Have genuine Vista Ultimate but need media copy/backup

Hi,
My brother bought a new laptop via ebay it came with Vista ultimate and the S/W has been activated. However he does not have a copy of the media so if I need to reinstall the OS I have no software.
Given that he has already bought the s/w already - is there a legal way to get the media at low cost?
Thanks,
MAJJ

Maybe the recovery installation images are on a special partition on the hard drive? Many vendors ship OEM versions of Windows like this these days so as to avoid the cost/hassle of shipping CDs/DVDs.

Good point Clubman. It is that way on my own machine(s). Thanks I will check out that option.