Problems restoring Samsung Series 9 np900x3c

I'm attempting to restore my Samsung Series 9 np900x3c to its factory condition and am having some problems. When it was new (a couple of years ago) I backed up the recovery partition using Acronis TrueImage before removing it to give me more space. I've restored the recovery partition but when I press F4 upon boot I get the "Invalid recovery area" error. I suspect I've messed up somehow when backing up or restoring the recovery partition. I'm suspicious of what order the partitions need to be in...

Can anyone suggest how I may achieve the restoration? Is it possible to get a restoration DVD?

Thanks,
Geoff

 

Hi geojay, welcome to NBR.

I am afraid you hit a common snag with Samsung Recovery Solution (SRS): It is easily disturbed by 3rd party partition tools such as Acronis. And unfortunately there is no easy fix. It is the subject of hundreds of posts in this very forum. There ARE ways to backup SRS, but you have to use the tools of SRS itself -- before it became broken.

Start by reading this post. It also contains links to other posts describing how you might get your SRS working again. Just be prepared that it is quite a lot of work. Only you know if it is worth the effort: You can legally download Windows ISOs and perform a clean install on the SSD instead.

 

Should you go the clean install route then if you have Windows 7 then the key is on the PSU while if you have Windows 8 then the key is coded into the BIOS.

There are some clean install threads in the Sticky List.

John