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Can I recreate an original recovery partition?
I bought my Inspiron 1520 used, it came with Windows XP Home 32bit from the factory. When I bought it it had Debian Linux (currently running), and the partitions were rebuilt wiping out the recovery partition.
So I guess my question would be is can I recreate the partition scheme and return it to the factory setup including Windows XP Home 32bit?
skylarking
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August 28th, 2014 21:00
Presumably you have a WinXP COA lable attached to your laptop and you can still read the 5x5 key. If so, and if you can source a Dell WinXP 32bit install disc from somewhere (previous owner maybe), you should be able to simple reinstall the OS followed by all the Dell drivers, etc. Then the laptop will be running WinXP x86 again.
You can in theory recreate a utility and restore partitions if you really desire but you need to research it and it's a lot of work for little gain. In any case, it wont be the original recovery partition and may not include other bundled software Dell placed on the unit. But you should be able to get the utility and restore partitions to work, though the question is why bother?
And that brings me to the question of why bother with WinXP in the first instance?
Learning Debian may be a better way to spend your lerarning effort...
speedstep
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August 28th, 2014 14:00
No.
skaendo
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August 28th, 2014 23:00
I am pretty fluent with Debian myself and have been disgusted and through with Windows for many years. I am building another laptop for myself which I do plan to run Debian. Therefore I am restoring this one to give it to my mother.
So, a little work now to restore the utility and restore partitions could save me headaches and travels in the future.
PudgyOne
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August 29th, 2014 03:00
skaendo,
This used to work on the older systems, not sure if it will work or not.
How to restore Dell factory image when PC restore does not work?
Rick
skaendo
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August 29th, 2014 08:00
Thanks for the reply Rick, but this is to restore the computer from an image. I am trying to restore the image itself.
Skylarking has pointed me in the right direction. Thanks again for the reply.
speedstep
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August 29th, 2014 08:00
Re creating an XP CTRL F11 restore partition on a Dell requires a copy of Norton GHOST 8.3 and WIN9X Boot floppy and DSRFIX and the actual GHO Image file and an image of the Diagnostic partition etc. Dell computers come with two hidden partitions: a Utility partition and a Restore partition. DSR (Dell System Restore) is a feature that returns a computer to its "as-shipped" state, through the use of these two specialized partitions. The Dell Utility partition is really a DOS FAT16 partition (type 06h), but the partition descriptor (a 16-byte pointer in the partition table) has been altered to show a partition-type code of DEh instead of 06h (in hexadecimal notation).
I know how to do it but access to all of the tools is no longer available. XP would be CTRL F11 symantec recovery. Many people like to repartition their hard disks to split the main "C:" partition into more than one partition. Repartitioning will cause the DSR process to fail because the new partition table no longer matches the reference partition table stored in the DSR partition.
Because XP is also End of life and not supported this means that there is not a legal way to do this. Microsoft Stopped supporting MSDOS in 2005. In 2006 they changed the CTRL F11 restore partition to be NTFS and Norton GHOST 10. With VISTA Dell Inspirons, Studios, and XPS Systems use DataSafe Local Backup 2.0 as the PC Restore/Factory Image Restore option as of April 22, 2009.
http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/fixes.shtml