On Wed, 14 Nov 2012 11:38:08 -0800 (PST), Ben Myers
wrote:

I figured I might as well copy the rcovery partition onto an NTFS-formatted flash stick, because it may come in handy sometime...

Good thinking. Several years back SWMBO's Vostro had a major lockup
and lost the plot - under warranty. The (offshore) support clown
stepped us through what he called a "recovery" process, and in the
process nuked the entire hard drive. Queried him and he said "yes,
that's the only way to recover" so we lost whatever benefit the
recovery partition may have provided. During the reinstallation
process I cursed the lack of that partition.