Solved Hidden Restore Partition for Acer & Co.

Problem:

You have bought a PC / Laptop which came with a preinstalled Copy of Windows Vista (OEM Software) and your system gets stuck in boot up process or Vista OS doesn't run smoothly anymore.

Now you want restore your system to factory settings.

Solution:

Your system provider/Computer Manufacturer (Acer, HP, Toshiba...) has set a hidden partition on your HD with a full-recovery disk of Vista on it.

(This partition is not visible in Windows Explorer nor in My Computer/Device Manager).

The hidden partition's volume label (address) is X:

To access it, please follow these steps*:

Press ALT + F10 during your Computer-Logo's-Flashscreen shown during boot up process.

You can now choose to restore your Vista-System to factory settings (this brings the hidden X: into play).

Advanced user's can try to access the hidden partition in the Command-Prompt (MS-Dos Console).

Please feel free to check your computer's user guide for special instructions to restore your Vista-System.


* ! Note that any data on your Vista Install Location (C: on most computers) is overwritten when you do a full system restore !

It is a good idea to store important files on another partition (D:, E: for instance) or on a CD/DVD/external harddsik/USB-flashdrive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 7720G
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.20 GHz 800 MHz FSB L2 Cache 4 MB
    Memory
    2 GB DDR2 667 MHz up to 4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT TurboCache 512 MB up to 1280 MB
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" WUXGA full HD Acer CrystalBrite LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1200 32 bit
    Hard Drives
    500 GB dual HDD (250 GBx2 Western Digital)
    Keyboard
    Azerti Swiss French
    Mouse
    Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    7.2 Mbps
    Other Info
    Fed up with Acer Support!
how about advising how to access said partition in any state so I can copy it to a disc/external drive:p


no... not the make a backup of the state of the partition.;)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    gateway/m6881
    CPU
    centrino core 2 duo 2.2ghz T7500
    Memory
    3GB
    Hard Drives
    500GB WD
    Mouse
    logitech
    Internet Speed
    fios 35MB not!!!!
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