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    What's on the recovery 15GB partition from Dell?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by tracerit, Jul 14, 2009.

  1. tracerit

    tracerit Notebook Consultant

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    I've always assembled my own computers so this is the first time I went with a prebuilt computer and laptop from Dell. I"m curious what is on the Recovery partition that's 8GB (partition size is 15GB).

    On my desktops, I usually partition 20GB out and leave it unformatted in case there's a system disaster that won't let me boot, I'll then use the 20GB partition to install a fresh OS, drag my files over to my 1TB storage drive and start over.
     
    tracerit, Jul 14, 2009
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  2. Mastershroom

    Mastershroom wat

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    The recovery partition contains the entirety of your factory Windows install, including all pre-installed software.
     
    Mastershroom, Jul 14, 2009
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  3. tracerit

    tracerit Notebook Consultant

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    is it the current windows install or a backup install?
     
    tracerit, Jul 14, 2009
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  4. Mastershroom

    Mastershroom wat

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    It's a backup of the way it was installed at the factory. It does not change unless you modify the partition on your own.
     
    Mastershroom, Jul 14, 2009
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  5. phqchevys

    phqchevys Newbie

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    It's a duplicate copy of you c:\ drive as it was when you first opened the box. If you do a complete system restore, it will format your c drive and then copy everything from the recover partition to the c drive. Then reboot and it's just like you took it out of the box again...
     
    phqchevys, Jul 17, 2009
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