Question about Restore Function on I-9300

Question

Hi all,
I'm awaiting delivery of my new Inspiron 9300 notebook. I presently have an Inspiron 8100, which didn't have any Restore function built in, except to use the Dell Supplied OS Disk and Drivers Disk, or updated drivers from the Dell Support Website. So I'm pretty unfamiliar with this 'new' Restore PC system.

My question is to do with partitioning the HDD, as I prefer to have my system and programs separate from my data. Usually I have the 'C' drive as the system and programs drive and the 'D' drive as my Data drive. I normally use PartitionMagic to create these two partitions. Am I right to assume that doing this won't affect the MBR of the drive and make the Restore Partition unusable?

Also I assume it's not possibe to move this Restore Partition to say a DVD-R disk, since my machine is coming with a DVD Writer? How big is the Restore Partition anyway?

Another question, will using the Restore PC function delete any 'D' Partition that I've created, and so delete all my data? One of my reasons for splitting the Data from the System is that I can re-install the System and Program without it effecting my Data on the 'D' Drive. If the Restore PC function does what I suspect it does, then I'll have to be VERY VERY careful in using it! I much prefer to start from scratch with a Windows OS Installation CD and then install everything cleanly without the extraneous programs and settings that the manufacturer thinks are necesaary!

Thanks for any thoughts on this.

Yours Faithfully,

Jonty R. P.

mandatory · Answer

Your new hard drive will have three partitions on it: a C partition you can see and two 'hidden' partitions you can't see. One is the Dell diagnostics partition you boot into through F12 and the other is the Dell pc restore partition which contains the image of your C partition.   If you decide in the future that you want to restore your entire hard drive to the same status as when you opened the box, you would use the Dell pc restore which is available through Ctl+F11 on cold bootup.   When you use Dell pc restore, everything you have on your hard drive is wiped out and the drive is restored exactly as it was when new. This is handy when you first get the computer and you're likely to be testing new software and making other changes you wish you didn't make later. It also comes in handy if your drive gets corrupted or infected with spyware or viruses, as long as they don't infect hidden partitions.   Beware that if you change your partitions or otherwise alter your master boot record in any way, you probably will not be able to access the Dell pc restore function ever again. Simply resizing them can break the link. The other thing that will kill it is uninstalling or changing Dell PC Restore which is listed under 'Add/Remove' Programs. So, you'll have to leave the drive exactly as it came from Dell if you want to keep the restore capability.   I didn't like that so I found a goof-proof and simple alternative.   I wanted to be able to mess with my hard drive and its partitions and I also wanted to be able to keep the Dell restore and diagnostics functions. So, I tried Norton Ghost and was unable to SIMPLY have my way.   Then, I bought a program named Acronis TrueImage 8 at Newegg.com ($33.50) and I got my way!   I have an internal 40GB hard drive in my I5160 and I have an external 60GB drive in a CompUSA 2.5' USB 2.0 enclosure. With TrueImage 8 I created an image of my internal hard drive and stored it on my external hard drive. Whenever I want to, I can restore that image to my internal hard drive and EVERYTHING works perfectly including diagnostics and pc restore.   I recommend you image the hard drive as soon as you receive it but even if you can't, you can image it later as long as you don't make any chages to it that could cause the diagnostics and pc restore partitions to stop working. Remember, once they stop working (before you image the drive) they're useless for good.

jonrosie · Answer

Hi
Thanks for your excellent reply! I was afraid that it would be like you say! I do like your idea of making a disk image of the original drive onto a second HDD. I am planning to get a HDD - USB2 - Caddy for the Hitachi 60 Gb (7,200rpm) HDD that I now have installed in my Inspiron 8100. But I'm not sure I'll be able to do that immediately. Firstly I need to find a HDD-USB2 caddy in the UK that will take my Hitachi TravelStar HDD, then I'll be able to do as you say.

I already have PowerQuest Drive Image 7 so I'll try using that first. I believe that Drive Image 7 has the ability to put the Image onto DVD-R disks, rather than having to do it onto a second HDD. Any more thoughts on how to do this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,

Jonty R. P.

mandatory · Answer

Be advised that your imaging software, like other programs, may NOT be capable of imaging an entire hard drive including all partitions and the master boot record, making it fully restored and re-bootable. Most programs can do nice backups of files but they are not designed to create a fully restorable disk image. I'm not familiar with your specific program.

I bought Acronis TrueImage 8.0 because it is the only program capable of creating a fully restorable disk image under Windows XP. I believe they have a patented process there. You can read about it at their website, Acronis.com. Norton Ghost and a few others require you to reboot into the DOS environment to create a restorable disk image. I also own Ghost but I could never get it to work properly so I gave up on it and bought TrueImage 8. Programs like Retrospect and other popular backup software focus only on file backup and restoration and they don't deal with a fully bootable operating system or an entire hard drive. Check yours and I think you'll find you may have to buy TrueImage 8.

By the way, TrueImage 8 can create disk images directly to an external USB 2.0 or FireWire drive, to CD-R's, DVD's or any other connected hard drives (internal or external). It can also CLONE your internal hard drive to another hard drive of equal or larger capacity. It's the best value program I have found and it's extremely easy to use.

Locked Topics – Laptops General

Question about Restore Function on I-9300

Was this post helpful?