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General discussion

Formatted my recovery drive d:\

Jul 14, 2010 7:44PM PDT

When it seem to become necessary to install a clean copy of Vista, I was not paying close enough attention during the installation process and/or did not begin the process correctly, and managed to incorrectly install a clean copy of vista on my recovery drive d:\.

After that I made another attempt and successfully installed the clean copy of Vista where it should have, drive c:\.

However that left me with two OS's, one on each partition. This left drive d:\ with 1MB of space left. So I somehow needed to correct this. After asking around on how to uninstall the OS from the wrong partion I couldn't find a clear answer. So I took one suggestion I got and that was to reformat d:\. Which I did.

As d:\ is my recovery drive, I no longer have a recovery drive.

How can I get d:\ back to it original setup, design, purpose? Obviously a System Restore will not work. I'm finding discussion threads on a restoring to factory settings. Is this the way to go under these conditions? I have two Original CDs one labeled Operating System and one labled Drivers and Utilities.

Thanks for your help!

Discussion is locked

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You can't.
Jul 14, 2010 8:07PM PDT

If this is an OEM computer system from a manufacturer or store, (ie with the OS already installed), then that Recovery Partition was created and populated by the manufacturer.

There is no way you can restore that.

Mark

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But ...
Jul 14, 2010 8:31PM PDT

using the 2 disks you have (OS first) you will still be able to do a clean install of your OS and original drivers and utilities. So there isn't really much harm done.

Kees

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Recovery drive ?
Jul 14, 2010 10:35PM PDT

Which Brand/model of computer ? Normally, the manufacturer puts the recovery files, which includes the recovery tool, at a hidden partition. It woud not have been assigned a drive leter as seen at "My Computer" However, you can notice it at the drive manager. You already have the recovery discs. Were those ceated by you, or they came with the computer ? I would have thought that if you used those recovery discs to recovery the system[to as new], then what is that worry about drive D:\? It would have been recreated in the process. [it can't be done wrong when using those discs, i.e. it is imposible to install the OS at D:\...every thing should be automaic.] I think you need to clarify that...for us to help you further.

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Recovery Drive d:\
Jul 15, 2010 12:36AM PDT

I have a Dell Inspiron w/ Vista Home Baisic.

They name d:\ "Reocovery" and use it for System Restore Points (if I'm understanding correctly from others). I have no System Restore points since the day I formatted d:\, but System Restore does show activity of the programs I installed after d:\ I formatted it.

When I open compuer rom the start menu, I have multiple drives:

Named: "c:\ OS" and "d:\ Recovery" -- as well as f:\ g:\ h:\, etc.

Thanks.

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Recovery drive
Jul 15, 2010 12:42AM PDT

The disks are original disk from the OEM.

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Wondering if logic prevailed
Jul 18, 2010 2:01AM PDT

Most Vista CPU's come with:
(1) A utility to create one set of Recovery DVD's (or CD's). Recovery allows you to re-install to factory "day one" (ie: that day you unboxed it!)
(2) Hard drive divided in 2 partitions, ie C: and D:, of which D is viewed from "Computer" as "Recovery (D:)", and sized at 12-15 gig if Ultimate.
(3) Recovery partition must never be modified. Does not mean you can use it for "restore points". Supposed to remain intact and virgin. Ahem!
(4) If you have the disks, it creates new C: and D: partitions. Even to a new hard drive (ie: that new Terrabyte you just bought.)

(1) Experienced all of the above with my HP8100CTO.
(2) Swapped out the 250 gig with item #4, using Seagate Disk Wizard.
(3) Used Seagate Disk Wizard to create perfect clones of my new Terrabyte drive every few monthes. (Yes, I know it should be sooner!)