Patent ID: 7506198

Claim:
A method of operating a computing device with an internal hard disk drive, said method comprising: booting said computing device; verifying the existence of a hard disk drive protection and recovery apparatus installed in said computing device prior to loading an operating system on said computing device; loading from said hard disk drive protection and recovery apparatus, a hard disk drive protection and recovery system that functions without loading an operating system for said computing device; determining a mode of operation for said protection and recovery system; selecting a backup or restore operation for said protection and recovery system to perform in the determined mode of operation; wherein said backup or restore operation copies data from one location to another on said internal hard disk drive; after performing said selected operation initiating the operating system for said computing device; and collecting incoming data and storing it in a temporary storage area on said internal hard disk drive, during normal use of said operating system, for preparing one or more restoration points on a partition of said internal hard disk drive.