Reformatting New Laptop; do I need to backup anything?

Hey guys,

Really simple question. I just got my replacement Dell laptop and I'm lookin' to reformat and reinstall Windows MCE with my Dell Disc. I was just wondering, with the breadth of software they install on my computer beforehand, is there anything there I should save?

I heard there is a Recovery Partition of sorts, and I've seen it (about 4 GB in size-ish). Would that revert everything back to the way it was when I got the laptop from Dell?

Thank-you all for your support.

 

There is nothing you need to save... unless your had saved some documents or files that need to be backed up.

Basically, you can delete all the partitions except for the first one or you can delete it if you do not want the Dell MediaDirect function (I think it is a waste of space).

Mike.

 

Wow, I appreciate the really quick response!

However, just one more quick question. If I wanted to restore everything to "as it once was" using that Recovery Partition, how would I go about doing that? Thanks.

 

Im not sure about restoring everything back to the way it was but I would not suggest it because Dell puts lots of junk into the laptop and it really slows down the notebook. I would just delete that first partition and reformat because it makes it alot faster. Also i would go to dell site and download the drivers because the ones in the disk may be out of date. Its just a suggestion of course but from my personal experience I reformatted a Toshiba satellite with core duo 1.6, a e1405 with core 2 duo 1.83, and my own e1505 with core 2 duo 2.0 and they all are waaaaaaaaaaaaay faster than they did when they had all the junk. Theres plenty of guides here to help you reformat and using bootvis really speeds up the loading time. Hope that helps good luck

 

Is it truly that much faster when you reformat? I've heard a lot of people say that, but when I see their 3DMark/PCMark/game FPS'es, it doesn't fare too differently. Is it just system responsiveness?

 

Well, let's just say your system will be cleared off all the spyware, adware, viruses that current reside inside your machine (if there is ).

Reformating is so easy and takes little to no time (depending on your partition size). I do it about every 2 months to clear up registry issues or fix errors that I normally do not get.

Mike.

 

Great guys. Just one more thing I'd definitely like clarified. Looking into my partitions, I know of only the two. Your main one that you'd actually use for your Windows installation, and the one that's about 5 GB in size.

Now what exactly is this partition? Is it the Recovery Partition I've been harking about or as was alluded to, does it simply contain your MediaDirect?

Thanks again guys. Rep points for all, definitely (I don't quite know how that works yet).

 

I think it is your recovery parition. I cannot recall. But if you are gonna delete everything then just all the partitions and create your own (if you'd like).

Mike.

 

how do you look at your partitions?

 

I get there this way: Start - settings - control panel - administrative tools - computer management. On the left side, go down to disk management, and everything will shop up on the right half of the screen.

I do not yet have my Dell laptop, so take this with "a grain of salt": 5GB would be about right for the entire recovery setup. On the HP at least, the program to play media without a normal bootup is under 1GB in size. I can't see Dell needing 5GB for it, it can't be that much different. But it sounds about right for a full system recovery (back to stock anyhow).