HOWTO: backup Factory Restore Image (from secret partition)

I have a Dell Vostro 1400 laptop. It did not come with any CD/DVDs.



Specs:

Windows Vista Business (!)

2GB RAM



I know about the F8, Factory Restore Image in the secret partition.
But am wondering how can one make a backup of the Factory Restore
Image onto DVD? Would I use DriveImage XML? Is the Factory Restore
Image on the secret partition anything to do with Windows Vista
(PCRestore)? Because we access this via Windows's imfamous F8
command....

you should be able to call dell tech support and request your copy of
the resource cd's and operating system dvd.

with that said, yes, you can backup the partition, but its always better
to install from the operating system dvd from scratch.


Andrew Wan wrote:
> I have a Dell Vostro 1400 laptop. It did not come with any CD/DVDs.
>
>
>
> Specs:
>
> Windows Vista Business (!)
>
> 2GB RAM
>
>
>
> I know about the F8, Factory Restore Image in the secret partition.
> But am wondering how can one make a backup of the Factory Restore
> Image onto DVD? Would I use DriveImage XML? Is the Factory Restore
> Image on the secret partition anything to do with Windows Vista
> (PCRestore)? Because we access this via Windows's imfamous F8
> command....
>
>
>

On Jul 8, 4:40 pm, JayB <J...@audiman.net> wrote:
> you should be able to call dell tech support and request your copy of
> the resource cd's and operating system dvd.
>
> with that said, yes, you can backup the partition, but its always better
> to install from the operating system dvd from scratch.
>
> Andrew Wan wrote:
> > I have a Dell Vostro 1400 laptop. It did not come with any CD/DVDs.
>
> > Specs:
>
> > Windows Vista Business (!)
>
> > 2GB RAM
>
> > I know about the F8, Factory Restore Image in the secret partition.
> > But am wondering how can one make a backup of the Factory Restore
> > Image onto DVD? Would I use DriveImage XML? Is the Factory Restore
> > Image on the secret partition anything to do with Windows Vista
> > (PCRestore)? Because we access this via Windows's imfamous F8
> > command....

Dell usually supplies the proper Windows XP/Vista installation CD
(BIOS modded to avoid activation).. and also a resource/driver CD. But
this method of restoration is not factory defaults. The secret
recovery partition has the factory defaults.

On Wed, 9 Jul 2008 01:40:16 -0700 (PDT), Andrew Wan
<andwan0@googlemail.com> wrote:

>On Jul 8, 4:40 pm, JayB <J...@audiman.net> wrote:
>> you should be able to call dell tech support and request your copy of
>> the resource cd's and operating system dvd.
>>
>> with that said, yes, you can backup the partition, but its always better
>> to install from the operating system dvd from scratch.
>>
>> Andrew Wan wrote:
>> > I have a Dell Vostro 1400 laptop. It did not come with any CD/DVDs.
>>
>> > Specs:
>>
>> > Windows Vista Business (!)
>>
>> > 2GB RAM
>>
>> > I know about the F8, Factory Restore Image in the secret partition.
>> > But am wondering how can one make a backup of the Factory Restore
>> > Image onto DVD? Would I use DriveImage XML? Is the Factory Restore
>> > Image on the secret partition anything to do with Windows Vista
>> > (PCRestore)? Because we access this via Windows's imfamous F8
>> > command....
>
>Dell usually supplies the proper Windows XP/Vista installation CD
>(BIOS modded to avoid activation).. and also a resource/driver CD. But
>this method of restoration is not factory defaults. The secret
>recovery partition has the factory defaults.

If you image the drive using Acronis (version 10 or 11), it will back
up the relevant partitions. I have restored from a custom partition
layout back to the Dell preinstalled state before, and can
successfully do a factory reinstall.

That said I would get those disks anyway as a matter of principal.

Andrew.