Clarification about Dell Restore partition and re partitioning

Welcome to the forums :emotion-21:

 

 

Would such partitioning break the restore functionality ?

 

No it won't.

 

Now in case of scenario where i need to restore my Win 7 to original factory settings, would it also revert back the partition to its original state and as a result of which my data on other drives would also be lost/formatted?

 

Yes it would.

 

Just to confirm... if/when you decide to restore your laptop to its factory settings, it wipes the hard drive, and sets everything back to exactly how it was when you first received it.

Any additional partitions you've created yourself will be lost in the process!

 

If you create additional partitions, it's recommended you create your own image of the hard drive.

By far the best/most popular product for doing so, is Acronis True Image, but there are a number of FREE imaging programs, if you're on a tight/non-existent budget:

 

O&O DiskImage 4 Express
HDClone
Macrium Reflect
Clone MaXX
Self Image
DriveImage XML


Many imaging and backup programs mentioned/linked to on this The Free Country page.

To answer a couple of  your questions in one answer:

 

It would be best to decide which you want to do:  Keep the Dell partitions, or create your own image.

You probably could use a mix of the two - i.e. just create your own image of C:\ only, and leave the Dell partitions alone.

But if you want to create your own partitions, you have to delete one or other of Dell's partitions anyway.

I've personally done away with all the Dell partitions!

I prefer to do 'clean' installs, then create my own partitions and image(s), once I have the OS and drivers installed.

You then have a couple of choices thereafter:  Create a new/full image after you've installed (i.e.) all Windows Updates and all the programs you use, or updating the original image you created using incremental or differential backups/images.

See here for a good description of the difference between the two.

 

 

Is there a way by which i can save the existing factory settings image on to a DVD media just in case i might need it later on ?

 

Unfortunately, it's not possible to create your own 'Recovery' DVD either - at least not using Dell's recovery/restore files.

That's a personal gripe of mine actually.

Quite why Dell decided to supply the only recovery method in a partition on the hard drive - rather than providing a recovery DVD - or even the option to create a recovery disc, is beyond me?

What happens when the hard drive fails (and it is a matter of when - not if!)?  You're snookered - that's what! 

You'll then have no way of restoring your hard drive back to its factory settings :emotion-39:

 

As I say... it wouldn't be so annoying, if they offered the option to create your own recovery disc, using the files in the recovery partition.

But they don't, so you're stuck with the recovery partition as your only restoration option... and left hanging on a wing and a prayer (to coin a phrase), until such time as the hard drive fails, then you're on your own :emotion-6:

 

... i need not lug around the backup and installation discs everywhere

 

You'd only need to carry the one disc/pendrive which has the recovery/restore image on it.

 

Which of the freeware imaging programs would you suggest for me?

 

I can't advise you based on personal experience of them unfortunately.  But I'd recommend you try the first two in order.

O&O are very highly respected software developers, and offer a number of great backup/imaging programs on their website - including the commercial version of their free disk imaging software (Disk Image Pro 4.x) - which obviously offers many additional features.

In fact they have a special offer on just now, with which you get Safe Erase Pro 4 (worth $19.95) FREE when you order Disk Image Pro 4.

Not a bad deal at all, considering Disk Image Pro 4 costs just $29.95 to buy anyway :emotion-11:

 

But try the FREE version first anyway.  I'm sure it'll offer enough features to do what you need to do :emotion-5:

Thanks again for sharing your experiences with me ...this sure has answerd a lot of questions for me..