Hi all. I have a wee all-in-one type PC which I want to zap back to 'out-of-the-box' settings. (It's a Packard Bell L5800 - a 22"-ish jobbie) Bought it 2nd-hand a couple of years ago, and it's a slow bug at starting up - the harddrive sounds as tho' it's having a heart attack for minutes even after it's 'up and running'. Anyhoo, to clear any remaining stuff from its past life and also to get it going with only the bare minimum of new stuff, I'm gonna 'zap' it. I have made the full quota of 'recovery' discs, have read up about the PB's own 'Recovery Management Software' process, etc etc. The only issue is - it has a 1TB hard drive which is partitioned into two equal parts. One is "Packard Bell C:" and holds all the OS and progs, and the other is "D: DATA". Each is a max 458GB, but the D: drive has only around 100GB free even tho' there's hardly any stuff on there I've saved. So, I also want to wipe that D: DATA drive. Thing is, I got as far as the Factory Restore thing and was about to click 'Yes' to restore, when I noticed that it was "Are you sure you wanna restore C: Packard Bell?" No mention of D: Question, please: will doing this restore also wipe (sort out for me...) the D: drive? If not, what do I do with D: - do I format it? Thanks.
What OS is on it, some time back there was a limit to disk size the OS could "see" so partitioning it was the way round the problem. If you are happy doing it, you would need to go into Administrative tools, computer manager, Disk management you will see the disk and its partitions, you would need to remove the partition, then format the whole thing. There are risks it it goes wrong. The other option is to get a disk management tool that runs from a CD and use it to clear out everything, then start from there with the install disks and a nice clean drive
I use EaseUS Partition Master, it's a free version, found it very good. http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm
Hi Craig and KIAB. It's Win 7 Pro. I'm inclined to use the Packard Bell Recovery Management software supplied - it's all very clear how to use it. The only thing I didn't understand was about this D: partition - it's mean to restore the PC to factory settings which will mean back to the initial installed version Win7 and now't else, but I was confused that it only mentions the C: drive for restoring and not the 'whole' drive. I guess I'll suck it and see Worst case is that I'll need to wipe D: separately... I hope.
My gut feeling would be that the D: drice contains all the information used for the factory restore. Which is probably why it looks almost full with nothing in it.
Really? Blimey - I didn't expect that! Everything I read about how the disc is divided suggests that C: holds the OS, the drivers, all the other progs and the restore facility. D: is basically for user files. The D: drive has only around 112GB left of the 458GB - so 346 taken up with stuff - surely that's far too much for Win 7, MS Office and a couple of other wee bits? Ach well - the only way to find out is to scrub it all...
Have you not started this computer up and had a look at what data is stored on the D: partition? I know I would.
Yes, I have, JJ. But it's all a pile of stuff I don't understand... It's not like normal 'user' files stuff. I'll try and get a screenshot or summat.
It could mean erasing all your computer files then reinstalling your OS with installed application by the manufacturer.
All done. C: Factory Restored and OS up and running again. D: wiped clean. Less than 30GB of total stuff on the 1TB drive now...
A wee issue has returned which I had before when i first got the pooter, and I asked aboot it on here - but darned if I can find the thread... Grrr. Playback on YouTube is stuttery. The image plays but jumps back every few seconds. I recall it was easily sorted last time - but darned if I remember how.
Cool - I'll try that. Cheers (Blimey, Rulland - all Mr Ha has done is save my pooter, hardly the universe )
Forums
Facebook
Twitter
You Tube
Instagram
Shop