Can I make a Windows recovery disk for my vintage laptop?

C

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My Dell Vostro laptop running Windows Vista Business is giving more than a few problems, so I'd like to wipe out Windows and start again from scratch. I didn't make a recovery disk when it was new - is it possible for me to make a recovery disk now, and reinstall the OS myself?

There is a recovery partition d:, but I think that this is for restoring recent system updates - not for going back to start again from scratch.

Any ideas?
 
Tbh I wouldn't bother. Get a copy of windows 7 - it will be like you put a turbocharger into your laptop compared to vista. The resource requirements are way lower than vista.
 
Win7 is not without its problems either. Trying to get correct drivers can end with many blue screens. Press Ctrl and F11 when the Dell splash screen appears will get you into the recovery partition. You have to be quick or you'll miss the brief window of opportunity. Be prepared for many many updates.....
 
Thanks for the suggestions, folks. I'm trying the Ctrl-F11 thing during startup, without success. I don't get a Dell splash screen at all, as it happens. I goes through some BIOS stuff, and then straight into Windows.

All suggestions welcome.
 
One suggestion. Try going into the bios and disabling fast boot or its sometimes called quick boot. That might let you see the dell splash screen.
 
It would be no harm in noting all the hardware and drivers on your machine now while its still running, so if you do have a problem you know what was installed prevously. Use something like http://www.piriform.com/speccy. Also while its a good idea to make a recovery disk, of the original Vista. I would also move to Windows 7. Its vastly better than Vista.
 
Have you tried contacting Dell to see if they can provide you with recovery/reinstallation media for this model? I believe that they used to do this. Not sure if they still do?
 
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