Restoring Windows 8 to factory state, without deleting secondary partition

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MoishR

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Feb 22, 2014
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Hi ya'll.

I have a 3-months old Dell laptop, which I need to do a factory reset for, using the recovery partition.
Since I don't have an external hdd available, in order to backup everything I needed (roughly 95 GB), I shrunk my C drive by 100 gig and created a secondary partition, and just moved my files there.

Now, if I remember correctly, unlike windows disc-installation, it won't let me choose which drive to format and install the new OS on, it'll just delete everything and restore it to the state it was in when I first got it.


Since both drives are on the same HDD, will it actually be deleted? (the secondary drive).
If yes, what can I do to "tell it" not to touch that drive?


System:


  • Inspiron 15 3537
    I5-4200U
    6GB DDR3
    1TB 5400RPM
    AMD RADEON(TM) HD 8670M 2GB DDR3



Thanks!
 
Solution
Darkbreeze
Tough question. Most info does seem to indicate that windows will reformat. The question is, does it reformat the partition or the entire hard drive. I also can't seem to find confirmation one way or the other except in the replies section of a single article I found, it is indicated in one of the replies that the individual had done many resets, not refreshes, and it had not bothered his other partitions on that hard drive. This link below somewhat backs this up as it indicates reset only formats the c:/ drive. Your secondary partition will have a different drive designation and so it shouldn'taffect it, but again, I'm not willing to be responsible if it does. That's the best I can do for you but if I find further information...
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Jun 24, 2014
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Tough question. Most info does seem to indicate that windows will reformat. The question is, does it reformat the partition or the entire hard drive. I also can't seem to find confirmation one way or the other except in the replies section of a single article I found, it is indicated in one of the replies that the individual had done many resets, not refreshes, and it had not bothered his other partitions on that hard drive. This link below somewhat backs this up as it indicates reset only formats the c:/ drive. Your secondary partition will have a different drive designation and so it shouldn'taffect it, but again, I'm not willing to be responsible if it does. That's the best I can do for you but if I find further information, and I'll check with Microsoft on this, I'll let you know.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1956248/windows-reset.html
 
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