system recovery question

I have a K50IJ running windows 7 I'm trying to do a system restore on it. The ASUS preload wizard is asking me to "select the appropriate option". I'm given 3 choices. a. Recover windows to the first partition, b. recover to the entire HD, c. recover to entire HD with two partitions. I don't know which one to choose. Can someone helt me here?

Thanks, Jim

 

That's a personal preference, if you want it how it was partitioned before, choose A, if you want to have the entire hard drive as one partition (the full size of the drive will show up as drive C) choose B, if you want to split the hard drive into two partitions, choose C.

 

I translate that as:

a - You can recover only your C:\ partition and anything you have on D:\ will be unaffected by the recovery.

b - You can recover the complete HDD in which it will be reformatted and set up with only a C:\ partition.

c - You can recover the complete HDD as in b, but you'll be able to specify a size for a D:\ partition.

Now, "system restore" is not the same as system recovery. System restore is a Windows feature that takes you back to system settings and what not from a older point in time. System recovery is essentially reinstalling your OS.

 

Thanks for the translation. That's what I was looking for.
Recovery, not restore, right.

 

More problems. about 1-1/2 hours into the recovery process a big red ERROR message flashed on the screen with a note in the top left hand corner of the screen saying "wimsetreference file 2 failed. I shut off the machine and when I restarted it, it behaved as though the F9 key had been pressed. I shut it off and tried to start in "last known good configuration". Same result. This time, I canceled the recovery program and it tried to restart on it's own. An error came up "bootmgr is missing" I get the same error if I try to start in safe mode.

A little background... I was given the machine from a person who said the screen is broken. Indeed, the glass panel was shattered. I replaced the screen. When I tried to start after that I got an error telling me "system disk read error". Thats when I thought a recovery was appropriate. The rest of the story is described above. What do I do next?

Thanks again, Jim

 

With the new knowledge, I think it would have been best to use a check disk program. It's possible that the HDD is just dead though.

Were you set on recovering this machine, could the HDD be made external to another machine and cloned (bit for bit) to another HDD that could then have the recovery process attempted?

 

Is the HDD you are using original to the unit? Or did you install an SSD or alternate HDD? Sometimes the big red Error will come up during installs and typically completely wiping the HDD with an original windows 7 OEM disc and then reinstalling with the recovery discs will work. Other times it meant the HDD was just defective. I would contact your reseller and have them set up an RMA or possibly help you troubleshoot it further.

 

Turns out my HD was dead. My computer wrench installed a new 500 GB drive. All is working now.