Bringing Things back to Normal

Wandering Flame · Oct 4, 2009

Hello. To make this short, I just have two basic questions, for now...

1. How far can someone go in formatting a drive on their computer?

2. Let's say you bought a computer and it came with it all the necessary cds, which I think is the case with most computer purchases. Could you go as far as you can with formatting all the drives (C: drive, E: recovery drive, etc.) on the computer, and bring it back to normal with those cds (cds containing windows, dell software, etc.) of course disregarding other downloaded files like word docs, videos + music etc.?

Thanks

lemur · Oct 4, 2009

Wandering Flame said:
Hello. To make this short, I just have two basic questions, for now...

1. How far can someone go in formatting a drive on their computer?

2. Let's say you bought a computer and it came with it all the necessary cds, which I think is the case with most computer purchases. Could you go as far as you can with formatting all the drives (C: drive, E: recovery drive, etc.) on the computer, and bring it back to normal with those cds (cds containing windows, dell software, etc.) of course disregarding other downloaded files like word docs, videos + music etc.?

Thanks

You can completely delete partitions/add partitions and format your drive. I'm not sure what you mean by "how far". I guess the answer is "all the way."

When reinstalling the operating system, you can specify to format the hard drive. If you have any data you cannot afford to lose, you will need to back up your data first.

Installing and reinstalling Windows - Windows Vista Help

Wandering Flame · Oct 5, 2009

By the way the reason I was asking was, I was basically wanting to remove as much as possible from my C drive and E recovery drive, which are the only drives on my laptop, to basically make it have nothing on it, and then install all the software on the discs that came with it, so that it would be as if it was just bought. My OS is vista home, and my brother has been using it first for two months so that is why I'm asking. Also I'm not sure if the cds could fix the E recovery drive if it was wiped clean of data...or can they? I currently think the recovery drive just consists of files on the C drive so the discs could probably fix it up too, I don't know.

Actually, just now I've been doing some research and read that the reason some companies make the E recovery drive is so that they wouldn't need to send you 8 discs with the computer but like 3 instead, and that drive has all you need to restore your computer to factory condition, however i find it wierd you can delete/add files to that hard drive, if it's so damn important then why do they make it in such a way you can accidentally delete important files from it? This is not the case with cds, if for example the files on the cd were burned on the cd, making it impossible to delete/add files to the cd. however with the recovery drive it can become any kind of drive later on...lol

I have no data of value on my computer right now, though since I read somewhere that the recovery drive is called recovery for a reason, my 3 disc set containing dell software is probably not going to be able to restore it...not even the vista cd, but who knows...probably you. computer are too complicated for me.

blue75 · Oct 5, 2009

Soz I wonder how well Geek squad partioned my hard drive when my PC took a....How do I go about checking that ? Like isn't your PC faster if you put your pagefile on a separate partition than the OS.Usually I'd google it but I'm lazy tonight

Long story short Pops is a computer guru but he didn't make the Windows / OS back up disks lol.I was fit to be tied :sa: I'd have him check it out but he still has to work full time at 63.After 30+ years of doing installs / IT / support calls on payment sytems he got laid off...Pretty sad you get old they have you train your replacement basically and then they show you the door.Nice severance and early retirement package but money doesn't last.Especially with a greedy daughter who thinks money grows on trees lmao.

Wandering Flame · Oct 5, 2009

...??????????

blue75 · Oct 5, 2009

I am asking for some advice / tips 2.

Wandering Flame · Oct 5, 2009

ah ok. :D

zigzag3143 · Oct 5, 2009

Wandering Flame said:
By the way the reason I was asking was, I was basically wanting to remove as much as possible from my C drive and E recovery drive, which are the only drives on my laptop, to basically make it have nothing on it, and then install all the software on the discs that came with it, so that it would be as if it was just bought. My OS is vista home, and my brother has been using it first for two months so that is why I'm asking. Also I'm not sure if the cds could fix the E recovery drive if it was wiped clean of data...or can they? I currently think the recovery drive just consists of files on the C drive so the discs could probably fix it up too, I don't know.

Actually, just now I've been doing some research and read that the reason some companies make the E recovery drive is so that they wouldn't need to send you 8 discs with the computer but like 3 instead, and that drive has all you need to restore your computer to factory condition, however i find it wierd you can delete/add files to that hard drive, if it's so damn important then why do they make it in such a way you can accidentally delete important files from it? This is not the case with cds, if for example the files on the cd were burned on the cd, making it impossible to delete/add files to the cd. however with the recovery drive it can become any kind of drive later on...lol

I have no data of value on my computer right now, though since I read somewhere that the recovery drive is called recovery for a reason, my 3 disc set containing dell software is probably not going to be able to restore it...not even the vista cd, but who knows...probably you. computer are too complicated for me.

WF

Im s dell user as well and found
out the hard way that dell is pretty useless when it comes to frivers and recivery. If your dell came with vista pre-installed then you can download vista (or win 7) and re-install that.

ken

Wandering Flame · Oct 5, 2009

Didn't really get what you said. I'm hoping the first guy who replied to me would come back...I just need some assistance, and I don't want to be wasting my time doing something that won't be of any benefit...

Basically what I have done was do a "custom" installation of windows vista, which is just another way of saying installing a fresh copy of it instead of simply upgrading it, which keeps all your files. I didn't want any of my program files so they were erased with the custom installation.

However this destroyed my ability to connect to the internet AND my highest screen resultion option...WHY?! What much do these two things have to do programs? I thought the internet detector was built in and I thought monitor settings only dealt with the monitor. Someone please tell me if the Dell cd's that came with the computer is supposed to fix all these things up.

Thanks.

zigzag3143 · Oct 5, 2009

Wandering Flame said:
Didn't really get what you said. I'm hoping the first guy who replied to me would come back...I just need some assistance, and I don't want to be wasting my time doing something that won't be of any benefit...

Basically what I have done was do a "custom" installation of windows vista, which is just another way of saying installing a fresh copy of it instead of simply upgrading it, which keeps all your files. I didn't want any of my program files so they were erased with the custom installation.

However this destroyed my ability to connect to the internet AND my highest screen resultion option...WHY?! What much do these two things have to do programs? I thought the internet detector was built in and I thought monitor settings only dealt with the monitor. Someone please tell me if the Dell cd's that came with the computer is supposed to fix all these things up.

Thanks.

Now we have it. You need at least two drivers. One for the video card, one for the wifi/nic. you can go to support.dell.com and download the drivers for your system (32bit or 64) if nec. burn them to a cd and install from there.
hope this helps

ken

edit: the dell cd's might work but the drivers on their site ar newer so I would use them

Wandering Flame · Oct 5, 2009

How do I even go to their website when I can't connect to internet? This is not from my laptop obviously.

zigzag3143 · Oct 5, 2009

Wandering Flame said:
How do I even go to their website when I can't connect to internet? This is not from my laptop obviously.

go to the web site with this computer download the required drivers and either put them on a cd or usb drive to copy to the other machine

Frostmourne · Oct 5, 2009

The key point to remember is not to delete the recovery partition. The discs shoudl work though. Theoretically.

lemur · Oct 5, 2009

Enter the service tag number and snag your drivers.
Dell - Drivers and Downloads
Yes, I have Dell at work and my notebook (cough).

blue75 · Oct 5, 2009

Do you guys know much about this program :

Free Download Partition Wizard

Is it noob friendly or can I ask 1 of you to help me ?
My Pops could do it but I prefer not dealing with him :zip:

He's one of those genius types that talk down to people because they are so smart :shock:

I appreciate the help and all but that kind of attitude seriously irritates me...

Sure enough he got all know it all on me and then said he didn't know the program well enough to help.I'm no genius because my math skills suck. Once I hit algebra my mind said huh but I'd like to think if I was that smart I wouldn't be a jerk like that...

Wandering Flame · Oct 5, 2009

Yeah zig, I knew it all along. I just find it wierd that dell would have you do that, because there is a chance someone may not have another computer to download those files from. I'll get started...soon...even though I have these cd's already, they were a pain to use since they weren't simply pop the disc in and everything will be done for you. I had to extract many stuff from it and it didn't look like it was doing anything, but here goes.

Also about the recover drive someone mentioned earlier...what IF I mess with it? Am I then screwed? Doesn't Dell have something on their website that can restore my recovery drive back to it's former state? Surely they should have this too...

Not saying I messed with it, however I can't tell whether or not it's in the exact state it was in when it was bought, since someone was using it before me for 2 whole months...

Frostmourne · Oct 5, 2009

Best option is to image your hard drive, if Windows is stable and clean.

Wandering Flame · Oct 6, 2009

Sorry but how do I image?

Also for some reason those are a B**** to download...the first 3 tries failed, and now it has been saying "loading" for several minutes...

zigzag3143 · Oct 6, 2009

Wandering Flame said:
Yeah zig, I knew it all along. I just find it wierd that dell would have you do that, because there is a chance someone may not have another computer to download those files from. I'll get started...soon...even though I have these cd's already, they were a pain to use since they weren't simply pop the disc in and everything will be done for you. I had to extract many stuff from it and it didn't look like it was doing anything, but here goes.

Also about the recover drive someone mentioned earlier...what IF I mess with it? Am I then screwed? Doesn't Dell have something on their website that can restore my recovery drive back to it's former state? Surely they should have this too...

Not saying I messed with it, however I can't tell whether or not it's in the exact state it was in when it was bought, since someone was using it before me for 2 whole months...

this is somewhat resolved in win 7. most drivers of normal devices are built in to win 7. when I iinstalled it on my dell I didn't need to get anything else. in fact the driver built into win 7 is better than the dell driver for the intel 945 video chipset

ken

patio · Oct 6, 2009

Don't touch the Recovery partition...unless you have a complete set of Dell CD's with your Drivers and the OS on them...

Best thing to do is pretend it isn't there...you'll need it someday.

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