Question about Win 7

My friend is 73 yrs, she has a nearly new Toshiba Laptop, came with Vista but had a free upgrade to Win 7.
I have pestered her to make the recovery DVD, but she is sure the Win 7 (she has ordered but not received) will be ok to use if she needs a pave and nuke install.
Thats my question, is the Win 7 upgrade just an upgrade, or a full install. Will she have to have Vista in place to use the Win 7 upgrade.
So far she has had no real issues. I am just trying to avert a disaster, buying a full install of either flavor would be a real hardship.
So, whats the concensus? Must have the Homemade DVD recovery disk or not if the Win 7 fails down the road?
Me, I would make the recovery DVD, but thats just me.

 

DomLuc are you sure about this? I thought a Win7 upgrade required a Vista disc or Vista installed on the HD.

Toshiba recommends writing the Vista disc regardless.

 

Typically those update CDs they give you if you are eligible are recovery media, drivers and all with the new OS.

Thing is, what if it doesn't work right on the machine? We already know Vista does. Better safe than sorry.

 

The Win 7 UPGRADE will not work unless Vista is installed and working, as it is likely that the process will need to be begun inside Vista.

I wouldn't be surprised if the disc is locked so that you cannot boot from it.

 

I called Toshiba today, and verified you need Vista installed to upgrade to Win 7 using that upgrade DVD that is offered with this machine.

 

My apologies. HP sends out full media. I guess Toshiba decided to shortchange people.

 

I read about 7 different pages and was honestly still confused. Even their "official statement" isn't specific. Look at the third paragraph here purportedly from Toshiba referencing a Win7 DVD rather than upgrade media. When I read that it sounded like they were sending out a full recovery set.

At any rate the OP got the information they needed and I hope can convince their friend to write the Vista recovery DVD before upgrading to Win7.