Computer Guys: Acer laptop and hidden partition | FerrariChat

Computer Guys: Acer laptop and hidden partition

Discussion in 'Technology' started by Gran Drewismo, Jan 27, 2008.

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  1. Gran Drewismo

    Gran Drewismo F1 Rookie

    Joined:
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    Andrew
    Hey guys:

    I picked up an Acer laptop over the weekend. It came installed with Vista Home Premium (!). I want to install XP Pro on it because I like that better and this has so much extra crap installed, but I still want to be able to revert back to Vista in case I need any warranty work or anything like that.

    According to the manual there is a hidden 10GB partition installed and I confirmed this with Disk Management. There are two other 35GB partitions installed.

    Acer includes no media with the laptop but does have a recovery program in which you can burn an image of the original configuration.

    Does anyone have experience with using recovery programs? In the past I usually just format and don't give it a second thought. But since this is a non home built system, I want to be able to revert back to the factory settings and I'm not sure if that's possible once I install XP.
     
  2. Mr.Anthony337

    Mr.Anthony337 Formula Junior

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    Your OS restore info (equivalent to the CD you're thinking of) is that 10GB partition. You could TRY to burn that, but it most likely wont work. Try and make sure you make it a BOOTABLE DVD... it shouldn't be taking up the entire 10GB, but could be. Should fit on a DL DVD.

    If you can't, or want to make sure, you can contact Acer and request CDs. You can let them know the restore on the disk isn't working for some reason if they really need an answer... just tell them every time you try it, it just fails to install right. But, they SHOULD just be able to send you a set of CDs or DVDs (for s&h) free.


    After that you're good to go.
     
  3. gblogger

    gblogger Formula 3

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  4. Alex1015

    Alex1015 Formula Junior

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    An easy way to adjust partitions is with a GParted CD, you can change their size, delete format etc. And because it is from a CD you can edit an partition

    http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/
     

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