I've made recovery DVDs, now what?

So, I made a set of recovery DVDs which makes me feel better that I can reinstall if I want. But can I now get rid of the D: partition? Or is that in addition to the DVDs?

What about the 1GB unnamed partiton?

I want to maximize my HD space but want to make sure I don't do anything that isn't undoable.

Thanks,
Richard

 

Well, you can safely delete that HP RECOVERY partition, and you can also delete the SwSetup folder if you wish. I would also recommend that you save an ISO of those recovery DVDs to a separate hard drive just in case. You can never be too safe.

I would leave the 1GB unnamed partition alone. I'm fairly certain that is related to the QuickPlay functionality.

 

You can now get rid of the D: partition

 

I am curious, what software did you use?

 

Sounds like the "app" pre-installed on the machine which creates (1) set of the "recovery disc(s), then DIES.

Better option to create recovery disc (or a recovery partition) is Acronis True Image... you can "image" your hd /data at ANY point in time.. make as MANY images, or backups of your data as you wish.... Instead of only (1) set.


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Before nuking /deleting/formating the recovery partition it would be a wise move to "test" those newly "end user" created "recovery" disc(s) to be SURE they WORK.

Also would be a GOOD idea to make a COPY of them. , Read that as confirm that the "copy" works..

And make an ISO of those recovery DVDs to a separate hard drive just in case as night_2004 pointed out above.

PS: to the OP, 1GB unnamed partition is QuickPlay.


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How did you delete the recovery partition? Will the hard drive be formatted automatically or does it leave the computer bootable to the XP pro OS? Thanks for any reply. I have a new nw8440. Greg

 

Somebody had mentioned using imaging software which is a smart idea. The Recovery DVD take forever to restore, while a reimage with Acronis is only a couple of minutes. You should still create the DVD and iso copy them.

I use Acronis True Image and Disk Director plugins on a BartPE disk which is real nice. In case you can't get into Windows and creating/resizing partitions. It has a nice wipe utility which you can use if you are selling or returning your laptop. You can F6 drivers for every raid setup on your desktop. The disk is Windows based using some of the files on your OS disk.

You can easily change the BartPE weird look to look like Windows if you like. Plus Acronis bootable media is linux based and doesn't run right sometimes with my amd based machine. BartPE recognizes my mouse and external drive everytime.

 

I have been looking into Arconis. I have heard nothing short of good things about it.

Forgive my ignorance however. What is a BartPE disk?

 

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

You can go to this website to find out. Acronis is very good on a BartPE disk. You have to buy the software though it doesn't come with BartPE. You can use the Acronsi software to create a bootable disk but it is linux and I have trouble with my amd system. The intel chipset are more prevalent so their is probably support on the disk.

Bartpe is like a Knoppix disk except it is Windows based. Norton Ghost sucks as well as all their software. Last time I used they had started giving you an F6 option. Before that they were awful and acronis was the only thing around to really image all kinds of system setups.

 

What version of Acronis True Image do you have? I am using ver 7.0 and it doesn't recognize the HD from the boot CD.