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    Dell recovery DVD/CD?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by CeeNote, Feb 28, 2007.

  1. CeeNote

    CeeNote Notebook Virtuoso

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    Hi, I'm about to place an order within the next few hours for an Inspiron 6400/e1505 and I am wondering whether the notebook includes some sort of recovery DVD or CD?
     
  2. Gautam

    Gautam election 2008 NBR Reviewer

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    You may get an option to order one, but I don't think Dell offers it by default. You should be able to burn your own one - and of course, there is always the recovery partition on your hard drive.
     
  3. Amber

    Amber Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

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    I'm not sure how it is working with Vista, but with XP, they were sending discs out with the laptop. These discs are not recovery discs though. They are OEM discs, so you will get a clean install and will have to install the drivers and all of that mess.

    As Gautam said, there is a recovery partition which will format your laptop back to factory condition - meaning first day you received it.

    Where as most manufacturers send recovery discs, dell is one of the few that don't. This way you can get a clean install if you want it. If not, then use the restore partition.
     
  4. CeeNote

    CeeNote Notebook Virtuoso

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    Thanks everyone, I wouldn't even expect Dell to send OEM discs but that's even better.
     
  5. frugihoyi

    frugihoyi Notebook Guru

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    Yeah, OEM disc for fresh Windows install, or you can use the recovery partition to reset it to the way it was when you received it (I deleted that partition).
     
  6. CeeNote

    CeeNote Notebook Virtuoso

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    Okay, thanks again, I just placed the order.
     
  7. vutek

    vutek Notebook Guru

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    where's this partition and how do you use it? sorry im a newbie ;(
     
  8. Amber

    Amber Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

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    You can't see the partition in XP. To use it, you reboot your laptop, and as soon as the dell logo comes up, press CTRL+F11 at the same time. It should start to walk you through this setup where it reformats. It is a bit picky, so it might take you a few tries.