[Mitesh]

Ok, my friend has a Dell Dimesion 5150 (Pentium D version). I want to reinstall XP because it is running stupendously slow. However it does not seem to have come with any reinstallation disk. However in the user manual it says 'Press CTRL and F11 to use PC Restore by Symantec'. It also says that it will return the PC into the original state it was in when it was shipped to the owner. However the hard drive has 2 partitions. They are as follows: Local Disk C: and Backup D:
The million dollar question: Will using PC Restore, wipe any data from the Backup partition?

Thanks in advance

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Yes the PC will be restored to the original config when the computer was bought. I just did a F11 restore on a 5150 and it took it back to the original install. The problem i had was there was a Creative Audigy card i had to remove to get the restore to work. Adding the card and drivers after the restore caused no problems.All Data was lost in the restore.

SRX660

[SRX660]

Yes the PC will be restored to the original config when the computer was bought. I just did a F11 restore on a 5150 and it took it back to the original install. The problem i had was there was a Creative Audigy card i had to remove to get the restore to work. Adding the card and drivers after the restore caused no problems.All Data was lost in the restore.

SRX660

[Mitesh]

You did not answer the main question although I appreciate you answering. Please read the million dollar question and answer. Thank you.

[**Brian**]

Ok, my friend has a Dell Dimesion 5150 (Pentium D version). I want to reinstall XP because it is running stupendously The million dollar question: Will using PC Restore, wipe any data from the Backup partition?

Thanks in advance

The answer to this question is that if there are 2 partitions, the machine's restoration files are on the D: partition, so it should not wipe out any data from D: because the restore information is there

Good Luck!!

Brian

[Mitesh]

No the D: drive is 37.1GB in size and the C: drive is 107GB. The HDD is a Western Digital 160GB. So knowing that 10GB is not shown by the OS that means that on D: there is no restore information. It says on D: 37.1GB free and 65.8MB used.
Surely the restore information cannot be so small (65.8MB).
So I think that the backup section will also be formatted because in the manual it says this: 'NOTICE: Using Dell PC Restore permanently deletes all data on the hard drive and removes any applications or
drivers installed after you received your computer. If possible, back up the data before using PC Restore.'

Note that it says 'ALL DATA ON THE HARD DRIVE'.

Then it says this:

'Use Dell PC Restore by Symantec only as the last method to restore your operating system.
PC Restore restores your hard drive to the operating state it was in when you purchased the computer.
Any programs or files added since you received your computer—including data files—are permanently
deleted from the hard drive. Data files include documents, spreadsheets, e-mail messages, digital photos,
music files, and so on. If possible, back up all data before using PC Restore.'

So is it still ok to use PC restore?
If I put all his files (he does not have any blank DVD's to which I can back up his data to) onto the D partition will I lose the files when using PC restore?

[Tyger]

Did you have any personal files on the computer when you bought it? The answer is no! So the answer to your question, which has been given already, is that restoring will wipe out your personal files. You may need the installation CD to complete the restoration project.

[SRX660]

If you do not think the D is a restore partition that had a viable restore on it then you need to look into getting a restore CD from somewhere. Yes, if you do try a restore you will lose all data on the drive. It would be better to back up the data than take a chance of losing it when you try to do a restore.

You need to read this website.

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/

It sounds like you do NOT have a recovery partition that is working on the computer. The good thing is you can buy Dell restore CD's at decent prices. I have one i use all the time on computers that are not even dell computers.

And theres this also.

http://oem.windowsre.../dell/index.htm

You can also request backup cd's.

http://support.dell....o...&redirect=1

You also may want to look into something here.

http://www.hcditradi...43945/SFV/29664

SRX660