Dell PC restore utility question

sirzune,

If you're the origional owner and live in the United States, then click below my signature and request a backup set of disks.

If the computer has a recovery partition, then...

Restoring Your Computer´s Software to the Factory Settings

If not, then you'll need to wait for the disks.

How To Restore or Reinstall Microsoft® Windows® on a Dell™ Computer

Rick

Hi, Rick.  That link you sent me was for Vista.  I have the link for XP.  But how would I know if I have a recovery partition?   I had already sent for the disks earlier today.  I don't know if that request will be fulfilled as I'm not the original owner (bought it from someone else).  I'm am, although, registered and have used phone support before.  I also saw that my address and info was already entered in the form for disc request.  So maybe I'm good to go there.

Thanks...

Hi sirzune.

DeLL PC Restore by Symantec started in July 2004. One way to know if your PC has it, is to reboot it and after the DeLL logo appears look for a blue bar at the top of the screen. It says DeLL written in white, and bellow the bar, it says Loading PBR... It is very fast, less than a second. That is when you press Ctrl+F11. Follow the article you posted.

The other way to know if your PC has the hidden partition with the original image is to click: Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > Administrative Tools > Computer Management (Local) > Disk Management. There should be a 3 to 5 GB FAT 32 partition in good condition.

Hope this helps. 

sirzune,

If you're the registered owner and live in te United Stated, the link below my signature will get you one backup set of disks.

First try Start, computer and see what shows there. I think it shows there. I deleted mine after I installed Vista 64-bit and Windows 7 on seperate partitions as I used to have Vista 32-bit and will not be going back to that.

Before you try anything, make sure to have copies of files and folders that you cannot afford to lose. This should ba a normal practice.

Try following the instructions and see if it will restore or you get any error messages. Hopefully it's not too old that the recovery partition was not there or the person before you did not remove the recovery partition. Wosrt that could happen is you could not do it or you'll get an error message.

Rick

No,  it doesn't have the blue bar at the top of screen... no "Loading PBR".  I do know what you mean, because a friend of mines has a Dell that does that on start up.

As for the other method: I did see a FAT partition but it is only 35 MB  -- not 3 to 5 GB.   It is in good condition, though.  It states it's "healthy".  Would this designate that

it has the restore utility on it?

Well, thank you very much for the information.  I appreciate the responses.

sirzune.

Sorry to tell you but it seems that the last owner must have reinstalled XP to give the PC away, and in the process deleted the Restore Partition, or your PC was made before July 2004. The blue bar is the section in the PC booting when the command Ctrl+F11 is applied in order for the restore partition to be executed.

PBR means Partition Boot Record. Since your PC does not have that partition, well, it is not loaded.

The 35 MB FAT partition is a Utility Partition that all DeLL have in them.

You want to know more:

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/

It seems you would have to install Xp clean.