Dell PC Restore Question

Question

Hello!

I posted this as part of another thread, but it's so far down that I don't think anyone saw it. Any help would be appreciated!

"2. My system came with three partitions - C:\ and what appear to be two smaller hidden/unknown partitions. What are these mystery partitions all about? Does one contain restore data or OS files?

The ~35MB partition contains Dell Diagnostics which you can access at bootup for convenience. The diagnostics are available through downloads as well, however, so whether or not you keep that partition is up to you. The larger (3-4GB) partition contains the image of your system as shipped which can be used with the PC Restore utility. If you reinstall, that utility is no longer operational so you can delete the partition."

New Question: If I add a couple of partitions from the free space on C:\ and do not touch the Dell factory partitions, will I lose the functionality of the Symantec/Dell PC Restore utility? I may never entertain using it, but I always hate to lose a good thing.

By the way, I attempted to find the answer to this by searching other threads before posting. Just could find this question.

Thanks!

Sheetserr

rickmktg · Answer

@Sheetserr wrote:

Hello!

I posted this as part of another thread, but it's so far down that I don't think anyone saw it. Any help would be appreciated!

"2. My system came with three partitions - C:\ and what appear to be two smaller hidden/unknown partitions. What are these mystery partitions all about? Does one contain restore data or OS files?

The ~35MB partition contains Dell Diagnostics which you can access at bootup for convenience. The diagnostics are available through downloads as well, however, so whether or not you keep that partition is up to you. The larger (3-4GB) partition contains the image of your system as shipped which can be used with the PC Restore utility. If you reinstall, that utility is no longer operational so you can delete the partition."

New Question: If I add a couple of partitions from the free space on C:\ and do not touch the Dell factory partitions, will I lose the functionality of the Symantec/Dell PC Restore utility? I may never entertain using it, but I always hate to lose a good thing.

By the way, I attempted to find the answer to this by searching other threads before posting. Just could find this question.

Thanks!

Sheetserr

Since this gets asked daily, don't know what you had in the search that didn't find it. Maybe too many words?

The minute you touch the Master Boot Record (MBR) by either reinstalling XP or modifying partitions, the functionality will not work.

Sheetserr · Answer

I got it, Rick.  I'm new to the forum and probably just missed it in one or more posts.  Thank you for your response!   Steve

rickmktg · Answer

@Sheetserr wrote:

I got it, Rick. I'm new to the forum and probably just missed it in one or more posts. Thank you for your response!

Steve

NP. If you play with Search you'll find the more words you add, the more likely you are to NOT get an adequate response...

The George · Answer

I don't even know how to tell if my drive is patitioned or not? I'm new to this stuff?! I have a Dell 4100c model running a Pentium 4 with 512 RAM. How would I find that out?

rickmktg · Answer

@The George wrote:
I don't even know how to tell if my drive is patitioned or not? I'm new to this stuff?! I have a Dell 4100c model running a Pentium 4 with 512 RAM. How would I find that out?

Since the 4100 was sold way, way before 7/15/04, you don't have this utility on your system.

The George · Answer

Oooooops Sorry yes it's a 4700c.

The George · Answer

I just bought the system about a month ago from Dell!

volcano11 · Answer

Then you don't have a 4100c.  Are you sure its not a 4700c or a 5100c? Steve

rickmktg · Answer

Message Edited by rickmktg on 07-04-2005 07:00 PM

GreyMack · Answer

The Disk Management Console built into XP will provide that information.   http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/harddrive2.htm     GM

Windows General

Dell PC Restore Question

Was this post helpful?