Vista - FULL RECOVERY DRIVE(D:)

Usually when the recovery partition is created the MBR is modified to permit
recovery via a function key, such as " Hit F11 to...." - deleting the
partition (if possible) does not "remove" the MBR modification.
Some OEMS, HP for instance, provide an utility to create recovery disks with
an option to remove the partition and MBR modification.


"jack" <jack@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9AAB74FB-659A-4268-8963-7D6A7C982817@microsoft.com...
> Thanx Mic for your input, it has been helpful. Now if I could just get
> vista
> to stop whining about this drive being full.
>
> --
> Long days pleasent nights
>
>
> "Michael Palumbo" wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> "jack" <jack@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:F5320E95-F31E-4B9C-A9DD-6CFEC6267A97@microsoft.com...
>> > Mic, I think you may be wrong.
>> > I to am having trouble Freeing space on my rcovery drive. Vista
>> > explians
>> > to
>> > delete old restore points but does not tell me how. With this drive
>> > full
>> > my
>> > system is crawling.
>> > --
>> > Long days pleasent nights
>> >
>> >
>> > "Michael Palumbo" wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "piook" <piook@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:E486890C-416D-4EE8-9301-15851A4084B7@microsoft.com...
>> >> > My guess is that your D drive is a recovery drive for going back to
>> >> > the
>> >> > original "Factory Settings" on your computer. So it is not intended
>> >> > as
>> >> > a
>> >> > place to store your Vista Backups. Furthermore, it is probably just
>> >> > a
>> >> > partition of the only "physical" hard drive in your machine (the
>> >> > same
>> >> > physical drive as your C: partition) and as such is not a good place
>> >> > for
>> >> > storing the backups anyway, since if that hard drive fails the back
>> >> > up
>> >> > will
>> >> > be lost.
>> >> >
>> >> > You should also read the documentation for the machine to see if you
>> >> > need
>> >> > to
>> >> > make a restore disk in case of a hard drive failure, since often
>> >> > times
>> >> > the
>> >> > d:
>> >> > partition is used in place of computer manufacturer's sending an
>> >> > install/recovery disc with your system.
>> >> > --
>> >> > piook is a long standing psuedo-name that resulted from a typo on
>> >> > the
>> >> > old
>> >> > computer game "Where in the USA IS Carmen Sandiego", and it stuck.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >> I'm going to confirm your guess, Piook.
>> >>
>> >> This is the recovery drive to do a system restore to factory new.
>> >>
>> >> IT SHOULD NOT BE DELETED, FORMATTED, OR MESSED WITH IN ANY WAY!
>> >> Unless
>> >> of
>> >> course you have full install disks for all the software that came with
>> >> your
>> >> system. :-)
>> >>
>> >> Dell will provide complete disks, but they usually expect you to pay
>> >> for
>> >> them, so make the recovery disks that it should be bugging you to make
>> >> and
>> >> leave the D: drive alone.
>> >>
>> >> In the past Dell always marked this drive as hidden but for some
>> >> reason
>> >> on
>> >> the Vista pre-loads they haven't.
>> >>
>> >> Mic
>> >>
>>
>> Is it a Dell?
>>
>> If it is, this IS the recovery drive.
>>
>> This is a partition that has a compressed image of the C: drive in its
>> original, from the factory, setup. OS, drivers, software, etc.
>>
>> If your system is 'crawling' there is something else causing it. A
>> non-system partition should have no effect on your system performance as
>> long as there is plenty of space for the swap file on your primary
>> partition.
>>
>> Dell has been using this method of recovery for quite some time, on XP
>> systems the partition is hidden.
>>
>> I have recently worked on a few Dell systems (Vista pre-installed) adding
>> RAM, simple setup, etc. and noted on each of the three machines I worked
>> on
>> there was a D: partition present, and it was almost full, and it did
>> indeed
>> contain the recovery information.
>>
>> http://www.dellcommunity.com/support...d=80290#M30298
>>
>> Have a look at the above post on the Dell forums, it confirms what
>> myself,
>> and piook have both said about the D: partition on Vista loaded Dell
>> computers.
>>
>> Thankfully, it also explains WHY the partition is visible
>>
>> Mic
>>