TrueTenacity

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Jun 28, 2006
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Here's a challenge to all the guru's out there...

I've noticed that all the new notebooks come out with a recovery partition on the HDD as opposed to the recovery cd(s)...

Would it be possible to create something like that on my notebook that didn't come with a recovery partition?
 

joefriday

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Feb 24, 2006
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Of course it's possible. Dell uses proprietary imaging software called "PC Restore by Symantec". I don't know if there's exactly a program out there that is 100% the same, but by using a few programs, you can make something just like it. To learn more about Dell's PC Restore and what make it tick:

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

It's quite an interesting read. I personally removed my Dell restore partition, because my Dell was an early enough variety that I was allowed to burn the hidden image in the partition to CD to make my own Dell XP CD, hence I no longer needed the partition.
 
I personally prefer either ordering the discs or making them myself rather than having a partition on the hard drive. Besides, if the drive dies and all you have is that partition, you're screwed anyway. Always have a way of restoring the computer without the partition if you have one. Also, back files up to an external source.
 

allhands

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Jan 21, 2008
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Acronis will also let you do this. They call it Acronis secure zone

Acronis® Secure Zone®
Acronis Exclusive: Protect your system by saving an image to a special hidden partition on your hard disk. It is especially useful for notebooks, and tablet PCs.

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/