Format partition C damages the hidden partition?

[Wicky12]

Table top, Acer brand, Aspire M5700
HDD: 500GB
Part:
1. Hidden partition, 20GB, eRecovery
2. Partition C partitioned by Acer, 240GB, OS
3. Partition D partitioned by Acer, 240GB

I plan to format both C and D partitions and make 4 partitions.
So, check with Acer first.
Acer's reply is confusing,
saying that the hidden partition will be damaged if format C partition.

I do not understand.

Please help.

Thanks!

 

[whs]

I do not understand.

Neither do I. You can, of course, shrink both C and D and create additional partitions without impacting the hidden recovery partition. Just make sure the new partitions are simple extended/logical partitions and NOT primary partitions. Additional primaries would get you into trouble.

 

[theog]

I do not understand.

Your Acer Recovery Partition will be unusable.

 

[Wicky12]

I do not understand.

Neither do I. You can, of course, shrink both C and D and create additional partitions without impacting the hidden recovery partition. Just make sure the new partitions are simple extended/logical partitions and NOT primary partitions. Additional primaries would get you into trouble.

Thank you, Mr. Whs!

What you have said is just what I plan to do.
I did this before when I still used XP and a different machine.
But this time purchased an Acer machine and experienced some odd things.
So, I have become a bit suspicious of their product.
That is why I ask them first.

Thank you!

 

[Wicky12]

I do not understand.

Your Acer Recovery Partition will be unusable.

Thank you, Mr. Theog.

Why is that Mr. Theog?
Is not the eRecovery hidden partition all independent by itself?
Please help.

Thank you!

 

[Bill2]

To launch recovery from the hidden partition, you need to either choose a special option at boot (or press a particular key combo) or start erecovery from inside windows. For the former, there needs to be a pointer in the mbr which is wiped out when you format C: , for the latter you need the acer erecovery suite which comes installed by default but will be lost when you format C: and install windows afresh.

So what you need to do is make a set of recovery disks- these are like the recovery partition on bootable media. After that go ahead with whatever you want to, if you want to revert to factory later on, boot from the recovery disks and let them finish.

 

[whs]

For the former, there needs to be a pointer in the mbr which is wiped out when you format C: , for the latter you need the acer erecovery suite which comes installed by default but will be lost when you format C: and install windows afresh.

Bill, you lost me here. If I understood the OP correctly, he just wanted to shrink some space off the C and D partitions and create two additional partitions. That should not impact either the MBR nor the Bootmgr - thus te recovery partition should continue to function normally.. Am I missing something?

 

[Wicky12]

To launch recovery from the hidden partition, you need to either choose a special option at boot (or press a particular key combo) or start erecovery from inside windows. For the former, there needs to be a pointer in the mbr which is wiped out when you format C: , for the latter you need the acer erecovery suite which comes installed by default but will be lost when you format C: and install windows afresh.

So what you need to do is make a set of recovery disks- these are like the recovery partition on bootable media. After that go ahead with whatever you want to, if you want to revert to factory later on, boot from the recovery disks and let them finish.

Thank you very much, Mr. Bill2!

Yes. I burned a set disks of the recovery. And have used them one or two times.
I cannot recall whether I formatted the C partition when I used the recovery disks.

The reason that I ask Acer this time is that I attempt to format both C and D partitions
so that I can re-partition the disk according to my needs: Vista on C partition; Win 7 on D partition; XP on another partition, and still another partition for temporary storage.

What you are saying is that, if I read your comments correctly,
1. go ahead to formate C,
2. use the recovery disks to restore the OS,
3. but it is risky that I might have to revert to Acer for the finishing.

Have to give it a second thought whether I am willing to take the trouble.

Thank you!

 

[Tepid]

Well,, if it were me, I would make the Recovery disks, and blow the whole drive away and start from scratch.

Why?

1.) you could potentially damage the ability to use the Acer Recovery anyway and it's more of a pain to try and work around it in the first place.

2.) you can recover the space taken up by the Recovery location and use it more wisely for a triple boot system.

3.) You can reformat and start from a clean drive, again, without worrying about the recovery partition.

Basically, you can never really tell what is going to cause the Recovery partition to go belly up once you start messing around with the partitions.

Partition resizing does not always go to plan and can blowup an entire drive causing you to have to reformat and start from scratch anyway. (It happens far more than reported).

Also, why triple booting with Vista, you have 7, there is extremely little different about vista from 7, (like 3% if that, and really even that is pushing it and useless knowledge), 7 is the better OS.

 

[gregrocker]

What Acer told you is correct: Reinstalling to C will likely disable the Recovery partition.

But since you have the Recovery Disks which put it all back to factory condition anyway, there is no reason to keep the eRecovery partition which won't run anyway. Just wipe the HD and use a Win7 installation DVD for your version to clean reinstall with Product Key on the COA sticker: Reinstalling Windows 7 http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/151566-reinstalling-windows-7-a.html#post1300819

 

[Wicky12]

For the former, there needs to be a pointer in the mbr which is wiped out when you format C: , for the latter you need the acer erecovery suite which comes installed by default but will be lost when you format C: and install windows afresh.

Bill, you lost me here. If I understood the OP correctly, he just wanted to shrink some space off the C and D partitions and create two additional partitions. That should not impact either the MBR nor the Bootmgr - thus te recovery partition should continue to function normally.. Am I missing something?

Mr. Whs



The motive of the OP was indeed to find why I cound not add a partition simply applying the built in disk manager of the OS. Now that it has been clarified that this is almost unachievable on my machine, I want to do an overhaul, i.e., repartitioning the disk to 4 partitions, one for each OS
(Vista, Win7 & XP), and one for temporary storage. Doing so will format the C. Acer says that the eRecovery will be damaged if C is formatted. This again, I do not understand.
This is why I started another thread.

And now it appears to me that the overhaul is also a matter out of the question on my machine.
So, I am ready to take the advantage of a third party software, that is, EASEUS Partition Master.

Really appreciate you gentlemen trying to help me out!

 

[gregrocker]

I would not use Easeus Partition Manager. Instead use free Partition Wizard bootable CD: Partition Wizard We can give you the steps to save trouble.

If you want to keep the partitions you already have, then post back a screenshot of your full Disk Management drive map with listings showing all columns, using the Snipping Tool in Start Menu. Tell us what you want to add and where. We will give you the exact steps.

If you want to wipe the HD ("overhaul" is not a recognizable term here) and start fresh, then back up your files and boot the XP partition to see if it sees your partitions. If so, delete all partitions and create one for XP install.

Once XP is installed, boot the Vista DVD and make it's partition in second place, format then install Vista.

Then repeat booting the Win7 DVD to make your WIn7 and data partitions, format and install Win7. Here are tips for getting a perfect reinstall: Reinstalling Windows 7

Win7 should configure a multi-boot menu for all three OS's. If not, install EasyBCD 2.02 to Win7 to add whichever OS is missing from the Windows boot menu. EasyBCD 2.0.2 - NeoSmart Technologies

 

[Wicky12]

Well,, if it were me, I would make the Recovery disks, and blow the whole drive away and start from scratch.

Why?

1.) you could potentially damage the ability to use the Acer Recovery anyway and it's more of a pain to try and work around it in the first place.

2.) you can recover the space taken up by the Recovery location and use it more wisely for a triple boot system.

3.) You can reformat and start from a clean drive, again, without worrying about the recovery partition.

Basically, you can never really tell what is going to cause the Recovery partition to go belly up once you start messing around with the partitions.

Partition resizing does not always go to plan and can blowup an entire drive causing you to have to reformat and start from scratch anyway. (It happens far more than reported).

Also, why triple booting with Vista, you have 7, there is extremely little different about vista from 7, (like 3% if that, and really even that is pushing it and useless knowledge), 7 is the better OS.

Mr. Tepid

Thank you!

Great!

This is what I would like to do and I would do if I were as good at it as you are. And I would blow the whole drive away and start from the scratch if I had the Vista installation disks.

Why do I still fool around with Vista?
Well, I am a volunteer worker in a municipal library, working with about 400 senior citizens above fifty years of age. Some of them still use Vista. For their convenience, I use Vista with them when we have to work something out on computer screen. And so also for the reason that I still use XP.

Appreciate your concerns. Thank you!

 

[Wicky12]

I would not use Easeus Partition Manager. Instead use free Partition Wizard bootable CD: Partition Wizard We can give you the steps to save trouble.

If you want to keep the partitions you already have, then post back a screenshot of your full Disk Management drive map with listings showing all columns, using the Snipping Tool in Start Menu. Tell us what you want to add and where. We will give you the exact steps.

If you want to wipe the HD ("overhaul" is not a recognizable term here) and start fresh, then back up your files and boot the XP partition to see if it sees your partitions. If so, delete all partitions and create one for XP install.

Once XP is installed, boot the Vista DVD and make it's partition in second place, format then install Vista.

Then repeat booting the Win7 DVD to make your WIn7 and data partitions, format and install Win7. Here are tips for getting a perfect reinstall: Reinstalling Windows 7

Win7 should configure a multi-boot menu for all three OS's. If not, install EasyBCD 2.02 to Win7 to add whichever OS is missing from the Windows boot menu. EasyBCD 2.0.2 - NeoSmart Technologies

Mr. Gregrocker

Thank you!
Reinstalling to C will disable Acer's eRecovery. I understand and agree. But I do not have the installation disks. I have the recovery disks burned right after the purchase of the machine. Therefore, what I want to do is to recovery the OS on partition C, not to install or reinstall.
It is to this question, Acer says that the recovery will be damaged if partition C if formatted.

"But since you have the Recovery Disks which put it all back to factory condition anyway, there is no reason to keep the eRecovery partition...."
Well, it might not be so simple, Mr. Gregrocker.
There was once that I messed up the boot system of Vista, and the message said: Windows can not boot ... the bootldr ... missing or corrupted." Both recovery from the hidden partition and the disks that I had burned were carried out but neither of the two did anything good. I had to rely on BT for getting the bootldr.

Really appreciate!

 

[gregrocker]

In that case you want the Vista or Windows 7 Repair CD's, which can be made from each OS's Backup Center. These are used to boot to repair the OS.

Neither the Recovery Disks or the Recovery Partition have the ability to repair the OS, just replace it.

Again, if you want to keep what you have now and just repartition, post back a Disk Mgmt screenshot so we can advise you better.

If you can borrow or find a Vista or Win7 installation DVD for your version you can use it to both repair and for clean Reinstalling Windows 7

 

[Bill2]

Broadly speaking, theres not much difference if you just want to help whether its vista or win7. In most cases advice thats applicable to win7 is also applicable to vista. XP is a different cup of tea.

As for your other concerns, you can also clean install win7/vista from a generic disk, then activate with the sticker key.

 

[theog]

In that case you want the Vista or Windows 7 Repair CD's, which can be made from each OS's Backup Center. These are used to boot to repair the OS.

Neither the Recovery Disks or the Recovery Partition have the ability to repair the OS, just replace it.

Again, if you want to keep what you have now and just repartition, post back a Disk Mgmt screenshot so we can advise you better.

If you can borrow or find a Vista or Win7 installation DVD for your version you can use it to both repair and for clean Reinstalling Windows 7

Hi Greg

You can only make Vista Startup Repair CD from some Vista versions.
Create a Recovery Disc - Vista Forums


http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2083-system-repair-disc-create.html

 

[Wicky12]

Table top, Acer brand, Aspire M5700
HDD: 500GB
Part:
1. Hidden partition, 20GB, eRecovery
2. Partition C partitioned by Acer, 240GB, OS
3. Partition D partitioned by Acer, 240GB

I plan to format both C and D partitions and make 4 partitions.
So, check with Acer first.
Acer's reply is confusing,
saying that the hidden partition will be damaged if format C partition.

I do not understand.

Please help.

Thanks!

Ladies and Gentlemen

Thank you very much for trying to help me in past week.
I really appreciate your generocity and goodwill.
My original question to Acer was, if the partitions C & D were formatted for repartitioning, whether their eRecovery could recover the OS to the factory default state either by eRecovery from the hidden partition created or from the back up disks that I burned right after the purchase of the machine.

And I asked them twice for reasonable advices.
Their answers were in short:
A. The eRecovery would be damaged if the factory default partitions were changed in any way.
B. There would be no way to recover the OS either from the hidden partition or from backup disks.

Somehow I did not feel their answers were reasonable.
And that was why I came to you gentlemen for help.


Now, after some searching, I have found answers:


1.) The disk can be repartitioned.

Location:
http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/55/kw/repartition

Document:
Document ID: 55

Title:
Why are there two hard disk drives, ACER (C and ACERDATA (D, on my computer?

Quote:
"Your hard disk drive can be repartitioned into one larger partition, or several smaller ones."


2.) The OS can be recovered by eRecovery or backup media.

Location:
http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2631/kw/How%20do%20I%20reinstall%20the%20Operating%20System

Document:
Document ID: 2631

Title:
How do I reinstall the Operating System on my computer?

Quote:
"If the ability to reinstall from the previous method is not available or fails, recovery of the Operating System will need to be from Recovery Media."


3.) OS can be recovered by backup media along.

Location:
Acer Support - Answers, E-Mail, Chat - How can I restore my computer with the backup discs I created?

Document:
Document ID: 8028

Title:
How can I restore my computer with the backup discs I created?

Quote:
"With user created backups you are able to restore your computer to the factory default settings."


4.) OS can be recovered even the disk is replaced.

Location:
Acer Support - Answers, E-Mail, Chat - When replacing a hard drive is there anyway to keep the built-in eRecovery functions?

Document:
Document ID: 369

Title:
When replacing a hard drive is there anyway to keep the built-in eRecovery functions?

Quote:
"Prior to replacing the hard drive, please create the eRecovery media to restore the system to factory defaults in the future."




THANK YOU VERY MUCH, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!

HkuenpH

 

[Wicky12]

In that case you want the Vista or Windows 7 Repair CD's, which can be made from each OS's Backup Center. These are used to boot to repair the OS.

Neither the Recovery Disks or the Recovery Partition have the ability to repair the OS, just replace it.

Again, if you want to keep what you have now and just repartition, post back a Disk Mgmt screenshot so we can advise you better.

If you can borrow or find a Vista or Win7 installation DVD for your version you can use it to both repair and for clean Reinstalling Windows 7

Mr. Gregrocker

Thank you very much!

This is what I am going to do.
With the help of a third party software, I shall reduce the partition size of C and D.
This will make four partitions on the 500GB disk. In case this fails, I shall erase the
whole disk and create all new partitions.
Install XP. (I have the installation CD.)
Install Vista. (I have the recovery backup DVD's.)
Install Win 7. (I have the installation DVD.)
One extra partition for handy storage.

Thank you, Mr. Gregrocker!

 

[theog]

If using the Vista Acer eRecovery disks, use first.