What is the purpose of using a recovery drive?

Using a recovery drive serves the important purpose of restoring the system to its factory settings or recovering the operating system. When a device is experiencing issues—such as software corruption, crashes, or other operational problems—the recovery drive can be utilized to restore the system to its original state. This process reinstalls the operating system and can often fix errors that prevent the normal functioning of the computer. Additionally, it can be a useful tool for troubleshooting purposes, as it enables a technician to quickly return a system to a stable environment.

While the other options mention related topics, they do not align with the primary function of a recovery drive. Upgrading hardware pertains to physical modifications or enhancements, unrelated to software restoration. Erasing all user data might occur during the restoration process, but that is not the driving purpose of the recovery drive; instead, it is to recover or restore functionality to the system. Installing third-party applications is also separate, as a recovery drive is focused on the operating system itself rather than application management.