Recovery CD-DVD Creator software comes on HP and Compaq Desktop computers made in Spring of 2003 and later. It is strongly recommended that you create a recovery disc set. If your HP or Compaq desktop computer with Windows XP does not have the HP Recovery CD Creator software or if recovery CDs were not created before the recovery partition was damaged or erased, you will need to find a set of recovery discs that matches your model number from the Internet or install a new operating system.
The Recovery CD Creator software can be used to make one set of recovery CDs for the computer. The recovery CD set contains a complete set of the original operating system, drivers, and application software that shipped with the computer.