Restore Dell Laptop Partitions

[DrDoc]

So, I have two identical Dell Laptops. I need to reinstall one of them. Unfortunately, the old user thought he was going to be "nifty" and deleted the Dell Utility/Restore partition(s). As a result of that, certain Dell supplied drivers will not install.

Is there a way to restore the partitions, especially since I have another laptop with the same specs?

[DrDoc]

*bump* ;)

Any ideas? Can I make some form of partition table image? Would that work? And if so, how would I go about creating/restoring a partition image?

[The Contractor]

If they are configured exactly the same, why not use DriveImage/Ghost from CD/DVD? It would of course include all files software etc.

I always delete all Dell hidden partitions..hehe Do you have the original OS CD and not just an image CD? If not, that extra $10-15 spent for a "real" OS CD (you can request it) would have been well worth the money ;)

[DrDoc]

The problem is not the OS itself ... but certain drivers specifically provided by Dell ... Without the partitions it tells me that "this is not a Dell computer" :)

[The Contractor]

hmm...I have deleted the hidden utilities/restore partitions on 4 Dells in the past 2 years and never had that problem. I thought it reads the bios info to tell if it's a dell? Not sure why I never had this problem because that is the frst thing I do when I get a computer is wipe out all the partitions (even hidden ones). Then, reinstall the OS and what software I use.

[The Contractor]

Was just doing a search using regedit in WinXP and under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System

I have the following (one of the entries):
DELL - 7 Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A04

Wonder if that matters? Dell also shows up under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\ACPI\DSDT
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\ACPI\FADT
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\ACPI\RSDT

But, that's it.

Added/Edited: On Dell desktops I usually go directly to the hardware manufacturer for drivers. What drivers are you looking for? Same with Dell laptops except video drivers (you normally can find hacked ones to work which are actually better).

[The Contractor]

Could you export the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE registry tree/settings from the one, tranfer the .reg file to the other, and then double click it to import it or right-click and merge it to the registry? That will only work if they are configured the same (just double checking).

[coopster]

This is a common issue, actually, DrDoc. I don't know if you have been through the DELL Forums at all, but there is a guy named Goodell that has lengthy write-ups on his site and it is linked quite often in the forums at DELL. If http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/ doesn't help, I think you are out of luck here.

[dutchls]

I recently bought a new dell dimension. I don't like all the preinstalled software, so I reinstalled my own XP. I deleted the partitions (or so I thought) but now every time I boot up, it asks me what OS I want to boot. I don't want to have to keep chosing (the second one doesn't even boot, as it doesn't exist). How can I get rid of this?

[The Contractor]

How can I get rid of this?

You can use fdisk, partitionmagic , or a slew of other disk utilities to delete the partition.