System Restore On Acer Laptop Xp Media Edition Will NOT Restore

G

Guest

XP media ED SP2 - Acer has Hidden partition w/OS on it- I made Backup; then
reformatted HD and reinstalled OS to regain extra HDD space. MISTAKE -
RESTORE seems to rely on hidden partition to work! Cannot restore to previous
dates though Restore seems to save restore points OK.

ACER will not send OS because they CLAIM hidden file was the MS license...
(XX@@!!! company and all other like it!) MS should prohibit this to
makers!!!!

Any ideas how to make Restore work Right again? PLEASE!!! I don't want to
reload OS from start all the time thanks for any help - Ken (not ASHAMED OF
MY NAME)
 
B

Bert Kinney

Hi Ken,

If I understand you correctly, you removed the recovery partition placed on
the hard drive by the manufacturer and now the built-in utility System
Restore will create restore points, but the system can not be restored. If I
am in error, let me know.

First of all, System Restore depend on only on partition to function, and
thats the partition Windows XP is installed on.

When a restore fails, are there any error messages? If so post them here.

In the mean time here are some troubleshooting steps to take when System
Restore fails to restore.
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/srfail.html

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org
 
G

Guest

Hi Bert - You are correct -
I can create restore point.
When I try to restore to previous point/s - Laptop goes thru normal routine,
but on reboot, message says Unable to restore to "...selected date..." NO
CHANGES MADE.

and PC is left at original state.
thanks - Ken
 
G

Guest

Dear Bert - You did it!
Simply disabling Norton Antivirus did NOT solve the System Restore issue.
But - Disabling Norton, then, Rebooting into SAFE MODE and selecting a
restore date DID WORK
My sincere thanks and congratulations for fine and fast advice.

If you reside in America may I extend you a fine upcoming Thanksgiving '07
and Happy Christmas tide - Ken in Toronto Ca.
 
P

peter

Ken
I have followed the discussion with Bert and I am glad to see that "restore"
finally worked but I am concerned about your "recovery partition"
This usually is a hidden partition not visible under Windows Explorer but it
will show under Admin Tools/Computer Management/disk management.
I also have an Acer laptop with this hidden partition.If you have truly
formatted that partition out of existance you basically have lost the
ability to recover the system if you have a major XP problem.If you have not
formatted that partition out of existance ignore me!!
In order to be able to recover might I suggest that you create an image of
your HD onto a DVD using a program like Acronis True Image.
With this program(there are others but this is my favorite) you can create a
Bootable Emergency disk which you can start your system withand it does not
need an OS to work and reapply the Image back onto the HD.The program has
the capabilities of spanning the image across multiple DVDs...or you can
image to an external HD.
You stated that you made a "backup"...how?? if you used the backup program
within XP how would you restore the backup when you have no access to XP??
just a few things to consider
peter...from BC
 
J

Jim

Ken Wittmann said:
Dear Bert - You did it!
Simply disabling Norton Antivirus did NOT solve the System Restore issue.
But - Disabling Norton, then, Rebooting into SAFE MODE and selecting a
restore date DID WORK
My sincere thanks and congratulations for fine and fast advice.

If you reside in America may I extend you a fine upcoming Thanksgiving '07
and Happy Christmas tide - Ken in Toronto Ca.
Click to expand...
Yet another reason not to like Norton.
Jim
 
G

Guest

Hi Peter,

This is interesting story - I liked your suggestion actually spent time on
it - here's my saga:

In Canada, I bought 3 Acer systems Mar 2007 from Future Shop here 2-5050's
and 1-5100. One for me, DAD and Bro'. At the Store all HD looked different
w/different amounts of HD disk space, and some were partitioned with C and D
drives. All had same xp medED OS. Natch' none showed hidden partition.
Natch' no store tecchies knew why each was setup/formatted different, or had
different HD space, or why some had C and D drives? They claimed they set up
system per ACER instructions. (they later could not help me even before I did
my stuff - read on) they didn't even know about hidden partition.....

Believe it or not- By chance - MY PC was the only one! that still had the
hidden partition. So I followed the instruction & on boot made a DVD copy of
the OS - BUT am angry I did not also make a CD version before I reformatted
My HD. Anyway I did my reformat... and now wished I had CD version. (my
reasons....)

I think it is false advert to say there is 120 gb hdd space when >20% is
used up w/hidden partition... and unusable. HP/ACER etc and MICRO should be
shot for allowing this kind of marketing of an OS. There should be DVD or CD
DISK...

NOW I had a DVD copy as a BASE OS. which I dupicated for Bro' and DAD -
suppose it's not right - but Hey they did't have it anyway?! I think store
was selling returned product w/o licensed copies anymore - can't prove it.
Acer no help!

I tried the backup NTI oem software with the ACER - HAHut as usual the oem
doesn't give you this crucial feature (feature grayed out - must upgrade &
pay more)

I tried Acronis True Image because I wanted CD version but found it did not
work as easy as you find it - I could not get it to span (or maybe it's just
too advanced)

Cyber link -no Go

Tried NERO Back it Up -no Go

What seemed easiest FOR ME for CD --- ROXIO Easy Media Creator 7; I've made
the CD image (granted, the image is now later, with other software etc so
more disks) BUT I ONLY COMPLETED TASK A COUPLE WEEKS AGO AM HOPING TO CHANCE
A GO WITH CD VERSION WITHIN NEXT COUPLE WEEKS?!

Frankly I'm AFRAID to TRY IF FOR NO OTHER REASON, THAT IT WILL FAIL and
I'LL HAVE TO redo DVD VERSION, RELOAD ALL SOFTWARE, + I have to save all my
data B-4. Hence the wait. keep in touch if interested every 2-3 weeks - if
nothing else you will be my encouragement to try before Christmas!!

Really thank you for your interest and ADVICE -Ken
 
G

Guest

Hi Jim What do you prefer?
I have always used Norton. NAV seems good. I've never had this kind of
problem with any OS until Media Center (Looks like Vista is the same from
what I'm reading)
and problems only seem to be occuring since Protection Center not NAV alone.

MS must know Norton like a BOOK by now - and I'm sure Symantec and MS
communicate like lovers... or should
So I blame MS ... not Norton. (He who has more money and power should use
it for the better good!)
 
P

peter

Ken
wow.......what a sales mess...and you have just confirmed my dislike of
FutureShop.My Acer has partitions C and D as well as that hidden partition.I
bought mine at Staples and their salesperson explained the partitions as
well as the hidden restore partition using the Demo model on the shelf. They
did not do the setup..they explained how and I took it home and set it up
from scratch...
I have had only one problem using True Image and their tech people walked me
thru it and solved the problem.Having 4 systems in the house I use the
program on 3 computers.I image the whole HD..that means both partitions C
and D.
I now use an external HD partitioned into 3 labeled according to the
computer..eg one partition is labelled Acer and that is where I place the
Acer Image.
I still have that original Image on DVD's but I reimage about every 2 weeks
onto the ext. HD.
My Acer originally came with XP and a free upgrade to Vista which I took and
installed about May/07.Really had no problems with the Vista upgrade other
than Camera drivers..finally found the right ones.
anyways...just make sure that you have the means to restore because without
that hidden restore partition you have lost that ability.
good luck
peter
 
B

Bert Kinney

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