Dell "XPS" 420 Recovery Drive (D:)?

[Ray19]

I received a new Dell "XPS" 420 desktop with Vista Ultimate installed. It
has a Recovery drive (D which I don't understand?
I backed up my files with the restore option offered. Now I keep getting
messages that this drive is full! I'm not sure whether I should delete
everything on it or not? Or, whether my backing up of my files had anything
to do with loading this drive up?This drive has a 16GB capacity . Of what
value is it, if any?
Thanks for any illumination provided.
Ray19

 

[DBM]

The recovery drive has a complete install of Vista on it. If Vista ever
needs to be reinstalled
all you have to do is follow the directions in your user manual to reinstall
it from D: The advantage
here is that you don't need to keep any actual install disc lying around.
The disadvantage is that
if your drive fails you loose Vista unless tou also have the actual install
disk.

OEMs' like DELL make the D drive just big enough to hold Vista install
files. There's not much
room for other stuff

 

[C.B.]

I received a new Dell "XPS" 420 desktop with Vista Ultimate installed. It
has a Recovery drive (D which I don't understand?
I backed up my files with the restore option offered. Now I keep getting
messages that this drive is full! I'm not sure whether I should delete
everything on it or not? Or, whether my backing up of my files had
anything
to do with loading this drive up?This drive has a 16GB capacity . Of what
value is it, if any?
Thanks for any illumination provided.
Ray19

Ray19,

The recovery drive is there in the event you need to restore your
system to the state it was in at the time of the computer purchase.
Dell should have provided you with an installation disk also. Most
recovery drives will contain your OS and other programs loaded onto it by
the computer vendor. The installation disk is usually the OS only.
Did you back up your files to the D partition? If so, you should not
have done so as the recovery sector is for recovery purposes only. You may
or may not be able to delete only the backup files you placed on it. If you
delete everything on this sector you will also eliminate the means to
recover your system using this partition.
The recovery sector is of value to you if you want to restore the
computer to the same state that Dell sold it to you. It is of no value to
you if you intend to use the installation disk to reinstall your OS.

C.B.

 

[Jeff Strickland]

You are not supposed to store stuff on D.

D carries a mirror of the OS, and that is all is it supposed to have. If the
OS goes south on you, you have recovery files on D to reinstall, or repair,
the OS. D has limited capacity, typically just a few megabytes bigger than
the recovery OS. It is not intended to store back up files.

 

[Ray19]

Thanks for all the insight. Guess I should stay away from the Recovery (D
drive. I'll investigate to see if I inadvertently saved some of my files to
it. If I can identify them I will and delete.
I have an external hard drive that I saved from my old computer after it
failed. I will use it for saving files remotely. Thanks to all who answered
my query.
Ray19

 

[Jeff Strickland]

How much data can you have?

Go buy yourself a 4-pack of 2- or 4-gig USB flash drives and store your
stuff on them.

Anything you stored on D should be in a folder that you had to make before
storing to the drive. If you did not make a folder on D, then your file
structure habits are problematic.

You should look at your drives as file cabinets, and the folders and
sub-folders as drawers and hanging folders within the cabinet. Your files
should be separated from the program files so that you can always tell which
are which.