There's an option on my Pavillion Entertainment laptop to backup files directly on my computer. It sounded smart, so I attempted to do it, but I didn't have enough space available at the time. I've since cleaned out my hard drive to a much smaller size and limited my backup options to just pictures and documents, but my HP Recovery center is full from the last time I tried to back it up. I guess it saved shadow copies or whatever it could? Now my computer constantly warns me that I have limited space on my recovery drive available but it doesn't give me options on how to clean it up. I just want to clear whatever is there so I can attempt to backup my pictures again. It won't let me access the files because it says WARNING TOUCHING THESE FILES WILL MESS THINGS UP! or something. Any ideas on how to free up the space or clear it so I can try backing up again?

6/18/2008 2:48:38 PM

boot into safe mode and try deleting them from there.

6/18/2008 2:53:37 PM

Do yourself a favor and backup to an external drive or another computer.

6/18/2008 2:54:05 PM

the main reason for keeping a backup is in case your hard disk fails, so there isn't much point in keeping backups on the same disk

i'd recommend turning them off and signing up to a service like mozy: http://mozy.com/

the free version provides 2 gigs of storage space and it's $4.95/month for unlimited storage

6/18/2008 2:58:06 PM

The recovery console is the partition HP uses to reinstall the OS (since they didn't give you restore CD's). They generally make it just big enough for the recovery size so not to waste HDD space.

There is a registry fix somewhere that allows you to turn off that notice. That would be my suggestion.

Also - go to System Help (or HP might have a separate utility) and create the restore discs. If your HDD dies so does your recovery partition which means you have no way of reinstalling the OS without contacting HP (and they usually charge $ for those CD's unless you bitch a lot).

6/18/2008 3:40:09 PM

Okay that's good to know. I will back it up on discs.. that's smart. I'd still like to free the space since it obnoxiously warns me like every 10 minutes... how do i "boot into safe mode" or find the "regsitry fix"??

6/18/2008 7:27:59 PM

tweakui i believe will let you change the registry setting for that

if it doesnt, then tweakxp definitely will

6/18/2008 7:39:20 PM

those are not even words. can someone please dumb down this advice for a stupid blonde girl? thanks!!

6/18/2008 8:10:14 PM