Hidden partition with Dell and XPSP3. How to restore with a hidden partition?
Brian_K said
I've owned a string of Dells and I can be specific.
The only partition you HAVE to image (recovery point) is the C: drive. If you HD fails tomorrow that C: drive image can be restored to a new HD and your OS will boot (with help from us).
However, I'd also image the 39 MB Utility partition as it is handy to have for diagnostics. You don't need to image the Recovery partition as you are keeping your own backups
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DaveH said
You only need to backup that utility partition once. It doesn't change and it's very small. Back it up once and your done with it.
Also if "EHD" is a external hard drive, you don't need to partition it. When you image a partition with Ghost the image is just like a file. One partition on your external drive is all you need to hold numerous partition images.
David said:
Obviously you’re not using windows 7, but you still have a hidden partition (XPsp3). The Dell diagnostic partition, so you want to make sure you back that one up at least once (it never changes) and restore it first should you ever need to change drives.
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Thanks very much for this tip on the hidden partition. I did not find anything in the user’s guide about back up of hidden partitions and the requirement to restore this partition first. To sum up here, despite slogging through the user’s manual I missed the hidden partition issue.
I am just a bit hazy on restoring a full image including a hidden partition.
Open issues.
You mention to “restore it” (hidden image) first…
If I am using the Symantec Recovery Disk (SRD) would I follow the steps below?
1. Restore Dell hidden utility partition first
2 Restore the C: image
I would then boot as normal to the newly imaged C: and be good to go?
I have recovered 3 test files/folders with no exceptions so batting 3 for 3. Backups going at a B+ where I occasionally I need to restart to get a backup to start.
All posters have been more than helpful and I appreciate everyone's time.
See screen shots below.
Thanks x2 again.
Bob
Screen shots
Disk management
See below for a screen shot of disk management and Explorer. All external drives are connected. F: is not connected to Ghost 15. A: is an external hard drive that stays in the same location as the Dell PC and B: and C: are EHDs that take their turns at an offsite location.
External Hard Drive labeling issues. I will also put this in another post that discusses this issue in greater detail.
After numerous attempts I think I have drive labels that overcome the SRD confusing assignment of drive letters that are different than the windows registry. Second screen shot.
