190 Posts

May 9th, 2011 20:00

I think there is micommunication here. I wrote that I DO make backup images with Ghost and have it scheduled to do so to an extermal hard drive twice a week. That is what saved me from not losing files and having to reinstall programs.

Thanks for your time.

 

190 Posts

May 9th, 2011 11:00

Osprey, I do have the ghost image but did not restore it from the Ghost image which is on my external drive. Since that partition had been deleted how would that work other than for the computer to boot to that image on each bootup. I would think that is why I had to make a new boot.ini

I have used the recovery partition in the past and consider it one of the best things Dell has put on the computers. You can get back to the original factory image and not have to look for drivers or software that way.

 

4 Operator

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34.2K Posts

May 9th, 2011 11:00

Hi Meggie13,

If you reinstalled from a Ghost image, don't you still have that image available? Then you don't need the recovery partition.

Having the recovery partition on the hard drive is of limited usefulness. If the drive dies, there goes the image. The best place to keep a backup image is on one or more bootable DVDs. Dell provides the Datasafe application to prepare these.

4 Operator

 • 

34.2K Posts

May 9th, 2011 12:00

Meggie,

Just so I'm not making stuff up, can you tell me which operating system you have?

4 Operator

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34.2K Posts

May 9th, 2011 17:00

What I would suggest you do is use either the Windows 7 backup or the Dell Datasafe program to create a backup image of your current OS installation on DVD discs. Then store them in a safe place. That's a much safer plan.

190 Posts

May 9th, 2011 17:00

Windows 7, studio xps 1645

Studio XPS 16

Studio XPS 16 Notebook

PWC16HN

[224-6716]

Operating System

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English

W7HP64E

[330-6222][420-6436][420-6576][420-7938][420-9100][421-0092][421-0187][421-0323][421-1737]

Processor

Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Quad Core Processor @ 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)

I7720QM

[317-2361]

Memory

6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz

6GB2D

[317-2365]

Monitor

Full HD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP

BKG1610

[320-8332][421-0188][421-1010]

Video Card

ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 4670 – 1GB

M96INT

[320-8350][330-5460]

Hard Drive

500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive

500GB

[341-8989]

System Color

Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish

BKG

[320-8351]

Network Card

Integrated 10/100 Network Card

INTNIC

[430-3605]

Adobe Reader

Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9, Multiple Languages

ADOBER

[410-1883]

CD ROM/DVD ROM

Slot Load Blu-ray Disc (BD) Burner (Writes to DVD/CD/BD)

W7BDRW

[

Sound

High Definition Audio 2.0 with SRS Premium Sound

AUDSRS

Wireless

Intel® 5300 WLAN Wireless-N (3x3) Mini Card

IP5300

Bundle

No Microsoft Office

MSONO

Anti-Virus Software

McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months

MC1015M

 

Battery

85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

9BAT

Service

2 Year Basic Service Plan

S2OS

Support

1Yr LoJack for Laptops Theft Protection

DHSLJ1

Service 1

Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year

DOB2GB

Bluetooth Options

Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)

 

26 Posts

May 11th, 2011 04:00

Nice computer! I am new here but doesn't Dell supply you with a recovery disc if you request it?

4 Operator

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34.2K Posts

May 11th, 2011 05:00

Dell provides OS and driver discs, so you have to (or get to, depending on your point of view) install Windows manually. The recovery partition that comes on the hard drive can be used to automatically restore the hard drive image as the system came from Dell.

26 Posts

May 11th, 2011 07:00

Osprey4, Sir I sent you a message on another subject. Trying to give back for abusing your forum.

On point. They want to send the recovery discs first, because they work and to not overwhelm  some users.

If Dell has no such discs, I will not bring it up again. ( or we can make our own)

26 Posts

May 11th, 2011 07:00

Again I am new here. They do not have recovery discs that are pretty much what is on the partition?

 I now for a fact that HP does and they work well.

It is pretty much the same information that is on the partition, just bootable.Works well.

 

May 11th, 2011 16:00

Hello,

 

    Dell will not send u any recovery disk, According to dell resource disk is meant for driver and some dell applications reinstallation disk. The recovery partiton is nothing but u have an image of all s/w and the os loaded to it at the time u purchase the comp. there is no way that u can get the recovery partition back once it is deleted. now a days dell even stopped sending drivers disk to the cx, even the os disk is sold out for Rs300. May i know the reason clearly why do u wanna have the recovery partition so thati may help in that.

 

 

Thanks

4 Operator

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34.2K Posts

May 11th, 2011 17:00

No, Dell does not provide the type of recovery disc that comes with HP or Lenovo machines. When you order "replacement discs", you'll get a standard Windows disc, plus the drivers and utilities disc. What you can always do is perform a clean installation, then use any drive imaging program to create your own recovery disc. Acronis can do this, as can Ghost or even the Dell Datasafe program.

I strongly recommend to all Dell owners to make sure they have the OS disc. If you get a system without one, you can use the replacement discs form to order a set.

190 Posts

May 11th, 2011 20:00

I was not making myself clear to Osprey. I have a windows 7 cd but as you said when you receive the computer there is a partition on it that has an image file which is the image you got the computer ie: windows and ALL the drivers for the hardware you have on  your computer. Having the files eliminates looking on the Dell site to reinstall them and/or reinstalling windows. It is also much easier to hit I think it is F8 and the whole system comes back from that image just like the computer was new delivered from Dell. It is so EASY to restore your computer to it's original configuration from that image. If you have a recent ghost image you can then restore it if you chose.

I have an image of that partition and can reinstall it but the partition the image on was deleted by the Dell rep. The image I have is from the day the computer was delivered so I can restore it if the partition was there. So from what you are saying I can't get that partition back. After installing my C: ghost image I had to edit the boot.ini to get the computer to work. Had I not had the original image I would not have known how to make a new boot.ini

Thank you for your response.

4 Operator

 • 

34.2K Posts

May 12th, 2011 18:00

There is no way that I'm aware to save the recovery partition and move it to another drive. The best plan would have been to use the Dell Datasafe program to create a set of recovery discs, and keep them in a safe place.

190 Posts

May 12th, 2011 18:00

Osprey, with all due respect you can make and image of it with ghost and save it as an image file. You can restore the image file to a partition on a hard drive. Since Dell comes with a C: drive partitioned into 3 sections 1) recovery 2) utility 3) windows you can restore it if you can make the C: drive into partitions.

 

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