Z420 recovery

Since HP no longer provides the recovery D: partition or HP_TOOLS partition on their recovery media, I am out of luck.  Would anyone like to send me a copy of their partitions so I can reinstall.  I would be happy to work with anyone on this.
HP Z Series Workstations - HP is Changing the Recovery Media Solution
Release Date: 2014-06-09
Last Updated: 2014-06-09
DETAILS OF CHANGEEffective July 1, 2014, HP is changing the recovery media solution offered for HP Z420, Z620, and Z820 Workstations running Windows 7 Professional.
Current and past Cyberlink Recovery Media consisted of the image shipped from the factory split between multiple DVDs. The new recovery method has a specific operating system version on one DVD, and another DVD which contains hardware enabling drivers as well as certain applications that come preinstalled on the system.
SUPPORT URLhttp://www.hp.com/go/bizsupport
REASON FOR CHANGEThis change allows the customer to select the destination drive for the operating system, as well as the hard drive partition.
IMPACT OF CHANGEThe recovery image will no longer be the same as the image shipped on the system from the factory. The operating system installation will resemble an installation from Microsoft media.
A restore to the factory image will remain available on the hard drive, via the F11 HP System Recovery process.
DATE OF CHANGEEffective Date: 2014-07-01
Hardware Platforms Affected: HP Z420 Workstation, HP Z620 Workstation, HP Z820 Workstation
Components Affected: HP Z Series Workstation Recovery Media
This question was solved.
View Solution.

You might get better assistance on the HP Enterprise Business Forum since you have a business class PC.
HP DV9700, t9300, Nvidia 8600, 4GB, Crucial C300 128GB SSD
HP Photosmart Premium C309G, HP Photosmart 6520
HP Touchpad, HP Chromebook 11
Custom i7-4770k,Z-87, 8GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650,GTX 760
Custom i7-4790k,Z-97, 16GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Plextor M.2 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650, GTX 660TI
Windows 7/8 UEFI/Legacy mode, MBR/GPT

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    Would like to start out with a big shout out to Paul T for his VERY useful thread here !    http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Operating-Systems-and-Software/Windows-8-Product-Key-for-Pavilion-G6/m-p/3882966/highlight/false#M205987 A friend's family asked me to work on their laptop since I know more about computers than they do ... they're very good people, was happy to help them out but true to form like a lot of PC users they didn't bother keeping ANY of the documentation that came with the laptop (HP Pavilion g6-2298nr ), nor did they bother to burn recovery DVD's using HP's built in recovery software program that comes standard on the laptops... if I'm interpreting what HP's website had to say about the laptop , model HP Pavilion g6-2298nr, correctly, according to it's serial number it no longer qualifies for free tech support and I'd have to pay HP a fee just to talk to someone and order  the recovery DVD's  (friend's family bought it back in Dec 2014  so to me it seems REALLY strange that I wouldn't be able to just order the recovery DVD's without having to pay tech support a fee just to ask to order  the recover DVD's !  .. but anyways...)...  This is where having the product key "built into" the BIOS really comes in handy !   I crossed my fingers, used the method mentioned in the thread linked above, and it worked !    ... have to admit it was a bit strange at first not using the product key sticker like the old days but I can see how this works better in the long run - helps to prevent piracy, you don't have to worry if someone who doesn't realize the importance of the product key sticker peels it off and throws it away ... Unfortunately it looks like when you reinstall Windows this way you lose the HP Backup and Recovery Program     ... in this case my friend's family had the misfortune of paying someone to repair this laptop who didn't bother to tell them " Hey, I replaced the hard drive that's going bad but if you don't get a laptop cooler for this sucker the laptop's just going to overheat again ! " ... sure enough, the money they paid this so called "tech repair" person went down the drain when the laptop fried a second hard drive, or maybe the tech saddled them with a bad hard drive who knows? (the tech bought an OEM hard drive off ebay) ... ... sorry to sound harsh about this tech guy, I will admit I only worked in the PC repair field for a few months over a decade ago before leaving it to be a stay-at-home-dad (wife is a pharmacist so I'm lucky enough to be able to stay home) so my experience is VERY limited compared to other people .. but back then  I always treated my customers the way I'd treat a friend, and if it's a friend you offer advice on how to prevent problems like this in the future... this laptop gets HOT like you wouldn't believe , I have it sitting on a very reliable laptop cooler (thick slab of aluminum that does a great job as a heatsink with fans, this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834953038 and I've let my friend's family know in no uncertain terms they need to order this laptop cooler if they're going to use this laptop) ...  The hard drive  replacement I installed seems to be working fine but of course it's not an "official WD hard drive" .... when I tried to install the photolink cyberdirector software for example at the link below got  a " this isn't a WD hard drive so can't install this software" error message...  http://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-g6-2200-notebook-pc-series/5296082/model/5333338#Z7_3054ICK0K8UDA0AQC11TA930O2 which is fine I really don't think my friend's family will care about that program... but it makes me wonder, even if I trusted the download at this link below http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5190-hp-backup-and-recovery-manager.html if the HP Backup and Recovery manager program would even work to begin with since it's not an official WD hard drive (I also ordered an OEM hard  drive  off ebay    .. but not charging my friend's family for the hard drive since they've been good to my munchkins and didn't want them to pay through the nose for a more  expensive hard drive so of course I wanted to minimize my own expenses...)... also I think that sort of program relies on a " C " and " D " drive being set up like it was when the laptop shipped with the original hard drive and saves a backup copy on the " D " drive.. I suppose I could use disk management to create a different partition, label it " D " and see if HP Backup and Recovery worked but it seems a bit.. iffy... not to mention that I feel uncomfortable downloading something that isn't directly on HP's website as an "official" download...  I  know that Windows 8 has a "system image"  utility built into it that lets you make just that.. a system image.. like I said my friend's family are good people but I'm guessing sooner or later they're going to screw this laptop up again like a lot of computer users do .. it would be nice if I could burn a system image of what's on the laptop right now onto DVD and hang onto it so when they come back to me in the future hollering "Help , laptop isn't working again ! " I can just restore from the system image on DVD rather than having to go through the hassle of reinstalling Windows, graphics/audio/et cetera drivers, zillion and one Windows updates et cetera all over  again. What I'm wondering is... would this even work?    I've never tried to use system image in a situation like this with the product key being "built into" the BIOS , that sort of thing is brand new to me... is it worth burning the DVD's and hanging onto them just in case?  Sorry for the long essay and thanks in advance to anyone who actually takes the time to read all of this !    

    Thanks man it's really helpful to know that someone else has used this exact same method successfully to back up their HP computers !      Will do just that... yep, yep I know it'll be at least 10 DVD's or something crazy like that after all those windows updates download    ... problem with using an external hard drive is I can't convince my friend's family to buy one no matter how many times I warn them it's not "if" your PC gets messed up it's " when "    ..... and my external hard drives are all in use with system image backups of my own PC's ... so will burn the DVD's for 'em then just hang on to them and wait for the inevitable   And thanks for the kind words about my work for them too !    .. it's a lot of effort but they've been super nice to me so it's the least I can do  ... they're actually parents of one of my daughter's best friends and  they've taken my munchkin out to various places and flat out refused to let me pay them back for it so it feels good to be able to help them out this way... though I wish they'd come to me first instead of letting themselves get ripped off by the so called PC tech I mentioned earlier (would it have killed the guy to burn them a set of recovery DVD's?   Heck if he wanted to be selfish and greedy he could have just offered it to them for an "additional fee" but it would have saved them and me a lot of trouble !    Though I'm not sure if the recovery DVD's would cooperate given that it's not an "official HP hard drive" I put in there? ) It occured to me that if I call tech support they probably can't charge me if I don't give them a credit card number   .. so I did (1-888-698-3762).. they said the warranty on this laptop expired Dec 2013 !     Friend's family said they bought it in Dec 2014 from QVC, hope QVC didn't sell them a used laptop !   ... HP wanted over a hundred dollars for an "official" HP hard drive said no thanks to that... HP says despite me putting in a non-HP hard drive that recovery DVD's should work ... HP wanted  $     for recovery DVD's (tried to help me order recovery  DVD's off  HP website, they couldn't find the link on there to them either for some reason... maybe 'cause laptop is an older model??? ) ...  HP asked for thirty dollars (cheapest option!) for recovery DVD's ... but mentioned that if the laptop really was purchased Dec 2014 and if I e-mail them proof of purchase they'll ship out recovery DVD's for free instead since it would be within it's one year warranty period.. I'm waiting on the friend's family to give me the proof of purchase for me to scan and e-mail  to HP ... though I think I'm going to go ahead and use system image to burn the DVD's first THEN run the HP recovery DVD's (if they do in fact turn out ot be free) in case the HP rep made a mistake and the HP recovery DVD's don't like the "unofficial" HP hard drive on this laptop... 

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