Dell System Recovery

Recovery Manager provides a fast, reliable and secure way of restoring your computer to its factory default settings or custom system image from an image stored in a hidden partition on the hard disk on a secondary partition or on optical discs. Recovery Manage also provides a user-friendly utility to back up system settings, applications and data on the hard drive or optical disks. Many people think that daily data stored on the hard disk are stored in as safe. In fact such information is constantly in danger. Virus infections may not only undermine the stability of the operating system but destroy data stored on disk. Accidental deletion of important files can have similar effects.

When you buy a new computer, there are two options. The first is an option of much cheaper going to a smaller shop, buying the PC disk, choosing the pieces and assemble and install. And the other is going directly to buy a branded system which comes with the operating system. The second choice involves, most of the time, buying a branded computer, .i.e. produced by a famous company (Acer, Asus, HP, Sony, Dell, Toshiba), with settings and programs and pre-configured pre-installed I mentioned a few months ago. A typical example of this configuration is that of laptops, notebooks and netbooks, with special function keys and maybe even the latest features such as touchscreen that require special drivers and owners.

As a high-end customers, especially of this information may come up as a surprise to most of us, but that is what is fact - the first of its kind, most of the Dell computers come with an insurance company. It is provided with the files) that are originally packaged with the computer in the disk of the computer where it alienated a partition with all these files in a compressed state (in the absence of which, you will be a CD. After a bit 'of time may need to do a factory reset, a full restore the computer to return it to the state it was in when you bought it.

On computers pre-configured, there are two ways to do a reset the computer and return it to factory settings, completely excluding the possibility of deleterious format and reinstall Windows from scratch. The first one is the general method that we recommend using any type of computer, using a program backup if you want to reuse the computer, in case of problems on the disk but with the system intact, you should clone the disk, create an identical image has another hard disk (even outside) and then restore it.

The second one is the operating system which is full of problems or if you want to sell your computer, do not need a full copy of the disc, you just need to save important data to another hard drive and then bring your laptop or desktop PC settings factory preset same when it was purchased using the program installed by the manufacturer.

Each vendor has its own recovery solution, so there is no way to provide a definitive guide on each supplier. However, the overall restore process almost always works. First, you launch the program re-installation of Windows with its warning of data loss. After confirmed, we are awaiting according to a progress bar that can last half an hour or several hours depending on the computer. I recommend at this stage not to interrupt the process of restoring and reinstalling the system.

Precautions

• Conduct periodic restore points and before installing anything like Antivirus, Updates, etc. to avoid irreversible changes in the configuration.
• Keep your operating system up to date with patches and updates that Microsoft makes available through Windows Update.
• If power is prone to breaks in its electricity grid is highly recommended to disable the write cache to disk. In the Device Manager -> Hard Disk Properties -> disable the write cache. Windows XP is very sensitive to current breaks with hard drives.
• Back up all important data and divide the hard disk partitions to separate the important data from the operating system partition.
• Some motherboards require drivers and patches to work correctly as is the case of VIA: motherboards VIA chipset containing the package should install patches and drivers (IDE, PCI, AGP, etc. ) called 4in1.

The energy gaps are one of the most common causes of crashes. Windows XP is very sensitive to these jumps. Because this may be damaged computer components such as RAM (with which Windows XP is very demanding), and especially Motherboard Hard Drives. The most common component that is damaged Hard Drive.

An excellent tool supplied with the operating system itself is the checkdisk (chkdsk.exe), which repairs the hard drive most of the time, sometimes miraculously, but others unfortunately is not much depending on the degree of failure. It may be a data error (which usually can be fixed) or may be an error in the structure or surface of the disc (which usually has user-level solution). In this case it must bear the PC, a service technician to repair. But he never lost anything to try to run checkdisk.

Recovery

The Recovery Console is a tool rarely used but very useful if the system is damaged and unable to boot. On Windows systems there is a very useful tool but often poorly understood by users called Recovery Console. This utility works from the command line and have the main purposes of systems administration and recovery of these in case of any problems preventing them from starting normally. With it you can start and stop various system services, read and write, format, etc.

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There are two ways to access it, the first is to have it installed on the hard drive and access it from the boot menu as if it were another Operating System and the second, and more common, is to start with the Windows CD . The recovery system that is provided the manufacturer of your computer, surely can also save the backup copy of important files and folders, however it is better not rely on this. You have to think that restoring the factory settings is like a complete reformat of the hard disk, then all data is lost. Should then use one of the free programs to backup data.

To use the Recovery Console must have a bootable Windows CD (bootable) or else the boot disks. To start with the Windows disc we must have the CD-ROM as a first option in the startup list. If not we access the BIOS setup (usually pressing the Delete key when starting the computer) and place it in the correct position. It added that on some computers may display a boot menu without accessing the BIOS setup. To see if this possibility is within our reach just read the instructions at the beginning and see what key is accessed.

To restore the operating system there are two possibilities, a simpler, and more difficult. The longer and less convenient solution is to reinstall Windows from scratch. Need CD then Windows ever provided by vendors and that we must recover from a friend or downloaded from the Internet. Then you must also reinstall the drivers and special computer to do this, you should return to Step 1 of saving your data and make a backup driver.

Much better then to take advantage of the fact that many computer makers, although do not provide a copy of the Windows installation CD, put a recovery partition or a recovery disc into the PC. Although the names of these recovery programs can vary, roughly enough to know that typically must search the computer software that has the brand name followed by the word Recovery or Restore. Depending on the manufacturer, you can find the same.

This type of recovery of the computer should work if Windows no longer starts, by starting the computer from the pre-installed security partition. In this case, if you pay attention to the black screen that appears as you turn on your PC, you need to type to be an indication of the button to press to access the Recovery Console that, in general, a function key (F1 F2 etc.). Before performing any Full System Recovery I will recommend you to run System Restore First. That is much helpful and if you system works then you not lose your data also.

System Restore:

System Restore is that you can restore the operating system to a previous state certainly working. Windows XP offers standard two instruments that work in this vein: System Restore (System Restore) and restore driver (Driver Rollback). The first save automatically or on user request, any information on the state of the system (user data, settings on hardware and software necessary for the proper Windows startup and so on). System Restore can be run by clicking Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore. The utility is not Microsoft but miracles cannot restore data and programs, does not address situations that arose as a result of mistakes made by user or changes caused by viral infections.

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Driver Rollback is instead a function accessible from Control Panel, System, Hardware, and Device Manager. After you double-click a device and select the Driver tab, you can restore the previous version of a driver when installed after that it causes problems. Sometimes the user due to incorrect installation or configuration mistakes gets the operating system to malfunction. In these cases one of the tools included with Windows XP it prevents these situations do fall into the operating system: The restore points and System Restore. To be able to restore the system we have carried out previous restore points. Windows always creates a before and after installing updates.

To restore the computer, be sure to save all files that are important to you. You can use a flash drive or CD - the choice is yours. Most of the documents and photos will not be corrupted when a virus hits a computer, so it does not hurt to hold on to these files. Only after you have backed up everything you want to save can begin to restore your computer.

• Click on Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore.
• Choose a date if possible before the onset of the problem, it can help them get out of situations of instability of the OS (e.g., after installation of any program).

Restart the computer. If your computer is running slow, there is a good chance that this will take a while, so sometimes it would be better to make a blackout or a hard close. However, testing the first reboot. Once restarted, wait for the Dell logo to appear. When this happens, press the F8 key continually until the screen that offers the option to Repair your computer. Select this option and click U.S. for the keyboard layout.

Select the administrative account and insert the password. If no password, leave blank. It is important to use the administrative account since this account is the only one with access to do a restore. All other accounts usually only have limited access to safety.

Finally, find the option that says Dell Factory Image Restore. This will give you the opportunity to completely restore your computer to factory settings. If you are unsure of it, you can hit the reset / off button at the bottom. However, if you are sure you want to restore the computer, hit this option and click OK. You are prompted for confirmation and the confirmation process will begin.

Another possibility is one of the oldest but sometimes give much result (although we must bear in mind that no prompt): this is to access Windows XP by using Safe Mode (by pressing F8 at startup) and once in the operating system to change the setting to the previous situation manually or uninstall the software that may be causing the system instability. The machines are generally provided with a CD containing the drivers (Drivers), diagnostic utilities and documentation, and as a CD containing the operating system (OS). This helps you to restore you system entirely back. It is the best way to restore your system.

Dell PC Restore :

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Using the software Dell PC Restore by Symantec. Save Your Data first and then only perform the restoration. You should save all user data to avoid loss before to proceed with the repair of the operating system. Remove all external devices before reinstalling Windows like Scanner, Printer, Modem and all USB devices.

• Disconnect the cable from the modem or network cable from the computer if necessary.
• Reboot your system and when the Dell splash screen appears during the boot process the computer, hold down the Ctrl, then press F11. Then release both keys simultaneously. Press once Ctrl and F11. If you repeatedly press the keys, this may cause a keyboard error.
• The Dell PC Restore is displayed.
• Click the Restore button. You can also press the button to select Restore Tab, then press the button Enter. A warning message informs you that all data will be lost.
• Click the Confirm button (Confirm) or press the button to select Confirm Tab and then press Enter.
• Window Progress (Progress) appears. Once the restore process has started, the Dell PC Restore by Symantec runs for 8-10 minutes.
• At the end of the process, the following message appears: The system recovery process was successful (Process System Restore completed)
• Click Finish or press the button to select Tab Finish and then press Enter.

Ideally, the wizard to restore full factory reset everything needed to make the computer fully functional. In some situations, however, possible that some drivers have been installed and you go to the manufacturer's site, in sections of support or driver downloads, specify the model and download the drivers they serve. Almost always you can also enter the serial number of your computer to obtain the correct driver.

DATA Backup Tips

The regular data backup is the most important thing that any computer owner should be conducted regularly. You never know when a software or mechanical will happen and when it happens, we thank God for having a backup.

Several methods are available to perform regular backup of important data. It is possible to make a copy on CD / DVD or use a web space provided for that purpose (a specialized or simply a web host on which files to back up files by FTP). There are also programs like Super Flexible File synchronize to automate the backup.

There are also solutions RAID that allow data redundancy and thus provide an effective way to recover your data in case of failure.

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• If you do not have enough data to justify the significant development of a robust backup, you can always save your Occasional larger data on a USB key or just email them.
• It may be a good idea to partition his hard drive and back up important data on a partition that is not the primary partition. The goal is, again, reduce the write data that could come back to overwrite the file. To have important data on a separate partition also allows installing recovery software on another partition.
• The installation of an antivirus is, unsurprisingly, an effective way to protect yourself against potential viruses that could damage your data. It is important to update their antivirus software regularly so that it is able to recognize the latest malware.
• Using a firewall (firewall) is also a good idea. It is to be useful to block an intrusion on your computer that could result in the deletion of certain data.
• A physical component that can prevent data loss is the UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply or UPS in English) that will provide enough power in case of power failure, so you're able to save your data before turning off the computer.
• One last very important point to protect his computer is to make updates to their operating system regularly (The famous Windows update in the case of Windows). This ensures that the operating system is as stable as possible.

Create a System Recovery Disk

If you do not have a System Recovery Disk then you can make on for your system. This CD is required if the System Restore and PC Restore both have failed or if you are an advanced user and wants to back your system manually. This CD may also be required in case of failure or upgrade your hard drive. It is possible to create the Recovery CD Operating System Dell and Relocation manual operating system. You can any utility for that like Norton Ghost or Acronis. This utility allows the creation of a CD of the operating system. This means that you can make a CD for Windows only restore the machine from which it was created.

The other way to create the same without any additional software then you can use the Dell Recover Manager.

• Click on Start > All Programs > Accessories > Dell OS Recovery CD >
• Click on it and give ok. A Windows software license agreement appears Dell. Read the license agreement and then click to select Accept to the terms thereof.
• Click on the Next button and a welcome message asks you to insert a CD-R or CD-R / W or DVD-R / W disc into your drive.
• Again give Next and the program will restore your OS CD. The program can take 30 minutes to create your disk backup.
• When it is complete, a message appears. Remove the disk drive and mark it as Windows OS Backup CDs.

The first thing to do when you realize you just lost important data is not to touch anything and to learn. The goal is not to inflame the situation! A hard drive is fragile, especially if one of its components is no longer in perfect condition. A sudden movement or inadequate work could complicate data recovery. The opening and closing of the computer or the installation of new software can also have an opposite effect to that desired future and reduce the chances of recovering data. Logical failures are more common than hardware failures. They are not due to a physical failure of hard disk, floppy disk or the storage unit used, but corrupt software. The classic example of a data loss is accidental deletion of a file. This case can occur, for example, when two identical files and delete the wrong one.

It is important that you are able to know what type of problem you're dealing with, mechanical or logical, in order to make the right decision as to how to recover your data. If you already know what the problem is, for example if you deleted a file by yourself.

If you notice that your hard drive makes strange noises, clicking unusual, you're probably dealing with a hardware failure. A hard disk in good working condition should not emit sound, or at least it’s not strange or irregular . If you diagnose a mechanical failure, your hard drive emits strange noises, it is imperative not to touch it! Do not try to restart your computer several times in the hope that the problem goes away, it could worsen the problem
Another symptom that may indicate a mechanical failure is if the BIOS of your computer can not see the hard drive. It can also be due to a configuration problem. The option to transfer the hard drive unreadable in another computer and try to read from, so it remains a possibility, but we do not recommend this approach if you suspect a mechanical problem.

Some Recommended Software for Restoration

Several software packages have been created in order to recover data erased or lost. Such software can be extremely useful when the problem is software and it has been impossible to find the lost file by a manual investigation. To summarize the process used by the vast majority of these programs, it is to ignore the index created by the operating system and go exploring the drive directly. This software is able to detect the presence of a file without going through the index. This means that even if the file has been removed from the index (by accident or on purpose), the data file is still present on the hard drive and software is potentially able to read them.

Norton GoBack

GoBack (originally produced and marketed by Roxio, now acquired by Symantec) is a software utility that represents the evolution of System Restore. The program can solve almost any kind of problem resulting from the accidental deletion of files and directories, by infection of viruses, from installing programs or drivers are not compatible with the operating system or poorly developed. GoBack, in fact, decide to record any changes made to the system in a special area of the disk drive. The differences with the utility included with XP are enormous: The program from Symantec (especially the deluxe version) provides sophisticated functionality.

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Not only can restore the entire system to a working state but also restore previous versions of files that you worked on lately (just from Windows Explorer, click on the file of interest with the right mouse button and choose Show revisions). GoBack also offers the possibility to restore a previous configuration of the system on a virtual disk created on the fly so you can retrieve files such as modified or deleted. It should be stressed as GoBack comes into possession of the operating system boot procedure. The program is incompatible with systems other than Windows and especially not get along with boot manager, for example, BootMagic and the like.

In addition, the program must be disabled whenever changes are made to the structure of the disk (e.g. when using Partition Magic) and, unfortunately, when you install Windows updates. Given these issues, in all other situations GoBack behaves absolutely brilliant. I use disk imaging software, however, a different approach. They must always be kept running, not registered in real time the changes made on the system but help to create the "image" of entire disks and partitions. The image can be viewed as a snapshot of the contents of a partition or hard disk.

The imaging procedure requires a little 'time. Our advice is to create the image of your hard drive or partition on which you installed the operating system when it is done to the setup of all the programs you use most frequently, the application of all major updates to adjustment system to suit your preference. Once your operating system, not just be sure you have a system set perfectly you can skip to the creation of image files using software like Norton Ghost or DriveImage. The image files, which generally can be compressed, can then be stored, for example, on a CD ROM, waiting to restore their content. When the operating system becomes slow and unstable, you can return to a state performance by restoring the contents of your image file you created earlier.

Power Quest Driver Copy

And 'certainly a great way to always have a computer fast and efficient. Using a disk imaging software still requires the adoption of policies to create backup always a backup of your important files (documents, work files, photos, personal video , etc.). Both DriveImage (formerly PowerQuest DriveImage) that are now marketed by Symantec Ghost. Remains to be seen how the company will reorganize the two software applications in the near future considering performing the same functions and have features very similar. The Drive Copy function copies the contents of an entire hard drive inside of another. This is a particularly useful option if you buy a new hard drive and want to quickly move the entire contents of the old units.

The display mode Advanced Search (Advanced View) provides access to all features provided by Drive Image 7. In particular, this mode provides a summary table on the disk drives installed on personal computers, the images created (backup jobs), on the sequence of image files created for each drive / partition (Backup history) and all events that occurred when using Drive Image 7 (Events). A wizard takes you by the hand step by step towards the creation of image files to a disk or partition. As usual, you can now choose to burn the image on one or more CD-ROM/DVD. Alternatively, the image files can be stored locally or on a network drive. You can also specify, in addition, if you want to divide into parts a single image file and the compression level to be applied.

The most interesting innovations are still under the hood of the product: the ability to create image files to disks and partitions without leaving Windows DriveImage arises when a step higher than its competitors. Appreciates the special Recovery Environment that allows you to restore, for example, the image of disks and partitions entering a work environment in Windows XP/2000 style, accessible simply leaving inserted the installation CD of Drive Image 7, at Start your personal computer.

Acronis True Image

Although less known, Acronis True Image was the first software ever to allow the creation of the disk partitions and leave Windows without the need of restarting the system in DOS mode from floppy disk or boot. True Image has its great ease of use: the program with a few clicks to create a backup of disks and partitions. True Image 7.0 introduces some new features. One such organization is the ability to make incremental backups: the special function allows you to update an image file created above to reflect the changes that subsequently suffered the hard disk contents. It has been also added a module scheduler which can be programmed using the automatic creation of an image or performing an incremental backup.

A little lags behind DriveImage, True Image 7.0 is able to make a copy of the contents of a hard disk to another hard disk: This feature, in addition to making it extremely easy and fast migration of the system on a another disk, can be exploited to use hard drives as backup drives. Startup Recovery Manager is another new feature of True Image 7.0: this is a feature missing in the software "competitors" that allows you to restore an image of your hard drive without using boot disks. In any situation (even if the personal computer was not able to boot), restore the image may be obtained by pressing the F11 key during the boot of the personal computer.

The package also includes a tool to defend the privacy of your data: Acronis Secure Zone creates a hidden area to protect the contents from prying eyes. Finally, True Image 7.0 includes a tool for verifying the integrity of the disk images that are created. In this way you will be sure to restore the data without problems. Like DriveImage, True Image also allows you to split any image into several portions (of specified size), protecting the various files created with a password to set the compression level of the resulting image files and supports any storage media storage (hard disk, CD ROM, DVD-R (W), DVD + R (W), removable drives, IDE, SCSI, Firewire, USB 1.0/2.0) and can also save images to network drives.

HD Clone

Among the HDClone software freeware quote. This is a program that allows you to make a mirror copy of hard drive to another drive (the free version that we proposed allows copying discs to hard disk drives smaller larger and vice versa) . The software can be useful in many circumstances for example if you wanted to transfer the entire contents of hard disk on the new, just purchased.

To use the program is necessary to have a floppy disk bearing in mind that whether any content is automatically deleted. After unpacking the contents of the zip to a folder on the hard drive simply double click the file install.exe. The wizard will show a video that will create the floppy disk boot HDClone. This disk will be left in the floppy drive when the personal computer whenever you want to start a clone your hard drive. The copy of the hard drive made by HDClone is a true copy of "Physics": the program does not care about partitions and file system but it shall make a mirror copy. It should be noted, moreover, as any bad sectors on the hard disk is not an obstacle for HDClone. The software currently supports.

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HDClone interface that is shown leaving the floppy boot disk inserted when the system shows a kind of wizard that guides you, step by step, in the work of cloning the hard drive. From the first window you can select the disk you want to clone the hard disk, it must be specified target (1:1 means that an identical copy is made, 1: n is used to indicate that you are copying the contents of the disk a larger hard drives. HD Clone is able to operate in the so-called mode Backup & Restore (B & R): in this case the first half of a disc can be copied in the second half (and vice verse) . In this way you can make a kind of mirroring the hard drive without the need to install a second hard disk the same size.