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Is there anyway to verify that the hidden recovery system on a HP computer is in the state expected, or download it from HP?

UPDATE: The context of the request is that while I know nothing about "recovery" media, want to make sure that someone has not modified the recovery partition; aka a hacker. Meaning if buying a used system, is there anyway to confirm that the state of the recovery system is in the same state as when it left the manufacturer, and the no wrapper, virus, etc - has not seeded itself in such a way that the use of the "recovery" media to erase the system is meaningless.

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  1. No, about all you can do is use F11 at powerup of the PC to see if recovery loads, you can abort recovery once it loads.

  2. No, Recovery partition can be re-created by using the HP recovery disc set, if you did not make a set you can order a set from HP, Just a note**, using recovery disc set or recovery partition will wipe all data from the drive and return it to a factory installed state.

Windows 7?

How to make a HP recovery disc set Other Recovery Information on this page also.

Order Recovery Disc set (USA) You only need to order a set if you cannot make them for some reason, or did not make then and the PC no longer loads Windows for some reason.

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+1 @Moab: Great, thanks - ordering the recovery disk appears to be the solution then, since I was holding out hope that the might publish a hash to due a checksum either manually onload, or by booting from a Linux USB drive to due the check. – blunders Jan 18 '12 at 3:24
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@blunders You can make your own set if Windows is bootable, is it? Or do you suspect the restore image is bad? – Moab Jan 18 '12 at 16:04
+1 I see, seems it's possible you misunderstood my goal. Me knowing nothing about "recovery" media, want to make sure that someone has not modified the recovery partition; aka a hacker. Context is buying a used system. More questions, just ask! (And no, based on the logic I just presented burning a recovery disk of a system whois orgin is unknown, is not a good fit for me.) – blunders Jan 18 '12 at 17:11
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@blunders you might edit your question to include this new information. – Moab Jan 18 '12 at 17:51
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@blunders I might have dug a little deeper if it is possible to verify, there are no HP documents on this but does not mean I could not come up with a way, I don't usually go to great lengths for no real reason. – Moab Jan 18 '12 at 22:50
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