Recovery Partition Questions

I'm trying to install windows 7 via bootcamp but the disk utility cannot partition the drive because it is fragmented.
the error message says to reformat the drive.
I'm ok with doing this but i have a few quesitons and want some clarity:
1) I'm fully backing up my computer with time machine
2) I have Lion, so by restarting and holding command+r I'll access the Recovery Partition?
3) HERE IS MY MAIN QUESTION, if I select "reinstall OS X" will it reformat my drive??? This is my main issue so I want to make sure it actually reformats the drive into a non fragmented drive.
4) I do not have a bootable OS X disk, but because this is lion it will download and reinstall the os x over the internet correct (through my apple ID login)??
5) To restore my back up, I wait until the new os x is finished installing, restart then access the Recovery Partition again and select "Restore From Time Machine Backup" correct??
or do I:
1) Back up with time machine,
2) restart and hold " command+r"
3) erase drive with disk utility,
4) exit disk utility
5) Select "reinstall OS X" which will reinstall Lion (i have a pre mountain lion comp)
6) select "Restore From Time Machine Backup"
Thanks -Ian

1) Back up with time machine,
2) restart and hold " command+r"
3) erase Macintosh HD partition with disk utility,
4) exit disk utility
5) select "Restore From Time Machine Backup", without reinstalling
6) Choose your last backup date.
If you select "reinstall OS X", you will use the Setup Assistant (the "Migration Assistant") at the first boot on the new system.

Similar Messages

Question about multiple recovery partitions

Hello,
My question is: what is the default partition for toshiba z930 ultrabooks.
According to Windows 8 disk management, there are 6 partitions on my drive. From what I understand, the 6Gb is for hibernation (my computer's RAM is 6Gb), and the 101.38Gb is the main partition, and the 10.60Gb is for Toshiba recovery. I heard that the 450Mb partition is meant for Windows repair tools. But why are there two of such partitions?
Recently I did a reset using the built-in windows 8 function. Not sure if this caused the "duplicate" 450Mb partition.
What is the default partitioning scheme for toshiba z930 ultrabooks? My purpose of asking is partly out of curiosity but mainly because I am afraid of creating more of these 450Mb partitions if I should do a reset in future. Logically, a reset should not cause the duplicate partition but why are there two seemingly identical partitions? (I did not check the partition scheme when I first bought the computer, so I am not sure if I caused the duplicate. )
Thanks very much in advance for taking the time to help me. I've attached a screenshot of the partitions.
http://oi57.tinypic.com/2rw6zia.jpg

I don't have a Toshiba machine here, but I know something about Windows 8 and about UEFI/GPT partitioning. I can tell you what four of the six partitions are for.
Starting from the left side, the first partition contains the recovery environment (starts with the Choose-an-option menu); the second (System) partition contains the boot files; the C partition has Windows of course; and the 10.6 GB one is the recovery partition, which contains the image of the whole drive (including itself).
I don't know what Toshiba uses the other two partitions (450 MB and 6 GB) for. Perhaps somebody here will explain those to us.
Peculiar that Toshiba does not have the 128 MB Microsoft Reserved Partition. I thought everybody must have that one.
Configure UEFI/GPT-Based Hard Drive Partitions
PS A Reset preserves the partitioning and the hibernation image is the file C:\hiberfil.sys.
-Jerry

Dual booting Arch and Vista w/ recovery partition and a swap question.

I have a bit of a problem. The problem is, on a machine, you can only have 4 primary partitions. sda1 and sda2 are my Vista and Recovery partitions respectively, which eliminates two of my primary partitions already. I myself have never used logical partitions, and was wondering if any of the partitions the Beginner's Guide recommends (/, swap, /var, and /home) could be made logical, and if I even need a swap partition. Thanks in advance for your replies and suggestions.

The /boot/ directory needs to reside in a primary partition. Everything else can be in a logical partition.
Then again all you really need is / and swap.

Re: Unable to use the recovery partition on Satellite L505D

Hello.
I am trying to help a friend with their Satellite L505D that had a serious virus issue(s). I was not able to run/install any programs with the virus on it. I used a Microsoft tool to remove the rootkit trojan, but I still had virus issues. I also lost most of the programs on the machine. All the folders were empty (except for some games), so I could not access any tools that way. I could not get the machine to load any Toshiba restore utility by pressing Zero while powering on. I accessed some recovery options using F8 during bootup, and had a link to restore to Toshiba's original setting, but clicking that choice did nothing other than pause for a few seconds. I waited several minutes, clicked it again, rebooted and tried again. Nothing. As a side note, once during all this, the restore partition was visible from explorer.exe. Not before, or since.
So I then Reformated the computer with a Win7 Home Premium 64bit upgrade disk (leaving the restore partition intact), and entered the key for the system. Supprise supprise, it is asking me to activate within 3 days.
My basic question is, can I access that recovery partition in a different manner to attempt to use it? IE copy it's contents, or boot to some comand prompt to log to e:?
Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

> Is a recovery disk from another computer using Win7 Home Premium 64-bit usable?
Generally speaking yes BUT this second notebook must be 100% identical with same model number (PAxxxx).
> Or if not, am I left with either ordering recovery media from Toshiba, or wiping the entire HDD and installing another licensed version of Win7?
Exactly. To be honest better option is to order original Toshiba recovery disc.
You can order it under https://backupmedia.toshiba.eu/landing.aspx
For 30 euro you will have original disc that you can use anytime you want. This disc has OS with valid licence, all necessary drivers.
It is also simplest way to have all properly installed. With 5 mouse clicks and after 2 hours only notebook will have factory settings again.

Toshiba Satellite L645D S4036 recovery disk question AND ASKING ADVISE

long story-LAPTOP DROPED,MONITOR CRACKED,WOULD NOT BOOT PROPERLY.I PURCHASED RECOVERY MEDIA FROM TOSHIBA.3RD DISK WOULD GIVE ERROR.I CALLED TOSHIBA,THEY TOLD ME BAD HARD DRIVE .I REPLACED AND LOADED RECOVERY DISC,SAME MESSAGE MISSING FILES OR CORRUPT.
I TRIED LOADING VISTA AND HAD IT WORKING SLOWLY-MISSING LAN DRIVER,SO I MANAGED TO SLIP IN NEW BIOS,WENT FROM 1.50 TO 2.20.THEN EVERY THING DISAPPEARED,VISTA STOP WORKING.
I NEED SOMEONE HELP IF YOU HAVE THETIME,MY STUBORNESS IS GETTING THE BEST OF ME.I AM ABOUT TO PURCHASE ANOTHER RECOVERY DISK AND SEE IF IT WILL WORK,BELIEVING THE OTHER RECOVERY WAS BAD.AND HOPING UPDATING BIOS WILL NOT BE A PROBLEM .THANKS

Satellite L650-07U (PSK1EC-07U00Q)
This site is for US computers. I doubt you'll get your questions for that Canadian model answered here.
There appear to be two recovery partitions. Maybe one for 32- and one for 64-bit Windows. Or maybe one is for English and the other for French.
Your User's Manual isn't much help either. You probably need to ask Toshiba tech support in Canada.
About all I have to offer is this: Be wary of drives with advanced-format technology. See my message about that.
-Jerry

Recovery partition deleted and formatted

Hello
I have accidentally deleted recovery partition of my compaq presario cq61 (win7 home premium 64bit) while trying to install another operating system. Before the accident I had the C drive and the D drive marked Recovery, now after deleted the other operating system I have the C drive and a D drive marked as System.
It's possible to recover this partition from an image back-up I made before?
Thanks
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View Solution.

Hi Michele,
Recovering the recovery partition is not that likely to be a possibility with a free program. The chances of restoring it from the windows backup is also quite slim.
If your brother's notebook is absolutely identical then using it is a viable solution to the problem. If it is not identical then it will be a waste of time as the recovery manager itself will refuse to work.
The best option is to use a recovery disk that is made specifically for or created by your notebook. $30.00 is a lot cheaper than purachasing an operating system.
You can backup the current disk partitions with a program like the Paragon program I provided you a link to in an earlier post. At least that way you will have a reliable image of the current situation on your notebook's hard disk.
You can also legally reinstall Windows by using the Microsoft Windows license on the certificate of authenticity on the bottom of your notebook.
Best regards,
erico
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2015 Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience Consumer

Equium will not boot - how to access Recovery partition?

Hi, my sister has a 2008 Equium A200-1V0 with Vista 32-bit which will not boot (probably due to virus rootkit damage). It loads the BIOS but then goes straight to black screen with flashing cursor.
F8 does not work.
F2 goes to Phoenix TrustedCore Setup utility. The Toshiba hard drive and CD-ROM drive are listed in Main and Boot in the correct order.
Using F12 I can get it to boot from a Win7 64-bit repair disc I burned using my laptop.
However, this does not recognise the OS nor any image or restore points (because it is 64-bit) but it will load Command Prompt.
In *Command Prompt*, I can start Notepad and when I click File/ Open and double click on Computer it shows 4 Hard drives as follows:
Local Disk (C:)
Data (D:) 42 GB free of 54.5 GB
WinRE (E:) 1.11 GB free of 1.46 GB
Boot (X:) 29.0 MB free of 31.5 MB (which is used by the Repair disc)
So the C: drive is listed but without capacity.
*CHKDSK*
chkdsk c: /r and press return
"The type of the file system is NTFS.
Unable to determine volume version and state. CHKDSK aborted.
Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50.
*Running TESTDISK*
Analysis:
Partition Start End Size in Sectors
1 P Windows RE(store) 0 32 33 191 89 26 3072000
2 * HPFS - NTFS 191 89 27 7477 118 1 117051392
3 P HPFS - NTFS 7477 118 2 14592 190 62 114307072 (data)
* = Primary bootable
When doing Quick Search and then P - list files, of the second partition it reports:
"Can't open filesystem. Filesystem seems damaged."
So what I would like to do is boot up from Windows Restore on the E drive.
My question is to any Toshiba experts: When F8 does not work how do I use the recovery partition???
Laptop is:
Part Number : PSAF5E-002005KS
Key Features
- Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor T2310
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
- DVD Super Multi (Double Layer) drive
- 2,048 (1,024 + 1,024) MB RAM (667 MHz)
- 15.4 " WXGA TFT display 1,280 x 800

*UPDATE*:
I have borrowed a genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit dvd and booted up with that.
Clicked on "Repair your Computer"
Then it goes striaght to System recovery Options but no Operating System is shown. Click Next.
Then:
"Choose a Recovery Tool.
Operating system: Unknown on (Unknown) Local Disk"
*Startup Repair*
This takes 1 second.
Root cause found
System volume on disk is corrupt.
*System Restore*
"X - To Perform an offline System Restore, you must specify which Windows installation you would like to restore.
For example, if the installation located in "C:\Windows" should be restored enter the following command:
rstrui.exe /OFFLINE:C:\Windows "
*Windows Complete PC Restore*
" No valid backup locations could be found.
Windows cannot find a backup on the hard disks or DVDs on this computer. Attach the correct hard disks or insert the last backup DVD and then start the restore process again. "
Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool
Windows cannot check for memory problems...[snip]
*Command Prompt*
This is working fine.
CHKSDK C:
The type of file system is NTFS.
Unable to determine volume version and state. CHKDSK aborted.
The HDD is 120 GB and is split by Toshiba into 3 partitions.
C:\ drive (56GB) is bootable with Windows - this is corrupted.
D:\ drive (55 GB) has all Data - fully accessible
E:\ drive is CDROM
F:\ drive (1.46 GB) is the WinRE recovery partition - this is fully accessible.
So my question still remains: can I recover my Toshiba laptop using this recovery partition?
PLEASE NOTE: as mentioned above, pressing F8 during boot has no effect and therefore Safe Mode cannot be accessed.

Can I use the HP Recovery partition after formatting and repartitioning the rest of the hard drive?

I recently had my HP Pavilion dv4 2145dx laptop (Windows 7 64-bit) go kerput. The Geek Squad said that the motherboard died. I've purchased another laptop, and I'm using that one for now, and I am using the hard drive from the old dv4 as an external.
I'm planning to keep using the hard drive from the old dv4 as an external for now, but I'd like to be able to fix the dv4 at some point in the future. Here's the problem: to get the most out of the old dv4's drive as an external, I'd like to repartition it so that there is one NTFS partition and one HFS+ partition. That way I could use it easily with both my Mac and Windows machines.
But if I do that, I'm not sure if the HP Recovery image would still work. If it didn't work, then if/when I get the old dv4 a new motherboard, I couldn't restore the OS from the Recovery partition. This is a problem, because I didn't create Recovery Disks (stupid, I know - I'm definitely making them for the new machine).
So I'd like to do one of these two things:
1) Create my dv4 Recovery Disks. Can I do this if the dv4's drive is mounted in an external enclosure?
2) Format and partition the dv4 drive (leaving the Recovery partition intact), and later recover the system from the Recovery partition. Would the Recovery partition still work under those conditions?
Thanks for any help anyone's got.
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View Solution.

Hi:
Anything you do to the C:\drive will render the recovery partition inoperable.
You won't be able to create a set of recovery disks unless the drive is operable in the notebook.
Can you still read all 25 characters of your W7 product key on the bottom of your busted notebook?
If so, you can do this...
If you can read the 25 character Microsoft windows 7 product key, you can download plain Windows 7 ISO files to burn to a DVD for the version of windows that came installed on your PC, and that is listed on the Microsoft COA sticker on your PC's case.
Burn the ISO using the Burn ISO option on your DVD burning program and burn at the slowest possible speed your program will allow. This will create a bootable DVD.
Or use the Windows 7 USB/DVD installation tool to compile the ISO file you download from Digital River. Link and instructions below. You need a 4 GB flash drive to use the USB method of compilation.
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool
Use the 25 character product key on the PC to activate the installation.
The key will activate either a 32 or 64 bit installation.
Then go to the PC's support and driver page to install the drivers you need.
Link to the W7 ISO file downloads is below.
http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/
Or, you can probably still order a set of recovery disks for your notebook from HP.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=bph07143&tmp_task=solveCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lan...
Paul

How do I install just the Lion installer via the lion recovery partition.

I am trying to bootcamp windows 7 on my new macbook pro (early 2011), the installation was successfull but i am missing drivers on the windows side and cannot access the internet until i install them. I installed all the bootcamp updates and put them on a usb to transfer to windows partition but windows kept telling me i need an earlier version of bootcamp which is not available from the update support downloads section of the apple website.
After some research i realized i needed the mac boot disc for lion, which doesnt exist so i need to create my own. I was told i could install lion from the lion recovery partition.
here is my question....If i install lion onto my mac partition that currently has lion, can i stop the download after the initial 4 gb installer and not go through with the full re-installation of lion? so that i can then take the installesd.dmg (i think thats right) file and put it on a dvd to install from the windows partition and finally get the drivers i need to get it running.
Comment: based on what i have read on how you used to bootcamp a mac, apple has made it very difficult, unneccesarily difficult it seems.

Before you do anything else, I suggest a thorough read of this:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/boot_camp_install-setup_10.7.pdf

How do I setup the HP recovery partition on my HP Pavilion DV7-1232nr

How do I setup the HP recovery partition on a drive that has been erased of it’s HP tools recovery partition like in the recovery patition size needed on the harddrive and how it should be setup like in should it be set as Active,Logical,Primery,etc etc etc
I get the following errow when trying to restore from my recovery disks I made with HP phone support
Error ---> this pc is not supported by the system recovery disks. you will not be able to continue to recover this system this these disks.
go figure ) > :
system
HP Pavilion DV7-1232nr
HD 320 gig
Ram 4 gig with 3.75 gigs still free
CPU AMD Turion X2 doul core mobile RM-74 2.20 GHZ
HP Windows 7 Home 64 bit Full install
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View Solution.

The Recovery partition is recreated when doing a successfull reinstall from the Recovery Disks.
Enter BIOS by tapping away at the F10 key immediately after powering on. Is all system info complete there?
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Lenovo S405 How To: Re-Install Windows 8 if you have lost your recovery partition

To help some people out... I read some of you formatted your drive and now are stuck without the ability to restore Win 8 if you went to Win 7 before you knew there was an issue, or lost your recovery partition for any other reason. FYI, if you can get your hands on ANY Win 8 disk (doesn't matter if its Professional or the Regular version) and install it, your serial key for Win 8 is hardcoded into your motherboard BIOS. Therefore, if you have access to a disk, you can simply install and it will auto activate and install your pre installed key. No need to spend $90 or more if you don't have to.
If you don't have an external DVD Drive, simply download the Win7 to USB tool from Microsoft (it will work for Win 8) and transfer the disk image to a USB thumb drive (from another PC of course). Then boot from the thumb drive to install. Note: You will have to go into the BIOS to turn OFF UEFI and allow it to boot and install from a thumb drive.
In my experience, I had to turn off UEFI in the BIOS (Get to BIOS by pressing F2 at boot). By turn off, I mean place in "Legacy" mode. Then save and exit and allow to restart. Upon restart, enter the BIOS once again and you should now see your thumb drive appear on the list of bootable devices (the thumb drive has to be connected BEFORE booting into BIOS). Move the thumb drive up the list to be the first boot device, save and exit and you are in business.
Also, if you have access to the MSDN, you can actually download the RTM version of Win 8 which once its installed will auto activate and install using your hard coded serial making it a legit, normal copy.
I tried to write this as more of an overview and less of a "hand-holding" article for the purpose of quick reference. Any questions, please post. I will not provide links to any software mentioned in this article. Search engines are your friend.

After changing from UEFI to Legacy mode the function keys (F2 or Fn + F2) are not working anymore. I can't access the BIOS anymore and boot from the USB. Any idea? Thanks
All Ok now. Please ignore my previous comment

Install from Recovery partition after upgrade from 10.9

Hi all, on my MacBook 13" nov. 2012 I upgraded from Mavericks to Yosemite using the standard upgrade.
After a couple of days I decided to perform a clean install:
- formatted "Macintosh HD Partition"
- rebooted with cmd+R
- reinstalled from recovery partition.
Is this really a clean install or my recovery partition contains pieces of the old Mavericks?
Thanks in advance for answering
Paolo

paolo_italy wrote:
First I upgraded from Mavericks to Yosemite (with no erase). Then I booted from recovery partition, erased Macintosh HD partition and installed Yosemite.
My question is: did I perform a really clean install or to be sure I had to erase the entire disk and recover from the Internet?
Paolo
You performed a clean install of OS X Yosemite.
You were in the Yosemite Recovery HD.
You erased the Macintosh HD which erases the previous OS install, user accounts and data files -- everything! Then you reinstalled JUST OS X Yosemite.

How can I undo Converting Recovery Partition to Logical Drive (Oops...) - HP G62-b32sa???

I needed to create a new partition, but to do that Easeus Partition Master 9.00 Home Edition (I like using this compared to the Windows one..) stated that I needed to convert one of the 4 pre-made partitions from Primary to Logical. The following partitions were pre-made with my laptop, HP G62-b32SA, all of which were Primary:
*: SYSTEM
C:
D: RECOVERY
*: HP_TOOLS
I could only convert the "D: Recovery" to Logical, so I went ahead, and then could create a new partition. But now after reading several post on this Forum, I realised what a mistake that was. I found that that converting the Recovery partition to Logical renders it useless... "Oops" I said. Now I wonder that if I convert the Recovery partition back to Primary, will I be able to use it again, or has the damage been done? But then the other problem is that it won't allow me to convert the Recovery Partition back to Primary, claiming "there are no free MBR slots". Also, I have a feeling that I'll have to delete my newly created partition to convert the Recovery partition back to Primary, but then how do I create a new partition without converting any of the existing to Logical? Endless questions, I know. So now I ask, what is the best thing to do??
BTW this is my first HP Laptop...
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View Solution.

How to handle this situation, back up your personal data and use the HP Recovery Discs to restore the PC
Make your recovery discs now, use good quality DVD+R media
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&docname=c01867124
Once you are back to normal partitions, see this thread on how to make another partition without damaging the other 4
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-Notebook-PC-questions/How-to-repartition-HDD-of-HP-notebook-with-...

How to put a recovery partition on the hard drive

How can I create a recovery partition on the hard drive of my laptop. I had to reinstall the whole system, and tried to use the HP recovery software they sent me but it quit when it was about three quarters the way finished. I had to use a copy of windows 8 to put the system back on my laptop. After I got it all straighten out, I updated it to windows 8.1 and it seems like the computer runs a lot faster with windows 8.1 on it. Now I need to find away to install a recovery partition on my hard drive.
Thank You
Garry Crist

When requesting assistance, please provide the complete model name and/or product number of the HP computer in question. HP/Compaq makes thousands of models of computers. Without this information it may be difficult or impossible to assist you in resolving your issue.
The above requested information can be found on the bottom of the computer or inside the battery compartment. Please do not include the serial number. Please enter the model/product information into HP's Online Consumer Support page and/or post it here for our review.
A Recover partition is something the factory places on the computer. It is an image of the factory installation and the software required to restore the computer to a factory like state using that image. You will not be able to create a Recovery partition on your computer unless you use the HP Recovery Discs to return the computer to a factory like state. Please note the HP Recovery Discs and the resulting HP Recovery partition will only contain an image of Windows 8 that cannot be updated to reflect the installation of Window 8.1.
My suggestion is to use the Windows "System Image Backup" utility to create an exact image of the Windows 8.1 partition as it currently is. If your computer developes an issue or you need to replace the hard drive, all you have to do is "restore" the image to the computer. You will need to use an external USB hard drive or other media to store the image. Please see Windows 8.1 Tip: Use System Image Backup for instructions on creating and storing a "Windows - System Image Backup."
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
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After upgrading from win 7 - win 8, do I really need the win 7 recovery partition?

Hello.
I'm a happy camper after upgrading my HP Spectre XT from win 7 to win 8 (Win 8 upgrade offer). The 128GB SSD disks just makes everything so smooth and fast.
However I am abit annoyed with the Win 7 recovery partition that still uses 20 GB of my total 128GB space.
I have tried searching the forums, as well as the www for any good answers, but I end up more confused.
So I am asking the community some questions that interests me, and hopefully you can provide me with some meaningsful answers
1. Can I now delete my win 7 recovery partition, and if so what is the most effiecient and safe way to do it?
2. Is there a a good way to make sure that if (heaven forbid) something would happen, I still would be able to recover my notebook preferably to win 8, and not the preinstalled OEM win 7?
3. Of course the Spectre XT has no optical drive, so if its doable I might need to make an win 8 recovery partition in the end. Is it possible?

You can use Windows builtin Disk Management to delete the partition, or EaseUS software. Both procedures are outlined at EaseUS site:
http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/windows-8-partition-manager/delete-windows-8-partition.htm
As for a Recovery option after deleting, look at System Imaging which is builtin Windows 8 also.You need an external USB hdd for this.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/8956-system-image-create-windows-8-a.html
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