what exactly is the RECOVERY partion?

I have a Dimension 9200.

I now back up my computer using Acronis which makes mirror images of the
drive(s).

Should I bother also backing up the RECOVERY partion?

Just exactly what is that partion? I presume it's a copy of what was
installed on the C drive when I purchased the computer back in '07. But, is
it ever accessed and for what reasons?

I make the mirror images so that if the drive dies- I can install a new
drive, and in theory, install the image back on the new drive- and if I ever
do that, would it serve any purpose to also reinstall the RECOVERY partition
if in fact I had mirrored it too?
Joe

On Feb 21, 4:46*pm, "Joe" wrote:
I have a Dimension 9200.

I now back up my computer using Acronis which makes mirror images of the
drive(s).

Should I bother also backing up the RECOVERY partion?

Just exactly what is that partion? I presume it's a copy of what was
installed on the C drive when I purchased the computer back in '07. But, is
it ever accessed and for what reasons?

I make the mirror images so that if the drive dies- I can install a new
drive, and in theory, install the image back on the new drive- and if I ever
do that, would it serve any purpose to also reinstall the RECOVERY partition
if in fact I had mirrored it too?
Joe

The theory of a recovery partition is flawed. Yes, if the OS on the
hard drive gets completely messed up, doing a recovery from the
recovery partition will put the drive back to its factory settings,
more or less. Of course, all the data is lost, which is one defect in
the concept. The other is that the recovery partition is useless if
the hard drive fails. So, yes, back up the recovery partition and be
prepared to set up a replacement hard drive with both the recovery
partition and the main one for the OS and data.

It is doubly annoying to have a recovery partition and no
reinstallation CD/DVD... Ben Myers

Joe;1329731 Wrote:
I have a Dimension 9200.

I now back up my computer using Acronis which makes mirror images of the

drive(s).

Should I bother also backing up the RECOVERY partion?

Just exactly what is that partion? I presume it's a copy of what was
installed on the C drive when I purchased the computer back in '07. But,
is
it ever accessed and for what reasons?

I make the mirror images so that if the drive dies- I can install a new
drive, and in theory, install the image back on the new drive- and if I
ever
do that, would it serve any purpose to also reinstall the RECOVERY
partition
if in fact I had mirrored it too?
Joe
The short answer is no you don't need to back it up since it's already a
backup. Here's the long answer.
This will explain what your recovery partition is for and how to remove
it if you choose to do so.
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...N/YH242A02.pdf
The info you're interested in is on page's 74 & 75

*The pro's of deleting your recovery partition*
After a short period of time, the data on the Restore partition is
obsolete, with all the Microsoft updates and such.
If you have all the original disk for re-installs, I would just back up
any data that you might need, and go into the Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Storage, Disk Management, and
delete the Dell Recovery Restore partition.
It usually is labled D:, but be certain this is the correct partition.
You can then merge the partition with the larger C: partition.
By deleting the Dell Recovery Restore partition, you can recover about
15-20 GBs of hard drive capacity, depending on how large it is.
Then you can reboot and install the OS of your choice, and all your
programs.
*The con's of deleting your recovery partion*
I personally don't recommend this, since at some point you may want to
get rid of your system, you couldn't put it back as it was shipped. That
way it would be brand new and wouldn't have any trace of your data left.

Ben, so what is the FAT partition that Acronis sees but which doesn't show
up in My Computer? And should I back that up too? I suppose there is no
reason not to- it's very small, whatever it is.
thanks,
Joe


"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
On Feb 21, 4:46 pm, "Joe" wrote:
I have a Dimension 9200.

I now back up my computer using Acronis which makes mirror images of the
drive(s).

Should I bother also backing up the RECOVERY partion?

Just exactly what is that partion? I presume it's a copy of what was
installed on the C drive when I purchased the computer back in '07. But,
is
it ever accessed and for what reasons?

I make the mirror images so that if the drive dies- I can install a new
drive, and in theory, install the image back on the new drive- and if I
ever
do that, would it serve any purpose to also reinstall the RECOVERY
partition
if in fact I had mirrored it too?
Joe

The theory of a recovery partition is flawed. Yes, if the OS on the
hard drive gets completely messed up, doing a recovery from the
recovery partition will put the drive back to its factory settings,
more or less. Of course, all the data is lost, which is one defect in
the concept. The other is that the recovery partition is useless if
the hard drive fails. So, yes, back up the recovery partition and be
prepared to set up a replacement hard drive with both the recovery
partition and the main one for the OS and data.

It is doubly annoying to have a recovery partition and no
reinstallation CD/DVD... Ben Myers

.... and if the hard drive goes 'kaputt' you've no back up!

I'd say 'it's handy to have a spare copy'... if it hasn't been included
in the Acronis back up.

davy

Joe,

Have a look in Disk Management. Is the Recovery Partition the Active
partition? The Active partition contains the booting files.

"yukonron" wrote:
[......]
*The con's of deleting your recovery partion*
I personally don't recommend this, since at some point you may want to
get rid of your system, you couldn't put it back as it was shipped. That
way it would be brand new and wouldn't have any trace of your data left.

Just a reminder: Writing over old data only "removes" it from easy
retrieval. If it's really important to someone (or to some government
agency), there are still ways to retrieve it, although it is very costly. If I
were to give my computer away to someone, I'd give it away minus the
hard drive (but with the recovery partition on removeable medium) and
let the new owner provide and load the new hard drive with the backed-
up OS.

*TimDaniels*

On Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:36:43 -0600, in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell, yukonron
wrote:


Joe;1329731 Wrote:
I have a Dimension 9200.

I now back up my computer using Acronis which makes mirror images of the

drive(s).

Should I bother also backing up the RECOVERY partion?

Just exactly what is that partion? I presume it's a copy of what was
installed on the C drive when I purchased the computer back in '07. But,
is
it ever accessed and for what reasons?

I make the mirror images so that if the drive dies- I can install a new
drive, and in theory, install the image back on the new drive- and if I
ever
do that, would it serve any purpose to also reinstall the RECOVERY
partition
if in fact I had mirrored it too?
Joe
The short answer is no you don't need to back it up since it's already a
backup.

That's only true if you are absolutely sure the partition ONLY contains a
backup. That often won't be the case.

If Windows Disk Management shows the RECOVERY partition as a "system"
partition, you definitely need to back it up because that partition contains
files your computer needs to boot up.

My Dell computer (with Win7) is set up that way, and from what I've read
that's a fairly standard practice: putting important bootup files in a
separate partition that's not easily accessible by the user protects those
files from being deleted, damaged, etc. Win7 also protects the files by
preventing the system partition from being deleted or reformatted.

In addition to files needed to boot the computer, on a Win7 system the
RECOVERY partition may also hold the recovery environment: a set of tools
that can fix certain types of problems with the boot-up process. (The
recovery environment can also be accessed from a Win7 install disk or from a
system repair disk you make yourself.)

So unless you've used Disk Manager to specifically verify that the RECOVERY
partition is not a system partition, I would strongly recommend backing it
up. If you restore from an image that doesn't include all the files Windows
needs to boot up, you may need to do some extra work to get your computer
working again.

--
Nick

"Natural laws have no pity." R.A.H.

Forgot this in my previous post...

On Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:36:43 -0600, in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell, yukonron
wrote:

The short answer is no you don't need to back it up since it's already a
backup. Here's the long answer.
This will explain what your recovery partition is for and how to remove
it if you choose to do so.
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...N/YH242A02.pdf
The info you're interested in is on page's 74 & 75

The information the original poster is looking for is not on pages 74 and 75
of that PDF user manual you refer to: you and that manual are talking about
something completely different from the "RECOVERY" partition this thread is
about.

Adding to what I said in my previous post: don't delete the RECOVERY
partition unless you're absolutely sure it doesn't contain any bootup files
(i.e., it's not a 'system' partition).

--
Nick

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley." Robert Burns

Nick,

Thanks for agreeing with my previous post. I copy the booting files from the
Recovery partition to the Win7 partition and then delete the Recovery
partition. This suits my method of backing up.