So having an alternative to keep these files is essential. A recovery disk will reformat your partition with the operating system and reinstall a copy of your Windows operating system from the day that you bought it from the computer store. But this isn’t very convenient for you because you’ll loose all the programs that you installed since then, all the settings and if you have documents on that partition they will be lost too. No speaking of updates and patches. Even if you have much things to loose, the operation it will take you at least a few hours. And this is the same if you restore your OS from a hidden partition.

Happily there is a much simpler solution to this problem. There are the so called “cloning software” which are doing as the name says: an image (a clone) of your entire operating system, partition or your entire hard drive depending on you to what choose. It’s very simple to use, very quick and very efficient. It does not require you special advance knowledge of computers, a simple tutorial ca provide you all the information you need to perform alone the entire process. How the cloning programs are working ? A cloning program is not installed on a hard drive, it’s installed in boot floppy disk, a CD or DVD. When you boot your computer you must insert one of these in the media device drive that you have and you select to boot from it. After the components of the program are loaded, a user-friendly screen appears showing you all the options you have. Here you can select to do a clone of your Windows partition to an image. I will not recommend to clone a partition to a hard drive or to another partition unless you have an empty hard disk or partition. Because the process will erase all the information contained in it. But if you write it on an image, you can put it wherever you want (except the partition for which you make the replica) the only condition is to have enough drive space.

Tools that I recommend for such an operation are Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image. The simple help of the programs is sufficient to provide you enough detailed information that you may need.