Recovery Partion (D:) 1.99 GB

D

diabsoule

New Member
I have a Latitude D830 with Vista Business 32bit at home and a Optiplex 745 at work with Vista Business 32bit. Both machines show a second partition called Recovery (D:). This partition on both machines is 1.99 GB. I have talked to Dell about this partition but could not get a satisfactory answer. One Dell person I talked to said that the partition was created by Vista not Dell, which made me laugh. I then quit talking to that guy because he obviously did not know what he was talking about. I figure there must be some reason for it if they bother to put it there. Does anyone know what it is for? Currently the Optiplex shows 1.41 GB free, not sure about the D830 but it is about the same.



I know Dell has 10 GB recovery partitions that contain a ghost image so one could restore the computer back to an out of the box setup in a matter of minutes rather than using the cds/dvds to reload windows.
 

My Computer

System One

diabsoule said:
I have a Latitude D830 with Vista Business 32bit at home and a Optiplex 745 at work with Vista Business 32bit. Both machines show a second partition called Recovery (D:). This partition on both machines is 1.99 GB. I have talked to Dell about this partition but could not get a satisfactory answer. One Dell person I talked to said that the partition was created by Vista not Dell, which made me laugh. I then quit talking to that guy because he obviously did not know what he was talking about. I figure there must be some reason for it if they bother to put it there. Does anyone know what it is for? Currently the Optiplex shows 1.41 GB free, not sure about the D830 but it is about the same.
Click to expand...

It has been my experience that most after-sales support "techs" at companies that sell pre-built computers and laptops usually don't have a clue about what they're saying, and usually end up making the problem worse, or telling you to just format the PC.

No surprise there that the Dell people where no different.


diabsoule said:
I know Dell has 10 GB recovery partitions that contain a ghost image so one could restore the computer back to an out of the box setup in a matter of minutes rather than using the cds/dvds to reload windows.
Click to expand...

You've answered your own question. This is exactly what it's used for. In many cases, you need to press some kind of hotkey during POST to boot from that partition and access the recovery tools. In some cases, a Window utility is also provided to copy the Recovery partition to backup DVDs incase the HDD fails and the recovery partition is itself not accessible.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build
    CPU
    AMD Phenom 9600 Quad
    Motherboard
    ASUS MB-M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi
    Memory
    2 x A-Data 2GB DDR2-800
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ATI Radeon HD 2400PRO
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SAHARA 21"
    Screen Resolution
    1600x1200
    Hard Drives
    2 x 80GB Seagate (I)
    2 x 120GB Seagate (I/S)
    2 x 200GB Seagate (I/S)
    2 x 250GB Seagate (I/S)
    PSU
    800W
    Case
    Thermaltake Tai-Chi
    Cooling
    Tai-Chi Water Cooler
    Keyboard
    Genius
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    384kbps
    Other Info
    Currently dual booting between Vista x64 Ultimate Windows 7 BETA x64
My machines don't have the 10 GB partition they only have 1.99 GB partitions. That is not big enough to store a ghost image to do a restore. Plus the amount of free space changes it is not always 1.41 GB free.
 

My Computer

System One

Try to open & check what all files are listed in that partion.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    T4200 Intel
    Memory
    2 X 1GB DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Integrated
    Hard Drives
    1 X 250GB 7200RPM
That is a rather small Recovery partiion, usually a Vista recovery partition is in the 4.9G range, not 1.9G so this is rather strange. Also, recovery partitions are usually Locked from access and will give you "ample" warnings that you shouldn't do anything to it, again it's weird that you didn't get that (did you?).

As "Dzomlija" aptly states, most initial Help Desk personnel are rather (for lack of a more Politically Correct term) st00pid, and "Reformat" is their usual fix, but even they should have known what the "Recovery Partition" was, who put it there (Dell) and how to use it properly. (you would think anyway....)

It's quite possible tho that this partition simply contains only the files needed to get the machine to properly access the disks that Dell sent for recovery, which may contain the ghost OS image on the disks themselves, and the empty folders are there for data swap.
That's what I would surmise from the contents you say is in the recovery partition but to verify this you would need to start a Recovery reinstall, or talk to a smarter person over at Dell.....Good Luck with THAT one...;)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Personal Build
    CPU
    Intel E6750 Core 2 Duo
    Motherboard
    Asus Commando MoBo (P965/ICH8R)
    Memory
    4G's Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2 PC26400 RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    BFG 8800GTS OC2 320MB
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Platinum FATAL1TY (next)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x 22" w2207 LCD Monitors
    Screen Resolution
    1- 1680 x 1050, 1 - 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    3 x 500G SATA II WD Caviar HDD's
    PSU
    EnerMax NoiseTaker II 600W
    Case
    NZXT Lexa Classic (modified, dual doored & windowed)
    Cooling
    Zalman 9700 CPU cooler, 4-120mm fans, 1-90mm
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical Trackman trackball
    Other Info
    NZXT Lexa Classic Case, Zalman 9700 CPU Cooler, 2 DVD Burners c/w LightScribe (Sony, TSST), Enermax NoiseTaker II 600W PSU with Custom Chrome cable sleeving, Hauppauge HDTV TV Tuner Card, 5.1 Logitech Z5500 speakers, 15 in 1 Multi-card reader
The recovery partition is not locked at all.

I have wiped this partition out on other computers and then reloaded windows from the Dell disk back on to the computer that has no recovery partition without any problems.
 

My Computer

System One

You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top