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Problems with Dell OS Recovery Utility
There appears to be a lot of confusion in the Dell forums about the OS recovery utility that comes with Dell Dimensions, but I'm hoping someone out there has the definitive answers
On receiving my new 8400, I made a "backup" CD of the data in the recovery partition on the hard disk according to instructions in Knowledge Base article 278117. The problem is that just one CD was created, whereas there is 3.4 Gb of data in the partition. Even with compression, one CD cannot hold all this data. So I called Dell technical support, and the agent told me that the "backup" was just of the utility and did not contain an image of the operating system.
So the second problem is that the Dell Knowledge Base clearly says that the utility is supposed to "make one Microsoft Windows Operating system CD for backup purposes". There are other articles that make the same assertion..
The third problem is that I would like to repartition the disk, which will destroy the recovery partition (note that Dell uses up 3 of 4 possible primary partitions). I can probably use a commercial software to back up this partition, but I would like to use the Dell approved way if possible. Does anyone know if this is really possible?
PS. for those having trouble making the backup CD, I had to have the CD in the drive before Programs/Dell Accessories even displayed the backup option. A coincidence??
Mary - Thanks for the reply.
Just to be clear, you are saying that the recovery CD has only a fraction of the data that is on the recovery partition. Presumably ctrl-F11 copies everything back to the OS partition. Seems like Dell could have gone the extra mile and allowed all the data to be copied to CDs. I don’t suppose you have heard of a way to do that?
- There are many methods of recovery, and the term is not specific to repair, reinstall, or restore.The Dell OS Recovery utility creates an Operating System CD, which allows you to repair or reinstall Windows.The Dell PC Restore utility allows you to restore a complete image of the system partition, as it was shipped, but it is a limited and fragile example of imaging software. Dell provides no means of copying the image to another location, and no means of recovery if the image is moved or the MBR is altered. Although some users have posted methods of accessing the image with Ghost, repairing the MBR or changing the utility code to ignore the MBR, the most simple solution is to replace the Dell PC Restore utility with the flexibility and reliability of imaging software.Before making any significant changes, you may wish to burn an image of the entire drive to CD/DVD media in case you ever need to start over with the original as-shipped configuration or transfer the PC to another user/owner.You may also wish to burn a separate image of just the system partition, in case you wish to restore it after partitioning the drive to meet your needs.GM
Message Edited by GreyMack on 06-09-2005 02:14 AM
Mary G
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Posted June 8th, 2005 23:00
When you run the utility, it does not backup anything. It makes an operating system cd, just like a retail version of XP. The cd is bootable so you can repair or reinstall Windows. You should test it to see if it works & you can boot to it. If not, order a cd from Dell. I don't know what you did, but I've made 3 of the cd's on 3 different computers and they all work fine. If you wipe the dell partition, you will not be able to restore the computer to "as shipped" condition. That partition contains the drivers and programs that came with the computer, as well as Windows. The cd you make just has the operating system--no drivers, no programs.