When In purchased my Accer Aspire earlier this year it came with Vista Home already installed, no disc like I got with XP. What happens If I ever want to format my computer and reinstall Vista? Can I download it and burn it to a CD? Do I have to order it from Windows? I like to keep a copy of my OS handy just in case I need it someday. How can I get one? Thanks, Tom

Acer's tend to have a hidden recovery partition, normally activated on boot with F12 or other F key.
This negates the need for separate recovery discs.

Thanks Ben, Can I burn it to a CD from there? Tom

That I don't know.
Some machine have the ability to produce a restore DVD, but I'm unsure about Acers

Ben, I've gone into the partition and see nothing that says Vista in there. What am I looking fror? Regards, Tom

Normally it's hidden and only accessible from boot up.

From further reading there maybe an Acer folder on the program menu that alows you to create the recovery DVD's.

This should help as well: eRecovery & Recovery CDs - How to Make Those CDs and Regain The Hidden Partition - Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion (http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=70059)

Thanks Ben,
I got into the hidden partition and found it. WOW! It took 7 CD's or 2 DVD'sto burn in Vista recovery. Just wanted you to know that got my backup OK. Thanks, Tom

What's a CD ;)

Glad you found it though.

What's a CD Are you kidding? A compact disc!
One more question! My XP recovery CD took up 700 MB. I was amazed when I was told it would take 7 CD's to burn in a Vista Recvovery Program. I opted for DVD's and it took two full DVD's,( 9.4 gb) before I was finished burning. My question is, What makes Vista take up so much space? Regards, tom

Easy answer Bloatware.
Each progressive Mico$oft operating system is larger than the previous one, mostly due to backwards compatibility, but also due to some lazy programming.

OEM recovery disc's also have inbuilt applications, such as anti-virus trials, etc.
Basically everything you had installed when you first ran the new machine.

Thanks for your help Ben. Thought I would add that Accer has THREE partitions. "C" for the OS and applications, "D" for storage and a third hidden partition that holds the recovery data. Thanks again, Tom

Curly:

Don't you mean "backwards incompatibility"?

Besides, Isn't a CD a "Certificate of Deposit" or a "Worthless piece of paper, the way the economy has been going"?