[jello]

I own a Toshiba Satellite A105 and have the disks to restore to the original factory settings. I also have a program called Active for Partition and password recovery. I need to recover the partition because at the end of the instalation it finishes but locks up having a hard time figuring out where to place the files.. now I'm not exactly one to usually need help i can normally find these things but it seems no one has ever really taken the time for a walk through on partition naming i would love to learn how to do this since im training for my A+ cert as we speak

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I own a Toshiba Satellite A105 and have the disks to restore to the original factory settings.

Please explain what exactly you are trying to

but it seems no one has ever really taken the time for a walk through on partition naming

.

[Macboatmaster]

I own a Toshiba Satellite A105 and have the disks to restore to the original factory settings.

Please explain what exactly you are trying to

but it seems no one has ever really taken the time for a walk through on partition naming

.

[jello]

my laptop works but i want it back to factory settings its for my girlfriend.. I noticed that the hidden partition is gone and i know there is a way to recreate it i have the program Active to do so im just very unfimiliar with the program and im quite scared of it to be honest.. but to get to the point the hidden partition for recovering the harddrive has been wiped and i know there is a way to recreate that particular partition with the correct name so when i do the install from factory disks it doesnt lock up on me when it goes to load windows.. i just need someone to hold my hand and help me fix it i do appreciate that you took the time to respond

[Macboatmaster]

my laptop works but i want it back to factory settings its for my girlfriend

There is with respect no point, as I would suspect that the original settings are XP SP2 or even SP1, so you will have hundreds of updates and the Service Packs to install.

Certainly there is NO useful purpose to be served by creating a partition on the drive for the purpose of recovery, unless that partition is large enough to store a complete image of the drive once you have all loaded.

Even then, as is always the case with recovery partiitions, they are useless if the hard drive crashes.
Far better is to maintain a full image and incremental backups of all personal data on a separate hard drive.

If it is for the girlfriend and presuming there is no data that you really cannot risk her seeing, or do not want her to see, AND the laptop is working and up to date, then in my opinion, (but please come back if you do not agree, with any further questions) it would be far easier to simply delete your data, do an indepth clean up and create her user account, then removing your account.

If it is locking up on the factory discs, then more than likely the disc is simply a means of activating the process from the recovery partition that is now deleted.
As per this from the Toshiba forum
Many Toshiba laptops come with the factory software recovery image stored in a special (hidden) area on the hard disk. From this special hidden image, you can restore your computer to its factory-fresh software condition by following these steps:

To restore the original factory software image on your computer follow these steps:

• Make sure the computer is turned off ("Shut-down" from the Windows Start menu)
• Remove any peripherals such an external mouse, keyboard, monitor, USB flash drive etc.
• Make sure the AC Adapter is plugged in and working.
• Press and hold down the 0 (zero) key on the keyboard while powering on the computer. Release it when the recovery warning screen appears.
• If the recovery process offers a choice of Operating Systems, select the appropriate one for you.
• A warning screen appears, stating that when the recovery is executed all data will be deleted and rewritten.
• Click Yes to continue.
• When the Toshiba Recovery Wizard opens select "Recovery of Factory Software" or the appropriate option for your needs.
• Continue to follow the directions restarting as necessary.

Please note that the process may vary slightly from machine to machine, that you may be asked to insert disks (multi-disk packages) and that the process may take one to two hours to complete. The recovery process will require you to restart your computer several times.

As you use the recovery process you will have several options. One of these may be to create a custom size partition. Follow the directions on screen for this and other options as prompted. When in doubt, it's usually best to accept the default, or pre-selected option.