If you do an Anytime Upgrade, then it will not affect the Restore Partition. If you do a clean install, then it will wreck your Restore Partition.
I recently purchased a Dell XPS 8500 which came with Windows 7 Home Pro pre-installed.  I am going to need to upgrade to Window 7 Professional in order to run Avid Media Composer (it will run on the Home version but that OS is not supported by Avid Customer Support so I have to upgrade if I want any assistance from Avid on any matter).   What I'm wondering is whether the upgrade will interfere with my ability to restore my computer back to factory settings.  I'm concerned that the upgrade will remove or overwrite the restore partition.  Will it?  Any recommendations before I upgrade, to make a factory restore more smooth if I have to come to that? Thanks
Windows 7 Home to Professional upgrade and PC Restore