Creating Dell PC Restore Again?

Question

Hello,  I got a dimension 4700 and it use to have dell pc restore on it.  I deleted both ghost image and application for dell pc restore partitions..  so i reinstalled xp pro with my dell disc and i used norton ghost 2005 to make an image of my hard drive, then i used partition magic to create a new partition and labeled it ghosts images and then stored image on that hidden partition.                    My question is, How can i get dell pc restore back when i deleted the partition with the software on it?....if i can't get dell pc restore back,  is there anyother way for me to have something like it?                 All help will be greatly appreciated, thanks

Denny Denham · Answer

pail_white_kid_rapper,

How can i get dell pc restore back when i deleted the partition with the software on it?....if i can't get dell pc restore back, is there anyother way for me to have something like it?

You deleted the image, so you can't get it back. You have Norton Ghost, which is "somethinig like it."

pail_white_kid_ · Answer

I made my own ghost image with norton ghost 2005 (9.0)(the extension of the image i think is .v2i). the question I got is, can i use my created image and make my own thing like dell system restore?(have another partition with some type of software that is put into mbr before booting to windows, like dell's), thanks

or, i also got the norton ghost cd..can i make a partition with the cd files and put it into the mbr so it boots before windows like dells system restore?(instead of neeeding to boot up to cd to restore, put them on hard drive, so i don't need to get the cd out to restore my computer), all help is greatly apprecaited, thanks

GreyMack · Answer

Also consider a bootable DOS partition including the DOS-based Ghost.exe utility (presuming the Ghost 2005/9 .v2i image is compatible) rather than an exact duplication of the Dell PC Restore feature.

http://www.goodells.net/dellutility/custom.htm

GM

dg1261 · Answer

'I deleted both ghost image and application for dell pc restore partitions . . . I made my own ghost image with norton ghost 2005 (9.0)(the extension of the image i think is .v2i). the question I got is, can i use my created image and make my own thing like dell system restore?'   No.  Recreating a DSR (Dell PC Restore) partition is difficult.  The partition must be bootable, it relies on a special MBR, it boots Dell's DRMK operating system (though MSDOS 7.1 will work), and it contains a number of ancillary files that abort the process unless they find specific cues and markers in the partition layout and boot sectors.  You would have to be able to obtain and reinstall all those extra files.   Even if you could recreate the DSR system, Ghost 9/10 image files are incompatible.  (However, your Ghost should have come with Ghost 8/2003, which will make compatible files, but you'd have to reimage using the other Ghost version.)   At best, the DSR system is fragile and restrictive.  The utility function 'breaks' easily, and is useless when (not if) your hard disk dies or you want to upgrade to a new hard disk.  It's not a bad idea for the average user who does not want to buy or know how to use a real imaging utility like Ghost, True Image, Drive Image, etc.  But you've already made the investment in a real imaging utility, and you'll be better off using it like it was intended.     Dan Goodell www.goodells.net/dellrestore

pail_white_kid_ · Answer

could I take all the files from my ghost 9.0 cd and put them on a partition and have it to bootup from that partition?, thanks

dg1261 · Answer

No.  That will not make the partition bootable.

kjvw10 · Answer

Ok, while you cannot or would not really want to recreate the dell files, you could put your ghost image onto a partition that is hidden just like Dell does. I use PT edit to find those hidden partitions on Dell laptops most times. So what you could do is create you a good bootable ghost disk. Then create you a dos partition on your machine, this you will hide later. Then you could make that partition a bootable ghost partition. Then insure Ghost boots the machine properly and you can re-image it. Then you could copy the ghost image to that partition. Ok, now you could go back with pt edit, hide the partition. But why would you want to when you can just boot the thing from a thumb drive and do ghost updates and backups regularly so you can restore the machine at any incremented ghost image you like. With the cost of thumb drives being at like $79.00 for 8G online, I would guess you could hold at least 3-5 images on it.

Windows General

Creating Dell PC Restore Again?

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