Recovery did not format my pc

Question

Hi, Lately my Studio 17 laptop (windows 7, 64-bit) has been extremely slow and although it could be a hardware issue I figured that a full reinstall (or recovery) wouldn't hurt. The problem is however that my laptop didn't come with an installation disc, so I am forced to use the built in recovery method. At first, the 'Dell factory image restore' option didn't show up in the 'System recovery options', which I got to by bashing F8 during start up. So I used an alternative method of manually opening the recovery 'program'. I opened the command promt and (I believe) I typed in: 'x:	ools\pcrestore.exe'. This initially seemed to work. A recovery program was running and I was asked whether I agreed with me losing all my personal data (which was what I wanted). This 'reinstallation' ran for about 45-60 minutes and after entering my computer and account name it rebooted and started up the fresh windows 7. The problem however, is that my hard drive seems to have NOT been fully formatted. All of my programs and other files are still present on the hard drive, although not working, probably due to the OS being reinstalled. Is this what the recovery is supposed to do? I believed that a recovery would return my laptop to the state it was in when I first got it, so without anything I put on it myself. Is there any way of fully formatting my pc, while at the same time returning it to factory settings? Thanks in advance, Tim

DELL-Allan D · Accepted Answer

Hello Tim,

Well as you have mentioned that the System factory image restore was not showing up in the System Recovery Options in Advanced Boot Options. Hence I would like to suggest another way through which the System Factory image can be run.
Please follow the steps to perform the PC Restore.

-- Click Start.
-- In Search program and files tab type in Dell Data Safe Local Backup.
-- Once the application opens,
-- Click Restore.
-- Click Restore The Computer To The Original Factory State (the first option).
-- Click Restart at the bottom of the window.
It would start the complete pc restore automatically and take the computer to its original factory state.

Please try the steps and post the results, would be glad to help you further.

Philip_Yip · Accepted Answer

Hi Tim

I suggest you contact Technical Support (phone numbers are here) and request a Reinstallation DVD.

I then suggest you perform a full format using DBAN. Then reinstall Windows using the Reinstallation DVD.

There is the option to download a Retail .iso and to activate Windows using your 25 digit product key on your Windows 7 COA with the automated phone activation.

For full instructions and download links please see my wiki A Clean Install of Windows 7.

Madzera · Answer

Hi Allan and Philip,

Thank you both for your help. Allan, your solution seemed to work. I had no idea there existed a method to do this other than using the advanced boot menu. Your method got to me a different recovery program than I previously had. With, this time, the option to choose between keeping all my data, or formatting everything. On top of that, the formatting has actually been succesful! (It is weird though that this information is not available in the Dell site by following the recovery steps there..)

If it hadn't been succesful though, I would probably have had a lot of use of your wiki Philip. After a first glance it seems to contain more information in one place than I'd ever be able to find myself.

Thanks once more, Tim

Albertjones · Answer

You did repair your windows not the factory restore of your system.

DELL-Allan D · Answer

Hello Albert,

In this thread we helped Tim with the PC Restore that is back to factory settings.
This step would erase all the data from the computer.
Hence if you wish to perform the step please back up all the data from your computer before you do the pc restore and write back.
I would be glad to assist you further. Also apart from this would be glad to assist you with any further technical queries.

Windows General

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