How do I create a Recovery Partition and re-image my PC from there?

uo03 · 10th July 2009

Hi,

How can I create a concealed boot partition, keep an image of my current harddisk there and return my PC to an earlier state if I need to?
I am using Windows XP Professional on IBM Thinkcentre
Pentium 4 HT
3.0 GHz
1 GB memory
40 GB harddisk
CD-ROM

Thanks

**PeteC** · 10th July 2009

What you are proposing is not a preferred solution in terms of disaster recovery. A recovery partition is fine up to a point, but if the hard drive fails you are scuppered

.

I suggest you consider the use of drive imaging software such as Acronis and save the image to an external drive - CD is possible, but you would need rather a lot. Acronis includes the ability to make a Recovery CD (If you purchase boxed software rather than download the installation CD is also a recovery CD). To restore an image of the drive you boot from the CD and point the software to the location of the image file.

As with all backups it is important to maintain a current image. To that end I run Acronis on a schedule to incrementally image my OS drive on a weekly basis.

BTW - to create a new partition on your drive you will need to use third party software - drives can be hidden by configuring the Registry or more conveniently by using Tweak UI.

**TonyT** · 10th July 2009

I still use Norton Ghost 2003 and create partition images which get burned directly to DVD or a separate hard drive. And for client's systems I usually make a recovery DVD and store the images on a partition with permissions such that their user account cannot access the partition.

The separate partition is useful for recovery from virus infections, etc., but not any use if hard drive fails, thus DVDs.

surferdude2 · 10th July 2009

Quote:

How can I create a concealed boot partition, keep an image of my current harddisk there and return my PC to an earlier state if I need to?

Acronis True Image does that since version 7. It creates (no additional partitioning software needed) and maintains the hidden partition and notifies you when it need your permission to clean it out. You can invoke the hidden partition from a boot menu it creates and be able to restore any image it contains. They call it the "Acronis Secure Zone."

As has been pointed out, this is not the best way to store images but for those with no other choices, it's a way out.
Acronis True Image Site

There are cheaper places to buy it so shop around for a deal.

surferdude2 · 10th July 2009

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