Running Windows 8 on an Inspiron 15 and the hard drive crashed (cannot boot). Of course, I did not make backup Recovery DVDs, and I am beyond the warranty period so cannot get them from Dell. However, I was able to boot the system running Linux, create a RAW image file of the OS partition, and then was able to recover my data files. Which made me wonder--are there files in separate partitions that could be recovered to create a recovery/restore disk? My goal is to replace the hard drive and reinstall Windows 8 on the new drive (assuming that the product key, which I do not have, will reactivate automatically.)
I haven't seen anything in the forums about this approach to generating reinstall disks.
My alternative, since I have been able to recover my user files, is to purchase a new laptop.