Has anyone tried to retain the recovery partition while doing clean install??

I asked this question in orev's clean install thread, but got no definite answer. Thanks to orev though for helping out with other questions.
So I wanted to ask you guys if someone has successfully retained the recovery partition after a clean install. 'Successfully' means you could still access it to do system recovery pressing F11 while booting up. I have already made my recovery DVD's and also know abt that clean install destroys the present MBR. But is there a work around?? Can't MBR be backed up and later restored or edited to include the recovery partition???

 

Update: I have been googling and I found that there are actually ways to backup and restore MBR. There is/are softwares like HDHACKER that do it for you. But couldnt understand if its possible to backup a MBR and then restore it after a clean install to make it work. Would F11 option still stay while booting. Can some vista expert shed some light??

 

You mentioned you made the recover dvd. I decided to do a clean install myself and wiped the recovery partition and haven't looked back. The system runs a lot better without the bloatware HP ships their systems with. If you decide for whatever reason to return to the "shipped version" of your system, then the recovery dvd will restore you system the way it was before the clean install including the recovery partition and F11 function. No need to backup the current mbr.

 

Why would you want to keep the hidden partition if you made recovery CDs? Don't let the hidden partition go to waste; do a full reformat (and reclaim that wasted space) and keep your recovery discs handy should you ever need them.

 

Thanks for this hopeful reply. You mean to say if I dont delete the recovery partition and in case if I ever do a system recovery using recovery disks, then recovery partition again becomes active and can be accessed using F11 when rebooted??

 

Why is it you want to keep the recovery partition? If you have the disks, then the recovery partition is a complete waste of space. I don't even see the point of having the recovery partition after you create the recovery disks.

 

Actually for my own purpose, I dont care if its there or not, but I have planned to sell this notebook in abt half a year and I a friend of mine is planning to buy his next year too, so he is willing to take mine, provided it has recovery partition because he is a complete mess with cd's and dvd's. So I thought I will keep the recovery partition, and give it to him intact. But I also cant keep myself from the temptation of trying clean install. So thats why.

 

Ahh I see......well I'll look around for some different possibilities, but I don't know of anything at the moment on this topic.

Have you used the recovery disks to do a system restore at all? If you did a restore with the recovery disks and it reconnected to the recovery partition, then you should be able to do a clean install if you only format the OS partition and leave the recovery partition in tact. Just a thought.....

 

If you do a complete reinstall from the restore DVD’s you made, the data on the notebook HD will be exactly the same as when you took the notebook out of the box after purchase. Exactly as in “restore partition”, “F11”, etc. Doesn’t that solve your problem regarding sale?

If you want to experiment with a clean install and cause yourself the absolute least effort or fretting, why not buy another 250GB HD (they are not that expensive).
http://tinyurl.com/6nsrww $99 at Circuit City and Best Buy for an external USB, WD Scorpio (same drive as in the HP Computer). Just take the case apart and remove the drive.

Remove the original HD from your notebook and store it away. Replace it with the new HD, and do a clean install on the new drive. When you are ready to sell, replace your newer drive with the original drive (your software is already installed) and you are good to go.

The newer HD you remove can put back into its external HD USB enclosure and used as a backup external drive.

All problems solved and you can get on with your clean install. At any time if the install doesn't go as planned and you need use of your PC you can always reinstall the original HD in 10 minutes or less and you are good to go.

 

Thank you all you guys who helped me thru this. I got one more question, which I probably know the answer of, but still want to ask once. I have a 250 GB hard drive which I have partitioned into 4 drives: C, D, E, and F (F is recovery partition). If I do the clean install over C, it wont hard the data on D, E, and F - right? I know that it shouldnt but still want to ask once before doing it. cant risk losing the data at all...

 

Well, no, BUT... If you can't risk losing the data why aren't you backing it up to an external source like DVD's or an external HD? Remember one of Murphy's law's -if anything can go wrong it will. And if you do lose the data don't come back here and say "hey you guys said... etc". Remember, backup your data, backup your data, and one more thing, backup your data before you begin.

 

Thanks deeastman for this tip, but yes, I have backed up all the important files already, its just that I have lot of songs and other media files taking 75GB and only way to back that up would be buy an external drive... and I will invest in a external drive soon-probably in a month, but I cant hold myself from doing clean install for that long. thats why.. but thanks advice