Shrink volume and Dell restore to factory settings

Hi,

I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right thread, but a major part of my query is with backing up the data on my hard drive. Please help. :)

I want to reinstall Windows 7 Home Basic (x64) on my Dell Inspiron 1440 laptop. But I do not have the setup CD and hence I plan to use the Dell Restore Image on the recovery partition. Before this I need to backup the data.

So these are my queries in short:

1) During Dell Factory restore, do I get to create partitions? Coz right now win 7 is in a 441 GB partition, but I want to install the OS in a smaller partition, say 40GB.

2) Before the reinstall, I need to back up the data. Unfortunately, the back up hard disk (on my desktop comp) will fall short by around 50GB. So I came up with this idea:

Cut and paste as much data as possible from my laptop to the desktop. Use Windows disk management feature, shrink the volume, and create a partition from within Windows 7. Move the 50 GB data to this partition.
During the reinstallation, create yet another partition, of 40GB, and install Windows without having to delete the 50GB data. Is this possible?

Please find attached a screenshot of the Disk Management utility. The 12.11 GB partition has LinuxMint and I plan to install XP over it.

Hope I am clear. Thanks in advance.

The whole idea of Factory Restore is to put everything back to the way it was when it was shipped from the factory.
So no if you use the factory restore option you will not be able to shrink the C drive.

Not sure what Dell does these days. I've only worked on one Dell notebook with 7 on it.
But Dell does included a program to make the system disk from images/ISOs/whatever on the hard drive.
Not sure if those disk you create contain a REAL OS reinstall disk or if it is to do a factory reinstall.
The only way to tell is create them and take a look at what is on each disk.
You might be able to contact Dell and for a small fee have them send you a REAL OS disk.

Never heard of dvd's? Dell factory restore will wipe the hard drive and make everything go back in time. So just buy a few dvds or invest in an external drive and back up your data.

Shootist said:

The whole idea of Factory Restore is to put everything back to the way it was when it was shipped from the factory.
So no if you use the factory restore option you will not be able to shrink the C drive.

That's bad news.

Bill2 said:

Never heard of dvd's? Dell factory restore will wipe the hard drive and make everything go back in time. So just buy a few dvds or invest in an external drive and back up your data.

Well, if there is a way to do something without spending a penny, why spend the penny? Anyway, it looks like there is no better alternative.

Thanks to both of you. :)

Yes, there are free alternatives, even though DVD's are $2 for 3 at Walgreens:

Send the data over the network to another computer.

Upload to Windows Live Office or Skydrive, which allows 25gb free storage with each Live ID.

Read up on Dell's Factory Recovery options here: Dell - Restoring to the Factory Settings