Can I restore the hidden partition with out a CD?

I have an Acer Aspire e700 desktop.
I don't want to restore to factory settings, but I would like to get into the recovery partition to see if I can do some file repair.
Please don't tell me to hit F10 or F8 or F11, I've been through every F button there. I don't have my recovery CD anymore. 3 years is a long time to keep something with a house full of kids.

I contacted Acer and they pretty much told me to go pound rock salt that they don't have the Acer recovery CD's for that model anymore. They suggested I buy a new computer. They even tried to tell me that I can't do an upgrade on a new hard drive. My hard drive is dying, I have a replacement, but I haven't put it in yet. I want to get my files fixed, transfer it to my external hard drive via "image backup". That way I don't lose anything. All of the updates will be there and I won't have to spend days reinstalling updates and drivers.
I've done 3 in-place upgrade repairs, none of them fixed the problems with the system files. I want to get into the hidden partition, extract the files I need, and go from there. I don't have the money or I would just upgrade to Windows 7 and be done with it.
Can anybody tell me how to get into the hidden partition??? I have Macrium Reflect so I can see the hidden partition, it is there. I just can't make an image of it.

Try alt f10

Unfortunately, then just cross fingers and hope.

Hi,

You can make an image of the "Hidden" drive I have done this before on an Advent laptop! You need a stable working system to do it on. Aslo the appropriate software too, of course.

How do you know what files you need?

Unless you require specific OEM files, you could use a DVD/CD version of the Windows operating system to get the files?

Sorry I forgot to put the Alt thing in there, I did that along with the F*'s, I got zip.

I've run SFC and it shows which files are either missing and which ones are corrupt.
How do I get of off of the DVD? I also need a couple of the OEM files.
I don't have a stable system. I use both Macrium Reflect and Acronis True Image for Wester Digital, neither one will burn a verifiable image.

I've worked with Microsoft for months to resolve the problem, they finally threw their hands up in the air and told me to do a clean install. Microsoft even provided me with repair DVD's, the in-place repairs didn't work. They didn't say anything about getting the files off of the DVD's??

Hi messed up,

Welcome to Vista Forums!

Even if we get you into the Recovery Partition, I don't think you can just copy files from there to your regular system to fix them - they aren't stored that way and I don't think this can be done (by them or by anyone). If you mess with the Recovery Partition without having Disks, then you may lose your only hope of recovery. I believe the files are codes and perhaps even compressed and/or encrypted (and you will probably not be able to identify the files you want even if you know which ones will work to restore your system - and if just using those files alone will work if the others have been updated over time). If you do get a genuine Vista Installation DVD, then here's the procedure to extract files from it: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/261616-extract-files-vista-installation-dvd.html; however, I believe you will have troubles if you do this because those replaced files may be viewed as corrupt (though I'm not positive here - but I've seen it occur and very recently as well). I believe there is a way to properly fix corrupted files from an SFC report (and I believe it involves using other files on the system in other locations like winsxs), but it is very complicated and I do not have the skills to do it. If you intend to do this, then I suggest you hire a professional to assist you (or take it to a computer repair shop and let them deal with it).

If you're going to ignore everything I just said and try anyway, then the only way I know to get in is to use Knoppix http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html with a good ISO copier like: http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm along with a blank CD. This should give you enough access to the system (if you can't get in any other way) to access the files on any partition it shows as available. If that doesn’t work, try slaving the drive to another computer and recovering the data using that other computer to access the partition. But this all is only going to permit copy/paste - not an image backup (well maybe, see below). Even these options may not work if the partition remains hidden and that isn't changed.

I'm not sure how an image of the Recovery Partition is going to help you. It needs to be installed on the system (and sometimes needs the system to be running) to work properly. You cannot use an image of the recovery partition on an external hard drive to restore the system - it won't work. There's essentially no way to activate it.

Please explain further what exactly you intend to do. How do you plan to image anything on the PC if it cannot be booted - does your software permit an image backup even if the system isn't running from essentially a non-working hard drive? It might be possible if slaved to another PC and done from there, but I still don't understand what this will accomplish. What can you do with this image? If you do get to the recovery partition files somehow (despite the hidden problem which may possibly be altered as a slaved PC but I'm not certain), what do you think you can do to restore the primary partition so it works again - I mean specifically? As I said, I don't believe they will be stored in files and folders with the same names as in your primary system and I don't think you will be able to identify them (but I could be wrong - I've never tried anything like this and I never would).

I hope this helps.

Thanks and good luck!

Hi,

The files can only be viewed (Easily) & "Played with" on a windows 7 PC, but you need to be experienced to do it. It is not something I am prepared to discuss post by post.

The best I can do is point you in this direction: -

Google


When I refer to a copy of the "Hidden" partion you can create an "as is" recovery partion on a new drive. This will not give you direct access to the files. It remains hidden.

What this back-up does, is create a new hard drive with full recovery options as per the manufacturers.

As you do not want that option you are very limited as to where to go.

Ok let me back up and start over, maybe I can explain this better.

I'm running Vista, the computer is bootable, I'm using it right now. The system files are screwed up example; windows installer is missing. or so it says. When I go into services it's there, but set on manual. I can start it, but with the next boot it's back to maual even though I set it to start automatically in properties. Possibly why that doesn't show up. Other files are corrupt, including the one that runs the eRecovery Management that allows access to the hidden partition.

Lorien: I didn't think about the files possibly being coded or compressed/ encrypted. If they are I guess that pretty much ends the discussion. The last time I took my computer into the shop, I had a hardware diagnostic run on it. They told me everything checked out fine. Fine, even though you can hear the hard drive drag as it picks up the plates. So, no I'll skip that route, but thanks for the offer.

I really appreciate all of your efforts, but at this point I think I'm going to run this hard drive into the ground and maybe by then I can scrounge up enough to get an upgrade copy to Windows 7 and put the new hard drive in with that.

The one thing I would really really like to have retrieved was the Acer Empowering Technology. They have something called ePerformance that lets you easily remove cookies, temp internet, temp system, erases recently visited URLs and empties the recycle bin all in 1 easy click. It also optimized the system with 1 click. The eRecovery thing is what is screwed up on that. Ironic isn't it. Other than that I gladly would chuck Vista.

Given that you all gave it a good try I'm going to click to add to your reputations, you deserve that much.

Hi,

What protection from malware/ viruses have you got & what checks have you carried out over/ in the last few months?

Try running malwarebytes : -

Malwarebytes

Hi,

Is this anything like what you want?

Acer EMEA - Service & Support, Empowering Technology

Yes, the Acer EMEA is exactly what I'm taking about. As you can see from that link though, it is model specific. It is hooked to the Acer installation process, thereby linked to the OEM license. I've checked the folders I do have and I don't see any setup or installation files. I don't know if I could even make it work on Windows 7.
I've run Malwarebytes, Ad-Aware and a couple of virus programs. No virus, no trojans, no key-loggers, nothing. I have IObit Security 360 set up as a secondary virus scan, (nothing there either). Meaning I can't run it unless I disable Norton first. The first thing I'm going to do after I upgrade is to dump Norton. It's a resource hog and it's a PITA when it comes to updates. They don't use a download managers and frequently throw out a 70MB update. With dial-up that takes about 6 & 1/2 hours to download.
I use RegCure to keep the crap from building up in the registry. It's the ONLY registry program I trust. It doesn't mess around with critical files. It's novice friendly.
I've run numerours system file checks, as well as disk checks. I've run just about every test I can find to run. I even ran Memtest to see if it was the RAM causing issuses. Nothing. That's why I use the Avatar I have

Hi messed up,

Your name is certainly apt for the problems your computer has been having. Some thoughts to consider:

1. I am not cetain the Restore partition is coded, compressed, or encryptyed - but one or all are quite possible if not likely. There's also a very good chance you won't be able to find or identify what you are looking for because of how it is all setup and named. The procedure to restore files from the DVD will probably not work here - even if you get to it. Also, changing just some files sometimes doesn't work right because the others may have been upgraded (including the ones you want to change) and for various other technical reasons (including hashes and such). This replacement issue applies both to the recovery partition files and the DVD files.

2. Get rid of Norton now - don't wait. Be sure to use the Norton Removal tool and don't just uninstall it: Download and run the Norton Removal Tool to uninstall your Norton product | Norton Support. Replace it with Microsoft Security Essentials http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/ and if you were using a Norton Firewall, turn back on the Windows Firewall. Update MSE and set it to scan in real time. Scan periodically with Malwarebytes. You'll be fine and done with the Norton problems.

3. I recommend against ANY registry cleaner, booster, optimizer, curer, enhancer or whatever it may call itself. Rarely, one will actually help (but that same one can cause problems for other people), most do very little good or have no real effect at all despite the statistics they report that seem to show different - and some can cause great harm. It simply isn't worth the risk. Vista does a fine job on its own taking care of the registry and needs no help. I suggest removing RegCure - but the decision is yours. You'll find nobody experienced here who recommends any registry cleaning product or tool - and there's ample reason for that as we've seem what can happen when they are used.

4. While not as good as Empowering Technology seems and certainly not as simple, the following should help with performance and space:

Here's my little blurb on improving space and speed in Vista systems (and it also suggests other things of value that you can consider or ignore - the choice is entirely yours). All of this is your choice, actually - I'm just presenting some options that may help and that have helped many others (and that I pretty much use myself though sometimes I do procrastinate I'm sad to admit and there are some things I won't do no matter how beneficial - for example, I refuse to delete my cookies (but that's a personal choice as I prefer the benefits of having them when going to previously-visited web sites over the limited amount of space recovered and speed gained given their small size)). Much of this should be part of normal maintenance, but that includes some other things (like creating periodic system restore points - probably at least weekly as they don't necessarily improve speed, space or performance and may in fact even do the opposite in some cases) not addressed here.

A great many things influence the speed and performance and available space of your system - mostly the existence of various files and what's loaded on the system. There are ways to handle this in Vista (and you should follow all the suggestions) - and of course the amount and type of RAM and the speed of your processor and motherboard (but I'm just going to discuss software solutions here - you can go to your computer vendor/manufacturer for hardware solutions if any are available (I, for example, am maxed out at 2GB RAM by my motherboard and there is no better motherboard available for my model of laptop but if your system can handle it, Vista 32-bit can use up to 4GB of RAM (well, almost 4GB, more like 3.5 actually) and the 64-bit version can use even more). If space is the issue, replace your hard drive with a larger one, add a second hard drive (if it is a desktop system), or add an external hard drive. Those are hardware answers (which cost money). We'll now discuss software solutions (which are mostly if not entirely free - at least the options presented here - there are 3rd party programs that provide additional options but they really aren't necessary).

One very important thing to begin – do NOT use any Registry Cleaner or Registry Booster or Enhancer, or Repairer or Fixer software (or whatever it calls itself) no matter what it says (scans will tell you have thousands of errors just to get you to download and install the program or worse, buy it) or where you got it (even safe sites sell these products but they are not worth the headaches they can cause). Most do nothing of value and some can do great harm (to the point where you need to do a clean install to fix the problem – and that’s not even counting the fact that many such programs are actually malware in disguise). Vista keeps the registry clean on its own quite well and doesn’t need any help.

To improve your speed and space, do Disk Cleanup using: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76073-disk-cleanup.html. Delete as much as you feel comfortable doing – nothing deleted there will harm your system in any way. This includes deleting the Temporary Internet Files. If you want to keep this from building, go to Tools / Internet Options / Advanced and check the box Empty Temporary Internet Files Folder whenever browser is closed and then that folder will always stay empty (except when you're using the program).

Also do an Optimization: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Optimize-Windows-Vista-for-better-performance. Do all of the options (or at the very least, consider them - many can help a great deal).

At least once every 2 months or so, run CCleaner http://www.piriform.com/ with as many options as you choose to delete (but be careful because this program if not used properly and with caution and with you paying attention to what you are doing can delete important and even critical files that could cause a great deal of trouble).

Clearing out your temporary files can also save you much space and improve performance and while some of the above will clear a lot of the temp files, they won't cover them all. This will. I recommend running it every month or two. It is TFC by Old Timer TFC - Temp File Cleaner by OldTimer - Geeks to Go Forums and you should download and save it to your desktop. When run, it will close everything else, so be sure to save anything you're working on and basically close all your programs. If it asks (and when done even if it doesn't ask), reboot to complete the process.

System Restore can take up to 15% of your partition's space but that can be reduced. It's a trade-off. The less space you allocate, the fewer restore points you will be able to retain - but many people reduce this to save some space while leaving enough to save 3-4 restore points at least (which is usually enough - until you need them). Here's the procedure: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76227-system-restore-disk-space.html.

Go to Start / Search options and type in msconfig and enter and then double click on the program icon that appears. Go to the startup tab and uncheck any program that you don't need starting at startup. That will probably be the majority of items there - if not most of them (some are needed like the AV program and Windows Defender but most are there to make opening the source programs faster and make you think they're more efficient). This will free up a lot of RAM and help a lot in making your system faster (though perhaps not so much that you'll be able to notice the difference - but maybe depending on how much unnecessary stuff is loading at startup). When I did this on my system I removed over 90% of the entries and suffered no ill effects – to the contrary, I noticed startup was quicker, response times when working were better and I could open more programs at the same time and still have no problems, and shutdown was also faster. Better still, download Autoruns http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx which is much superior to msconfig and click on the Everything tab and do what was suggested above (though here you can’t delete everything as with the start menu in msconfig because there are some very important files and services included which MUST not be deleted or it can cause serious harm to the system). If unsure, leave it alone.

You can accomplish some of these tasks (and more that aren't entirely related) by using http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/whatsnew.htm (which also searches for malware). I do this on a monthly basis just as a part of normal maintenance and I suggest you do the same (except for the registry cleaner – no not even Microsoft’s own product is entirely safe and the product has been removed from the paying marked for reasons unknown though it’s still available here for now but probably not for long). Make sure you select a full scan - it will take a few hours (mine can take around 5-6) but can work in the background so start it when it has enough time to complete.

You also want to have good AV and AS programs on your system (so no malware is operating in the background draining resources). Windows Defender is a good AS program. The new, free Microsoft Security Essentials http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/default.aspx is an excellent AV/AM program that has one of the least impacts on system performance and resources according to reliable sources and it does the job very well. If you're using MSE, you don't really need Defender and MSE will deactivate it when installed (but you would with many other AV programs - though some of them also deactivate Defender). I would also suggest downloading http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php and running it monthly to catch anything that MSE might miss.

If you follow this advice and do it periodically (at least monthly) then I believe you will have as fast and clean a machine as it is capable of going given the hardware.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!

This may be an interesting read
Suggestions for Proper Maintenance - Windows 7 Forums
Equally applicable to Vista

Hi,

Found this see if it fits the bill?

http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/desktop/aspire_e700.html

All great suggestions. Pick the ones that are the best for you, to ensure the best performance from the OS. .

I just wanted to get back to you all and thank you
Lottie: I found that the other day but when I clicked onto the empowering Tech to download it nothing happened. I just tried it again and am downloading it now. Thanks I would have given up.

Lorian: Right on target and agree with most of what you said. I use Most of those steps already. If I want to make sure the temp files have been deleted I click on RUN type in %temp% (just like that) and it opens the temp folder, Delete it all or keep what you want.
CCleaner is where I got into trouble in the first place. That is not a novice program, best left to really advanced users. Like an IDIOT I thought if if said it was junk then it must be junk. Wipe out 3 critical files. Microsoft helped me fix that mess. I quickly uninstalled it.
I also agree about registry cleaners, unfortunately I have a paid subscription to RegCure. (How do you spell SUCKER) It, unlike most proclaimed registry cleaners is pretty harmless. It removes unwanted active X controls and shortcuts and associations from stuff you delete and send to the recycle bin.
Thank you for the tip about the Removal Tool for Norton, forgot about needing that. Actually I won't need i cause I'm not going to install Norton onto the new hard drive. As to MSE, I've heard that has pop up issues???
I'm running a full 4GB. I would like to switch to 64 bit, actually I think this is 64 bit compatible, but most of my programing isn't. 32 bit is restrictive but someday I will change over.
I run Malware bytes on a regular basis. As to cookies, I'd just as soon keep not having some website tracking my every move.
As to start up, I'm running the bare essentials. I don't play in either "Services" or "Autorun". That's like taking a rake to your registry. With Disk Cleanup: I'm never sure what is safe to remove and what's not, that's why I like the Acer Technology program. It's a safe way to remove just the crap. I do use the Systems Performance Toolbox once in awhile.

Rich: I haven't had a chance to check out the link. Stuff like that I like to print out and put in a folder in my file cabinet for future use. I'd like to give it a thorough read but have a busy afternoon scheduled. Prom

I can say 1 thing, I'm convinced now that I AM going to buy the Windows 7 to put onto the new hard drive. I wish I could afford the $300 for the full retail version, but with Christmas and all I'll settle for the upgrade.
Can the upgrade ever be upgraded to the full version, I mean without having to buy the whole thing over again???

Buy the upgrde, its the same as full retail if you follow this tutorisl
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html
The result is the same as the full 300 dollar full retail

Just took a minute to see how long the other link was. Great information. I agree with who ever said no vacuum, use canned air. I have a small flat artist paint brush I also use. I dip it in a cup of water and then squeeze the hell out of it so it's just damp then I clean the fan that way. It allows you to hold the fan from moving, and still get the build up of dust.


To the faint of heart. I too was once afraid to open the case. Hear is my suggestion. Go to the store and buy some of that rubber shelf liner. The heavier the better. Mine is about a 1/4" thick. I bought a really long one because I use it in my workshop. Anyway, cut off about 2 and 1/2 feet of it. Lay your computer on this BEFORE you open the case. Take and extra you have and put it on the floor and stand on it. Again BEFORE you open the case. Then just open it. Take a look around. If you aren't comfortable with trying to do any cleaning then don't touch it this time, wait a week then take another look. There is a website called www.beyourownit.com . They offer a free course on the basics of what is in there and what it does. I took it and found it most helpful. It gave me the shot of confidence I needed to install my own new hard drive without dragging my machine down to some clip shop.

TY for the kind words. I will be home in about 10 days. I will have my favorites and I will give you more information. I need you to post so that I get a notice of an additional post and do not forget about you.

Before I take the plunge, I want to make sure it's ok to upgrade from Vista Home Premium to W 7 Pro????

You can upgrade to a higher version but not a lower
You can go from HP to pro
Edited see later post