Windows 7: Factory reset not working because HDD is Dynamic

Dear fellow geeks, I need help to restore an HP Envy 17 to factory conditions. Problem is, HP recovery does not work when HDD is dynamic. Have now tried to burn a recovery DVD set 5 times, it fails every time when verifying disk 1 so factory recovery using recovery partition is my only (?) option.

I tried to convert HDD0 to basic using Diskpart (deleted all volumes, converted to basic) and then restoring from an image only system reserved plus partitions C: (OS) and E: (recovery), unselecting all other drives and partitions; still after recovery HDD0 is again dynamic with two extra partitions.

Disk management:



Questions:

1. Would it work if I instead of image just did a full backup of Recovery partition, converted HDD0 to basic using Diskpart, re-created Recovery partition and restored it using backup (no image)?
2. Could I / is it possible to move this recovery partition to an external USB stick (have big enough 32GB stick) or USB HDD and do recovery from there?
3. Tried 5 DVDs from 3 different manufacturers, burning recovery disks always fails on verifying first disk 1. Any ideas why?

I am keenly waiting ideas: How could I do a factory recovery when A) burning recovery disks fails, B) HP Factory Recovery does not allow image to be restored when target is a dynamic disk, and C) when restoring an image including recovery partition to a basic disk it is automatically converted to dynamic?



Summary: System Image I have now restored a few times is made using Windows native imaging tool, and it is working except it converts HDD0 to dynamic. How to avoid HDD conversion when restorimg system image?

Kari

Hi Kari,

1. you have to delete one partition. The next steps will only work when you have only 4 partitions.

2. reconvert the remaining 4 partitions to primary. For that you need the bootable CD of PW V4.2. You can download it from this site (Greg made that available). It is the pw422 file. This is a .iso.

3. whilst in PW I would make the C partition (or any of the other partitions) logical. The controls are in the Partition Tab > Modify (after you highlighted the C partition). Only then you have the possibility to create extra (simple) logical partitions.

Wolfgang, that's my problem. I delete that Z: (Virtual Machines), as well as the one without letter (HP Tools) which is in anyway empty. Then I restore image, only partitions system reserved, C: and E:, but after recovery I have all 5 partitions and a dynamic disk.

Kari

Did you take the image from the dynamics or did you convert them first to primaries.

As far as I know I did the image from a basic disk with 4 partitions. That no-letter-partition HP Tools is as I mentioned earlier empty, I have not seen it before and can not understand where it comes from. It normally only exists on HP laptops with a Linux based QuickWeb system, which allows laptop to be booted in seconds to a simplified GUI to surf, check mail and watch DVDs.

My Envy does not have this QuickWeb thus this partition being empty. IMO it is the reason why the disk is converted to dynamic, being the fifth partition. But, I am quite sure it wasn't there earlier, I believe my mistake has been to allow HP Update Tool update the laptop.

So, as far as I know the image has been made from basic disk but of course when I think of it, that must be wrong; 5 partitions on that image, it must be dynamic disk, so it's my own fault.

I gave up, installing Ultimate from scratch as we speak.

Kari

Why reinstall. I would get rid of that empty partition, convert the dynamics back into primaries and you are back in business. Then I would make one of the partitions logical so that you have some slack.

No, I gave up because whatever I did, after the image restore had finished and I should start factory recovery, the disk was again dynamic.

Clean install from fast USB, manually reinstalling drivers and the part of bloatware I wanted. Up and running now, both internal disks basic

Kari

Understand. A fresh install never hurts. It's just a lot of work. Last time it took me 3 days - updates galore forever.