vostro series

hi
i see lot of peoples having vostro systems in their signature, i am wondering why my last post went un-answered.

my point is do vostro 1400 have factory restore image on its hard drive so that we can restore it to original factory settings?

and all vostro owners have windows vista home premium but dell only offer windows vista home basic(not premium), how do you get premium on your systems?

i am waiting for any comments
thanks in advance for answering

 

I believe there are restore partitions on pretty much anything Dell sells, but not 100% positive.

Using search you would find information on getting Home Premium on a Vostro. You have to call in and order the Vostro that way and they can upgrade to Premium for $29.

 

My vostro has a small restore partition. It also came with a Windoze Vista DVD.

 

thank for reply
my vostro have a recovery partition but when i tried to restore it to original factory setting, then it says no factory restore image found on hard drive.
do any one tried that and then found to have factory restore image on hard drive?
thanks

 

Does Vostro 1400 also come with the Windows DVD? How about drivers and software CDs?

 

folks are reporting some getting OS and drivers CD's, and other not getting. If yours doesnt come with it, you can order a set from this Dell link: https://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/en/backupcd_form

 

How important is this small restore partition? I wipe everything on my hard drive before install Vista Business and Windows XP ( dual boot ).

 

I've been trying to restore my 1400 back to factory settings but have been unsuccessful. I chatted with dell support and i don't think it was tested enough to work on the vostros. Looks like our only option is to do a reinstall using the dvds.

Here is the chat session i had with a dell csr

Me: "when i click on windows complete pc restore, i get a message that says "no valid backup locations could be found""
Agent (SMB_SHEENA_132713): "Can I have 2-3 minutes to see what we can do?"
Me: "sure"
Agent (SMB_SHEENA_132713): "Thanks for holding."
Me: "no problem"
Agent (SMB_SHEENA_132713): "Unfortunately, that would not be an option on this system."
Me: "so there is no way of restoring my pc back to original factory settings?"
Agent (SMB_SHEENA_132713): "Sure, you do have the CDs?"
Me: "wut is the purpose of the recovery drive then?"
Agent (SMB_SHEENA_132713): "It would be used for the restore, however, that does not seem to work on your system. When it does not work, you have to install Windows with the disks."
Me: "so i can delete the recovery drive?"
Agent (SMB_SHEENA_132713): "Yes"
Agent (SMB_SHEENA_132713): "If you like,"
Me: "will there be a future update from dell that will enable a full pc restore on my laptop?"
Agent (SMB_SHEENA_132713): "No. The utility should work on the system, so there would be no updates."

 

Actually, I found out some interesting information from Dell when I called them last week after I could not do a restore on an Optiplex 745 with Vista.

I was told then, that I was required to just reinstall Vista, because the Optiplex (and presumably other Dell business-line PC's like Vostro), don't have the PC Restore image on the recovery partition.

Even though there is a recovery partition, if you look at the contents, there is no image file. There is a bunch of system file stuff (which the Dell tech rep said was for System Restore point files), but since businesses are into doing their own imaging, that Dell does not put one on there.

I was then told that just install from the Vista DVD and in 10-15 minutes everything would be back. I said, what about drivers and Dell system software that I have to re-download and install? His response was it was faster than XP, and basically, don't complain.

Personally, I was surprised that the Dell business-line PC's didn't have the restore image on them.

 

hi
can i delete recovery partition and add this space to my data partition using disk management console?
or i have to do this using windows dvd.
thanks

 

My 1500 only came with the Drivers cd and the media direct cd.
I used the link above to order a cd of Vista Home Premium.

 

So after submitting the form I got an email from Dell support telling me it was shipped in the box. (it wasn't) Was tempted to write back with what I thought about their packing QA process, but instead said NO, I need the OS cd, to which they replied, ok, we're sending it.

wtf