The advent of UEFI has dramatically changed the partition scheme for drives -- while you are free to do as you wish, bear in mind that if you alter any of those partitions, the Dell Backup and Recovery utility on the hard drive will then not function correctly if a factory restore is needed.
BEFORE you do anything, attach a blank 16 G or larger flash drive and make a recovery installation - if you alter the existing partition scheme in any way, you will need it if recovery is ever needed.
I'm aware that UEFI differs significantly from the old boot scheme, but the last two partitions are obviously not a part of it. Actually, I've found similar threads on other forums. My notebook initially was sold with preinstalled Windows 8, and it was upgraded to 8.1 later. Seems that one of the two big partitions is the image of the original Windows 8 Installation media, and the second one contains Windows 8.1 files.
I doubt I'll ever need to restore the original Windows 8 OS using those means. Anyways, if using a cheap external flash drive instead of the precious internal hard drive for storing a recovery installation is a solution, it's definitely a way to go. Thanks for your help.
Thank you for your answer, it's quite interesting. Maybe I really need to make a clean install of 8.1 now or maybe wait for Win 10 release and make a clean Win 10 install.
I would advise downloading the .iso of the correct Edition and saving to an external hard drive just in case you need it.
Windows 10 should be out in a few months so the clean install may be short lived however it could be useful to have the .iso in case Microsoft removes the Windows Media Creation Tool and enforces a double install in order to get to Windows 10 (hopefully they won't but they haven't explicitly stated they won't yet).
It's not a problem to find an appropriate ISO file. However, where can I find a license key for it? Or would it use a vendor key stored in BIOS? And would a newer version of Windows recognize a key used for Windows 8 OEM?
The Dell OEM system locked preinstallation (SLP) key is embedded in the Dell UEFI BIOS the most important point regarding installation is Edition.
The Windows 8.1 (with update 1) Single Language .iso will work with the Windows 8 Single Language OEM SLP key and Windows 8.1 Single Language OEM SLP key. It will not work with the Windows 8.1 OEM SLP key, the Windows 8.1 OEM SLP key, the Windows 8.1 Single Language with Bing OEM SLP key or the Windows 8.1 with Bing OEM SLP key.
The Windows 8.1 (with update 1) .iso will work with the Windows 8 OEM SLP key and Windows 8.1 OEM SLP key. It will not work with the Windows 8.1 Single Language OEM SLP key, the Windows 8.1 Single Language OEM SLP key, the Windows 8.1 Single Language with Bing OEM SLP key or the Windows 8.1 with Bing OEM SLP key.
My guide demonstrates this in great detail and gives hints about determining edition if and if your computer cannot boot into your previous installation. It also instructs on using RWEverything to determine your UEFI BIOS embedded SLP key.
ejn63
9 Legend
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87.5K Posts
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May 24th, 2015 07:00
The advent of UEFI has dramatically changed the partition scheme for drives -- while you are free to do as you wish, bear in mind that if you alter any of those partitions, the Dell Backup and Recovery utility on the hard drive will then not function correctly if a factory restore is needed.
BEFORE you do anything, attach a blank 16 G or larger flash drive and make a recovery installation - if you alter the existing partition scheme in any way, you will need it if recovery is ever needed.
Philip_Yip
9 Legend
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16.1K Posts
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May 24th, 2015 16:00
My Windows 8.1 OEM install had 5 partitions and not 7. See here:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/dell-backup-and-recovery-1-8-1-71/
I advise you to make a Windows 8.1 FAT32 Bootable USB flash drive for a UEFI BIOS (of the correct edition):
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/download-windows-8-1-retail-and-oem-iso/
My guess is you will be unable to restore to the Windows 8 factory settings anyway since the partitions have clearly been changed.
If you clean install with this you will get 3 partitions (the diagnostics one will be missing and the recovery partition).
Installation of Dell Backup and Recovery after clean installation of Windows and the drivers will make a new recovery partition.
Lotto74
8 Posts
0
May 24th, 2015 08:00
I'm aware that UEFI differs significantly from the old boot scheme, but the last two partitions are obviously not a part of it. Actually, I've found similar threads on other forums. My notebook initially was sold with preinstalled Windows 8, and it was upgraded to 8.1 later. Seems that one of the two big partitions is the image of the original Windows 8 Installation media, and the second one contains Windows 8.1 files.
I doubt I'll ever need to restore the original Windows 8 OS using those means. Anyways, if using a cheap external flash drive instead of the precious internal hard drive for storing a recovery installation is a solution, it's definitely a way to go. Thanks for your help.
Lotto74
8 Posts
0
May 24th, 2015 20:00
Philip,
Thank you for your answer, it's quite interesting. Maybe I really need to make a clean install of 8.1 now or maybe wait for Win 10 release and make a clean Win 10 install.
Philip_Yip
9 Legend
•
16.1K Posts
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May 25th, 2015 03:00
I would advise downloading the .iso of the correct Edition and saving to an external hard drive just in case you need it.
Windows 10 should be out in a few months so the clean install may be short lived however it could be useful to have the .iso in case Microsoft removes the Windows Media Creation Tool and enforces a double install in order to get to Windows 10 (hopefully they won't but they haven't explicitly stated they won't yet).
Lotto74
8 Posts
0
May 25th, 2015 03:00
It's not a problem to find an appropriate ISO file. However, where can I find a license key for it? Or would it use a vendor key stored in BIOS? And would a newer version of Windows recognize a key used for Windows 8 OEM?
Philip_Yip
9 Legend
•
16.1K Posts
0
May 25th, 2015 04:00
The Dell OEM system locked preinstallation (SLP) key is embedded in the Dell UEFI BIOS the most important point regarding installation is Edition.
My guide demonstrates this in great detail and gives hints about determining edition if and if your computer cannot boot into your previous installation. It also instructs on using RWEverything to determine your UEFI BIOS embedded SLP key.
Lotto74
8 Posts
0
May 25th, 2015 05:00
Philip, thank you for the answer. I'll read your guide.