How do I save a copy of PQservice to a external HDD?

greenwizard · 15 Dec 2011

I have a acer laptop.I don't have any blank dvds & am not buying any.I want to know how I save a copy of the PQservice to a external HDD that is just used for backing up files.
Then if I ever decide to use the PQservice or sell the laptop & put it back in the laptop's HDD.How would I do that?

I want to find out how to do this as soon as possible.Because I am going to DBAN the HDD clean.Then reinstall windows 7 on it.Same os version laptop runs(home premium 64b).It's just the OS that has nothing extra,none of that silly crap(games etc.) that the manufacturers throw in.I want to do this to save some GBs on the HDD.
The external is in NTFS.I think the PQservice is fat32 or 64(OS in the laptop is 64bit).
Can I just create a new partition on the external,put how many bytes needed & format it to fat32?And still keep the other/original partition in NTFS?
I know DBAN may seem overkill but,laptop was bought off someone & they left it how they had it.Bunch of junk in it.

fseal · 15 Dec 2011

It seems like the easiest way to do this would be to image the drive (or at least that one partition). Then the drive image can be stored on anything like a regular file. You would have to image it back to use it if you needed to use it. I believe that those things are usually required to be bootable so merely trying to copy the partition contents may not work by itself.

However, If you just want to copy the partition files then I don't think it matters that the original partition is fat32. Somtimes the recovery software can be run from windows without needing to be booted directly. In that case the file system formatting does not matter. But to be safe, I'd do a full partition copy so you get the formatting and the bootability saved as well as the files themselves.

gregrocker · 15 Dec 2011

It may lose it's hotkey function, but you can possibly restore it using commands similar to this if necessary with SIW2's help: Recovery Partition - restoring F8 link

It seems making the Recovery Disks is what you want, although having a secondary backup method is always a good idea.

You can also always clean reinstall using the Product Key on COA sticker for a much superior install without the factory bloatware: Reinstalling Windows 7

mjf · 15 Dec 2011

Why do you think PQService is FAT32? I think you will find it is NTFS.

This ACER recovery is easy to image and restore the image using free Macrium Reflect. I have restored it to a new HDD and performed the factory restore without problems.

I would suggest you buy some DVDs and burn the factory restore also.

theog · 16 Dec 2011

You may/may not have the option to make a USB Recovery Disk.