i got Toshiba Satellite and i have to do reinstall of windows. i got the Product Recovery disc, but i am afraid that it will erase the partitions that have been made, and format all hdd. when choosing recovery options i am selecting recover and restore on first available partition, but even then message says that all data on hard drive will be lost.

anyone dealt with this kind of thing before? i would really apreciate reasonable help.

I hate those Recovery Discs. I wonder if you could demand a separate OS disc instead.

Will other options let you select a particular partition? Does it indicate which partition it is attempting to repair by size? The way it is wording it... I would be scared too.

Try another option (if available) and see if you can see where it is installing it. If you don't already have all your data backed-up. Now is a good excuse. I've learned the hard way on at least 3 different failed hard drives.

...I utterly detest Rescue Disks for this very reason, as i`ve come across this issue before with a friends PC and i couldnt find any other solution than to use a FULL windows install disk to repair with and copy any needed drivers from the rescue disk (you may need to expand it to the HDD after you have windows installed) after doing a windows repair.

You do store everything OUTSIDE of "my documents" dont you? Its never a good idea to have stuff in there, stuff survives outside of windows after a repair I know for sure, but I personally never trusted the survival of data in "windows" folders after a repair.

But if you have a DVD writer in this machine the best idea is to get hold of a live linux disk or similar and use this to boot with and BACK UP your data...

..then you can use the rescue disk to boot and re-install and simply copy back your stuff when you`ve done.

..I`ve now made him a FULL windows cd with the drivers from the rescue disk slipstreamed so you get a PROPER windows install and not some OEM garbage with added dodgy programs (looking at you Roxio, Sonic and ITUNES!) and best of all its legal (i think) as you already own a genuine windows key.


**To the best of my knowledge all info is correct but if anyone knows otherwise point it out."

each partition is recognised in both DOS & Windows as a seperate hard drive.
Having reinstalled windows yesterday to a drive that already had 3 partitions, it asked me which drive I wanted to install on so I doubt very much if the recovery disk is able to remove any partitions youve created yourself.

Yeah, but what if it decides to pick the wrong partition?

In a windows install it lists the drive volume names that youve previously given so you cant go wrong there. I suspect the recovery disk will detect which drive is the windows partition. Just be careful though

Yeah, trust it... it can't fail... maybe....

well, the thing is that PR recognizes the correct partition, but claims that all hdd will be formated anyway.

so i think i'll stick to karstmobile advice and backup the whole second partition.



i do not store anything in system folders

if I had full Win there would be no problem whatsoever. but i got only this shity PR, which sucks big balls.

oh well, it's a good thing, them flash memories and ipods and portable hdd to do the backup

thanks for all the help :!: