Anyone successfully cloned and restored the recovery partition on Samsung notebooks?

Hi there.

I'm currently struggling with the limited space on a Samsung Series 9 notebook with a 128 GB SSD. I would really like to get rid of the recovery partition, but at the same time I'd like to be able to put it back if needed.

Has anyone successfully used Paragon, Clonezilla, Ghost or some other disk cloning software to clone the entire SSD including the recovery partition, and later restored it and had everything (including the recovery software) working as it should?

Come to think of it, is the recovery partition really needed if you have a clone of the main partition as it arrives from the manufacturer anyway? Does the recovery partition offer anything beyond simply restoring Windows to its defaults? Maybe all I need to do is to clone the Windows partition as a backup and just get rid of the recovery partition?

 

I have used Clonezilla to create an image of the entire drive that retained F4 recovery (this was in W7 on an X3B). But I recommend you back up the recovery partition separately as well if you are going to delete it (select F4 on boot to make this backup). I would keep the smaller (~1GB) F4 partition just in case. If you really need more space, investing in a 256GB SSD may be a good idea and you could just migrate the image while keeping the original drive for your warranty.

 

Thanks for the response.

I do not have a 1 GB partition. Just the 100 MB for system stuff, then the Windows partition, then the 4 GB Intel Fast Start partition, and finally the 20+ GB recovery partition.

I was not aware that I could use Samsung Recovery Solution to take a backup of the recovery partition. Is this what's supposed to be used with the recovery DVD that was included in the package?

Does this basically mean that I can reset my computer to factory settings, run the backup process on boot, and basically be able to create a recovery partition on a new drive? Or will the partition be replaced by DVD + the recovery image you make when pressing F4 during boot?

 

It depends on how new your PC is and hence which version of Samsung Recovery Solution:

1) Newer models (since fall 2012) delivered with Win8 use SRS6, which has a built-in feature to backup the Factory Image. This feature also has a Create Boot Disk option which essentially creates a self-contained, bootable Recovery backup. Follow the first two steps of this post. This type of backup must be made to a USB stick (32GB required for most models). With this backup, it should be safe to delete the Recovery partitions on the SSD.

SRS6 comes on two partitions: A Recovery Software partition of 1GB (named SAMSUNG_REC or RECOVERY) and a recovery Data partition (named SAMSUNG_REC2) containing the Factory Image and System Software (drivers etc).

2) Previous models (before fall 2012) delivered with Win7 use SRS5 (and SRS4 before that). It uses a single combined Recovery partition (SAMSUNG_REC). This version does NOT have the same convenient ability to back itself up to a bootable USB stick. However, it does have a Management Mode which allows the Initial Image (same as Factory Image in SRS6) to be backed up, AND importantly, to create a so-called USB Admin Tool on a 512MB USB stick. With these in hand, Recovery can be re-created on a disk with working F4, though it takes some work and will wipe the disk in the process. The procedure is described in this post. I recommend also making a full backup of the file and folder contents of the Recovery partition, as described in this post.

go45cvi's recent report of using Clonezilla is the first report we have had of ANY successful attempt to clone/restore Recovery partitions without using one of the above procedures. Generally, using 3rd party tools (Acronis, Paragon etc) to backup and restore Recovery partitions (or clone them to another disk) will cause the F4 link to be destroyed, making the Recovery useless -- even though the partition is there.

In summary: If you have SRS6 (your PC came with Win8) just make that Bootable Factory Image backup on a USB stick, and you're good to go. If you have SRS5 (your PC came with Win7), it's still possible to backup the Recovery -- through re-creating it is a somewhat involved process.

I hope this clarifies more than it confuses

 

I'm using the 2012 900X3C from early 2012, so it's SRS5.

So it seems I need to:

1. Create an SRS Admin Tools bootable USB stick

1. Reset my PC to factory settings

2. Create a system backup on an USB stick using SRS, accessed with the regular F4 during boot (which apparently creates a copy of the just reset system?), or alternatively (or in addition) use XCOPY to make a manual copy of the contents of my recovery partition

Then at some point in the future I can boot from the admin USB, create the necessary partitions, and restore the recovery drive from the other USB stick, either by restoring the image using SRS or copying the files manually.

Just about now I almost wish I got the 900X3E instead, but on the other hand I don't really want Windows 8, and the screen resolution seems far too high for a 13.3"

 

Yes, I think you got that right. But just to make sure, see my comments below:

 

Thanks for the very informative responses, and for clarifying a few things.

Regarding System Software, it seems that this is what's being backed up when you choose system backup from the F4 screen during boot, and no admin access is needed. Someone else tipped me about it and I tried it now. It seems to come with a nice installer and everything, and seems to contain the software one would otherwise download using the Samsung downloader.

Kind of off-topic, but has anyone considered making a wiki with information about these things (such as how to use the admin interface to save and restore the recovery partition and data)? I never found anything like that when searching the web for info on it, at least.

 

Yes I did the complete disk image out of the box, before windows was loaded for the first time. Unfortunately, I have SRS5 so no convenient option for an all-in-one thumbdrive. However, I can store the clonezilla image in a rar file on my desktop and extract to external hd whenever needed (2x for warranty purposes ). I could probably also restore over the network, but those menus are tough enough to get through. I know clonezilla should support uefi/gpt just never tested it.

 

Do you have a list of the specific steps you went through to make an exact clone and restore it? It sounds like Clonezilla is hard to work with, so it might help a lot of people since it will apply to basically any PC out there.

 

Sorry, I just kind of got through with trail and error. It's probably not that difficult, but I found some of the instructions unintuitive. This guide may be helpful:

The new and definite CloneZilla tutorial

I choose the savedisk and restoredisk options using an external usb hard drive.

 

I'm interested too in making a backup of the samsung backup partition. NP530U4C-S01ES. I've used clonezilla before (it's included in Parted Magic, which I use very often)
My problem with the backup partition is described in this post:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/692211-np530uxx-thread-series-5-ultrabook-9.html#post9320785

Even I still got installed the samsung backup partition (and accesible through GRUB boot loader) I can't install the app in windows 8.

What do you suggest me?

 

Dear Dannemand

Thanks a lot for the information!!

It was perfect for my NP300EA5.

I have moved Initial Image from my destroyed HD 1TB to new HD 500GB with linked F4 without any problem.

Best Regards
Rivenzo