How to recover a hidden recovery partition. Create a hidden recovery partition yourself

Regardless of the manufacturer, there is a hidden section on laptops. You can also create it yourself. It is necessary for recovery operating system Windows. This is not difficult to do, but not everyone can do it.

Almost all modern laptops have a hidden partition on their hard drive. It is designed to restore the operating system in case of failure. In the “My Computer” folder, as well as in “Explorer”, the hidden section is not displayed. It can only be seen in “Disk Management”. There may be other hidden partitions on your laptop, but this one has a larger capacity. Immediately after purchasing the device, you need to allocate disk space where the hidden partition will be located. You can install the program Acronis Disc Director Suite and select “ Manual mode" To continue, press the “Ok” button. In the same program, select “disk C” and change the size using the “Unallocated space in front” field. In the “Unallocated space after” section, the parameters are set to zero. Next, click the button with a flag. After that – “Proceed”. The computer needs to be restarted. Now the place for the hidden section is ready.

When this partition needs to be restored, the program is loaded Acronis True Image. After opening it, select “Restore” from the menu. Click the “Search” button backup copy" You must specify the address where the hidden section is located, and click the “Ok” button. Select the “Restore” option. After this, select “Recover disks or partitions” and click “Next”. In the next window, select “FAT32 and MBR” and continue using the same “Next” item. In the tab that opens, select “Disk Settings”. Next steps aimed at choice free space for drive C. After that, click “Apply”. Next, select “Change default settings”, and the partition type is indicated as “Main”. Click on the “Accept” button. A link “Change default settings” will appear at the bottom, click on “Next”. You must again select the disk where the MBR will be restored. The last action is to click the “Proceed” button, and then the restoration of the hidden partition will begin.

There is another way - an easier one. Laptop manufacturers create a disk image with the operating system and place it in a hidden partition. In order to restore it, before loading Windows, you press a certain key combination (each manufacturer specifies its own set of characters, which can be found either in the instructions or found independently on the Internet). After this, the recovery process starts automatically. This method is much simpler and more convenient. Utilities, programs and drivers will be restored. However, there are certain disadvantages: they will recover in the same way unnecessary programs, which will have to be deleted manually later.

Many Windows users 7, as well as 8 and 8.1, are often unaware of their existence hidden section on your computer. From the eyes ordinary consumer Microsoft engineers hid (this is where the “popular” name came from - hidden section), this area on the disk. However, you can still see it in a special applet in the control panel called “ Disk Management" How to get there? Very simple! Open the Control Panel (in Windows 7 you can use the “Start” button, in Windows 8 through the search by entering “Control Panel” in the search bar):

And we got into the applet " Disk Management».

Here we go hidden section- a shaded rectangle with a size of 300 MB in Windows 8, and if you have a “seven”, then it will be about 30 MB in size. Notice how he “plumped up” tenfold! :)

This area does not have the usual drive letter, like the C:\ drive, for example. What is its purpose?

Hidden section (aka system reserved partition from English " System Reserved") in Windows 7 and later Windows versions 8 and 8.1 is intended to protect system boot files OS (operating system).

A little technical information about what is there:

• BCD- download storage configuration files
• bootmgr- Windows system boot loader

Among ordinary users, there is an opinion that using this section you can restore the system in the event of any software failure. It is also often called recovery partition. This is a little not true specifically for Windows 7, because the size of this area ( System Reserved) barely exceeds 30 MB in the “seven”. All recovery files are located in the hidden Recovery folder. Previously, I described how easy and painless it is to produce.

In Windows 8, these files were moved to the System Reserved partition, which is why it became almost 3 times thicker - 300 MB in the “eight”.

Indeed, the recovery environment is entered from the hidden partition; however, the recovery image is then loaded from hidden folder Recovery, which is physically located in the root of the C:\ drive in Windows 7.

At the same time, one must understand that hidden section it's not the same as system recovery partition. The first, as I already said, is reserved by the system for download files. The second one is created by manufacturers mobile computers(laptops, for example), to restore the PC to its original, or factory, state.

However, Windows 8 has its own recovery partition, separate from the laptop manufacturer's.

There may not be a hidden section

Yes, it may well be that you specifically may not have a hidden partition in the system. Why does this happen? In order for it to be created when installing the system on a computer, several conditions are necessary:

1. Firstly, installation must be done from any external device, for example, a DVD or USB drive. In this case, it will not be possible to perform operations with partitions on a stationary disk.
2. There should be no more than three main, that is, primary (primary) disk partitions before installing the system. If you already have four of them at the time of installation, then a hidden partition (100 MB) will not be created. The download files will simply be copied to the active partition. By the way, it is not a fact that they will be located on the partition with the system files. Like this!
3. The partition in which Windows is installed must be the first in the literal sense of the word, that is, the topmost in the installation window.
4. The OS installation area should not be marked. If there is no such area, you will have to first delete one of the main partitions and then create it again. Of course, if there is no need for a reserved area (System Reserved), then simply do not delete the previously created partition.

Here it is necessary to make a reservation that it is necessary to install on an active partition, since otherwise the partition that was active before installation may disappear (become invisible). The point is that Windows it simply deletes its letter during its installation. However, the problem is solved in the Disk Management applet by setting the letter to the active partition.

Advantages of a hidden section

The most important advantage of the hidden section is download file protection from accidental change or damage. This section is not subject to negative influence compression disk space. You can completely safely restore the boot in case of failure, without reinstalling Windows.

Of course, a hidden partition is a significant help when it is necessary to restore the system due to operations performed by an inexperienced user.

Disadvantages of a hidden partition

These are not even disadvantages, but rather inconveniences. As I already wrote above, they are connected with the fact that when sharing on one computer, say Windows XP and Windows 7 and 8, it becomes necessary to assign a letter to a hidden disk partition, and then delete it in order to copy files there Windows boot XP.

So, the system-reserved hidden partition in latest versions Windows is great way protect important boot files systems from rash user actions.

Hello admin! For the second time in my life I’m buying a laptop and I can’t figure out the hidden partitions on its hard drive! I bought my first laptop a long time ago,from before installed Windows 7 in 2009 and there were two hidden partitions, yesterday I bought a laptop with Windows 8.1, and there are already three hidden partitions on it, and after upgrading to Windows 10 there were already four, and one IT specialist friend said that there is also a fifth partition, but you can see it only using the command line or special program! Explain to a layman why they are needed, because in total they take up 20 GB of disk space on my laptop.

Hello friends! On all modern laptops with Windows 7, 8.1, 10 operating systems installed, you will see hidden partitions on the hard drive. Why are they needed, how to view their contents and what will happen if you delete them, I will talk about all this in today’s article.

Hidden partitions on laptops appeared along with the operating system Windows system 7. On Windows XP there were no hidden partitions; the laptops came with an installation disk with the operating system; if the XP device behaved unstable, it could easily be reinstalled using the distribution kit.

Windows Vista

With the advent (in 2007) operating system Windows Vista the rules have changed, when purchasing a laptop no installation disk was included, but on the laptop it was possible to create DVDs recovery and, if necessary, restore Vista using them. Many laptop models already came with ready-made recovery discs.

Windows 7

In 2009, on laptops with Windows 7 preinstalled, I first saw two hidden partitions, the first 9 GB Good (recovery partition) and the second System Reserved 100 MB.

Note: on laptops from many manufacturers, on the contrary, the first section was System Reserved 100 MB, and the most recent (third or fourth) recovery partition is 9-15 GB.

Naturally, I immediately wanted to know what was inside these sections! E if you assign a letter first hidden section -System Reserved System reserved 100 MB, then it turns out that the section containsin yourself boot storage configuration files (BCD) Boot folder And system boot manager (bootmgr file)- these files are responsible for loading the operating system.

The second partition (9 GB) contained ( compressed file Windows image 7 divided into several parts and the Recovery rollback program, with which you could return the laptop factory condition even if it didn't load.

Windows 8, 8.1, 10

On October 26, 2012, laptops with Windows 8 installed appeared, and after year Windows 8.1 and they already had a UEFI BIOS with the protocol secure boot Secure Boot, and contained four hidden partitions, including a third hidden service partition not displayed in Disk Management MSR section (size 128 MB), you can see it using the command line

or any hard disk partition manager, for example .

When updating Windows 8.1 before Windows 10 has another (fifth) hidden partition

You can see all the existing partitions of your laptop’s hard drive not only using AOMEI Partition, but also using the command line. Launch the command line as administrator, enter the commands:

diskpart

lis dis

seldis 0

lis par

So, what do the hidden sections of a new laptop that has been updated from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 contain?

How to enter a hidden section and see what’s there?

Friends, if you enter Disk Management on your laptop and right-click on the hidden partition, only “Help” will open, that is, assign hidden section letter and you won’t be able to enter it.

There is another way to do this. For example, let's take a look at the hidden partition (463 MB) that was created when updating from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10.

Launch the command line as administrator, enter the commands:

diskpart

lis vol

sel vol 1 (1 hidden section number created when updating from Win 8.1 to Win 10 ), you may have a different number.

assign

The drive name or mount point assignment was successful.

exit

exit

Windows 10 assigned the letter (E:) to our hidden partition and it is visible in Explorer, go into it.

The hidden partition contains the Recovery folder.

In the Recovery folder there is a folder WindowsRE and is already in itcustom image with environment tools Windows recovery 10 (Winre.wim).

So we have guessed the secret of this hidden section created when Windows update 8.1 to Windows 10, it contains all the tools disaster recovery systems. If this hidden section is deleted, then we will not be able to restore Windows 10 in the recovery environment.

Let me remind you how the recovery environment works.

We reboot Windows 10 while pressing the key Shift.

And we enter the Windows 10 recovery environment,

Diagnostics -> Additional options. We see all the available operating system recovery environment tools.

Now format or completely delete the hidden partition.

We enter the recovery environment and see that not a single tool is available to us.

Also, we will not be able to create a USB flash drive or Windows 10 recovery disk, an error will appear“We are unable to create a recovery disk on this computer. Some required files are missing. To troubleshoot if your computer won't boot, use the installation tool. Windows media" That is, when restoring Windows 10, we will have to boot from the operating system distribution, since it also contains recovery environment files.

At the end of the article, let's see what is contained on other hidden partitions of a Windows 10 laptop:

1. The first hidden partition is 400 MB in size contains Windows 8.1 recovery environment files, in Windows folder RE is located a custom image with Windows 8.1 Recovery Environment tools (Winre.wim). N oh since we upgraded to Windows 10 and are not going to roll back to Windows 8.1 , then we no longer need this section and we can delete it.

2. Second hidden partition of 300 MB in size OK (Encrypted (EFI) system partition) FAT32 contains boot storage configuration files (BCD) - EFI\Microsoft\Boot folder. This section must not be touched under any circumstances, otherwise you will not boot into Win 10.

3. The third hidden and not displayed in Disk Management service partition MSR, required for GPT markup on UEFI systems, file system NTFS size 128 MB.

4. We have already disassembled the fourth hidden partition of 400 MB; on it, like on the first hidden partition 400 MB, there are recovery environment files, but not Windows 8.1, but Windows 10.

5. On the fifth partition, in the Recovery folder, there is a factory image of install.wim with Windows 8.1. Using this section, you can return your factory settings at any time, that is, Windows 8.1.

Total: Of all the hidden partitions of a laptop that has been updated from Windows 8.1 to Win 10, only the first 400 MB partition can be deleted without consequences (but what will that give you). The rest, whatever one may say, are still needed.

So, you have finished installing the operating system, drivers, updates and programs, checked its performance and stability, were satisfied with the result obtained and want to be able to “roll back” to this system state in case of unforeseen circumstances. Windows 7 is equipped with quite powerful tools backup, which allow you to reduce the time to restore the system. Those who bought new computers with Windows 7 pre-installed are familiar with the recovery function, after which the operating system, and sometimes the contents of the entire hard drive, returns to factory condition. In this case, user files located on the hard drive may be lost.
If you have an installation disk with the operating system, you are spared from such losses (How to reinstall Windows 7, saving settings and installed programs), but subsequent installation of drivers and updates is inevitable. I offer you a method that will significantly reduce the time spent setting up the system after reinstallation; moreover, it does not require an installation disk. The article uses materials from Vadim Sterkin’s blog and a video report by Valery Volobuev Setting up the Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 7. The algorithm described below does not require specific knowledge and is relatively easy to implement for home user. We will perform the task in the following order:

• prepare a partition for the future recovery partition;
• create a system image in Windows environment RE;
• configure the recovery environment;
• Let's reinstall and reconfigure the recovery environment.

Preparing the recovery partition

First of all, we need to create a partition on which we will subsequently place the operating system image file, as well as the file for deploying the recovery environment. There are many ways to perform this operation, I will use standard tools: Disk Management and the command line utility DISKPART. You can read about this in the article “Disk Management in Windows Vista and Windows 7”. We will determine the partition size based on the current occupancy of the partition with the operating system and the availability of free space. For example, if the system takes up about 20 gigabytes, the optimal size would be from 5 to 10 gigabytes. In my example, the section D:\ was first compressed

Figure 1 – compression of partition D:\

Then in the resulting unmarked area

Figure 2 – unallocated disk space after compression

Using the utility DISKPART a primary partition was created, formatted, and a label was assigned to it Recovery and letter R. (DISKPART was used due to the fact that using Disk Management, the fourth partition created will be an additional one. You can experiment with placing the recovery partition on an additional partition.) Run sequentially:
::Start DISKPART
Diskpart

Sel disk 0
::Creating a primary partition on the entire unallocated area of ​​the disk. If necessary, specify the partition number using the LIST PART command
Create partition primary
::Quick formatting of the created partition and assigning the “Recovery” label to it
Format LABEL=”Recovery” quick
::Assigning the letter R to a section:
Assign letter=R
::Stopping DISKPART
Exit

Figure 3 – work in DISKPART

Here and in what follows, we will work in a command line launched with administrator rights. Before moving on to capturing an operating system image, create a R:\ folder WinRE for storing it.

Figure 4 – WinRE folder at the root of the future recovery partition.

Creating an operating system image

First of all, study the article “Creating a customized operating system image”. It describes the principles and tools, namely the utility imagex.exe, part of the Windows AIK. Depending on the bitness of the system, you must use the appropriate version of this utility. I posted both versions of them on the section D:\ in a folder WAIKTools.

Figure 5 – WAIK Tools folder on a non-system partition

I also strongly recommend Vadim Sterkin’s article for review and guidance: “How to quickly determine drive letters in the recovery environment or Windows PE.” This knowledge will help us not to make mistakes in the command syntax for capturing an operating system image. Restart your computer and enter the recovery environment (to do this, press F8 after turning on the computer and select "Troubleshoot your computer" from the menu additional options downloads).

Once downloaded, run the command prompt and text editor: notepad Using the “Open” menu (combination Ctrl keys+ O) identify the letters of the sections. In my example, as can be seen from Figure 7, the system section received the letter D:\ , utility imagex.exe is in the folder E:\WAIKTools\ , and the section Recovery– letter F:\ .

Figure 7 – partition letters in the WindowsRE environment

One note: since we will not need to transfer the customized image to another computer, we will use the command given in the “Boot to Windows PE and save the image using the ImageX utility” section of the above article.
Run the command:

"E:\WAIK Tools\amd64\imagex.exe" /capture D: F:\WinRE\install.wim "Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 Custom"

Necessary clarifications:

• "E:\WAIK Tools\amd64\imagex.exe" - Path to the imagex.exe utility. Quotes are used to avoid problems with spaces in the folder name.
• /capture D: - The key indicates the capture of the system image located on the D: partition (as seen in WindowsRE).
• F:\WinRE\install.wim "Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 Custom" - Saving the captured image to the install.wim file (this is important, since in this case only this name is valid) in the F:\WinRE folder. A file comment is specified, and the default compression method is used (compress maximum).

Figure 8 - creating an operating system image in the Windows RE environment

Quit WindowsRE and reboot. Let's move on to final stage creating a recovery partition.

Setting up the recovery environment.

In addition to the operating system image file, I decided to place a file on the new partition that would boot into the recovery environment. With this arrangement, it will not depend on the partition with the operating system. As you know, the recovery environment is deployed from an image file WinRE.wim located in the folder Recovery at the root of the system partition. Via Explorer Windows access this folder is closed. The file attribute is hidden system. How to place the file in the location we choose?
Let's use command line utilities. First, disable the recovery environment. Please note that Any actions with the recovery environment must be preceded by disabling it! To do this, on the command line run

Reagentс /disable

After running this command the file WinRE.wim will move to the folder c:\Windows\System32\Recovery. From it we will copy the file to the folder R:\WinRE.
Use the command xcopy with key / h:

xcopy /h c:\Windows\System32\Recovery\winre.wim r:\WinRE

Figure 9 – copying the WinRE.wim file

And finally, a few final chords:

/ path ) to the system image file located in the folder specified by the key/ target
Reagentc /setosimage /path R:\WinRE /target c:\Windows
::Set custom path (key/ path ) to the system recovery environment deployment file located in the folder specified by the key/ target
Reagentc /setreimage /path R:\WinRE /target c:\Windows
::Enabling the recovery environment
Reagentc /enable
::Checking recovery environment settings
Reagentc/info

As can be seen from Figure 10, the setup was successful. Don't close the window - command line will still be needed.

Figure 10 – setting up a custom recovery environment.

It will be interesting to see what changes have taken place in the section Recovery. To do this, enable the display of hidden and system files.

Figure 11 – changing the contents of the R section.

As you can see, the file WinRE.wim in a folder WinRE no, but a folder appeared Recovery at the root of the section. Believe me, the file is now in it. I will not dwell on the structure of the Recovery folder - if you wish, you can study its contents, and also compare with the BCD parameters (using the command bcdedit /enum all). All that remains is to protect the section from accidental impact from users. To do this, you need to hide it from Explorer and exclude the ability to work with it in Disk Management. The utility will help us with this again Diskpart. On the command line, run sequentially (the disk and partition numbers correspond to the configuration given in the article):

::Start DISKPART
Diskpart
::Disk selection. If there are several of them, then the number the desired disk determined by the LIST DISK command
Sel disk 0
::Selecting a section. If necessary, specify the partition number using the LIST PART command
Sel part 4
::Removing a letter - the section will be hidden in Windows Explorer
Remove
::Setting the section IDID=27.This ID is set specifically for recovery partitions. It becomes impossible to work with such a partition in Disk Management, which provides additional protection for it
Set id=27

Figure 12 - working with the recovery partition in DISKPART

Changes that have occurred in the system

Firstly, the partition is not visible in Windows Explorer, and it does not have a context menu in Disk Management.

Figure 13 – Explorer and Disk Management Manager.

Secondly, in the advanced recovery methods window in the description Windows reinstallation There is no requirement to have an installation disk.

Figure 14 – Windows advanced recovery methods menu.

Thirdly, the recovery environment menu has changed:

Figure 15 – additional menu item in Windows recovery options in the recovery environment

This could have been the end of it. But there is a need to dwell on several nuances that arise after reinstalling the system in this manner. I will reinstall the system from the recovery environment.

Setting up a recovery environment after reinstalling the system

For the purity of the experiment, I will format the partition with the system and the partition with the download files. Moreover, I strongly recommend formatting the “System Reserved” section to avoid confusion with loading in the future.

Figure 16 – formatting partitions in the WindowsRE environment.

No user participation is required during the reinstallation process. You will receive a system identical to the one you had at the time you took the image.

Figure 17 – beginning of system reinstallation.

The only thing is that after reinstalling you need to make a few changes:

1. Due to a complete rebuild of the BCD, the recovery environment must be reconfigured.
2. hide section in explorer Recovery.

Disable the recovery environment with the command

Reagentc /disable

Turn on display of hidden and system files, open the folder WinRE on the section R:\ and make sure the file exists Winre.wim. If necessary, copy it from the folder Windows\System32\Recovery or from a folder R:\Recovery\xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx. After that delete the folder Recovery on the section R:\ .

Figure 18

Then enable the recovery environment: Reagentc /enable Make sure the settings are correct (note that the name of the folder where the WinRE.wim file is located in the Recovery folder is different. Therefore, before connecting the recovery environment, you can safely delete the old one.):

Reagentc/info

Figure 19 – connecting the recovery environment after reinstallation.

Remove the letter from the partition R:\

Diskpart
Sel disk 0
Sel part 4
Remove
Exit

Your computer is ready for a fresh reinstallation. One final note. While performing numerous reinstallations while preparing this article, I noticed the appearance of an incomprehensible folder in the list of available drives on the “System Protection” tab. This may be due to the missing folder in the system image SystemVolumeInformation or changing section IDs.

Figure 20 – phantom partition in the list of available disks on the “System Protection” tab.

To get rid of the strange folder, disable system protection on this phantom partition and enable it on the partition with the current system.

Conclusion

There are probably more simple ways reservations, especially using various programs. I don’t pretend that you will definitely use the method described above, but I think it’s convenient and practical. Of course, the system will be updated over time. To keep the image up to date, periodically rewrite the file in Windows RE Install.wim.

Preparing for work.

First of all, save all the data you have on the disk, as the disk will be completely formatted.

To successfully complete all operations, you will need the following:

1. Download and unpack the D2D.rar archive ( , ). Burn the contents of the archive onto a CD or any other medium;

2. Installation disk Windows XP;

3. Acer Recovery CD and Application CD (these discs are supplied with the computer or you make them yourself after the first start of the computer and
corresponding utility request Acer eRecovery Management);

4. Program gdisk32.exe(you can find it in the D2D.rar archive in the Factory folder);

5. A program for working with archives (in this case you will need WinRAR or free 7-Zip);

6. Optimism and confidence in success!

If your computer was released before December 2005 and the backup archive was made using the ghost program, then you can use this image by first burning it to CD. This boot disk will automatically create a hidden partition and copy the system image files (with the extension ghs, hdd), as well as the files in the patch folder, to the created hidden partition. So having recovery disks and a system disk created using the eRecovery program is a must. Be careful! All data on the hard drive will be destroyed! I wrote all the comments to the commands in English, sorry :)
If the NAPP version for your laptop model is 4.x.x. (Empowering Technology version for such computers is 2.0.x), then download these files for the hidden partition (link 1 and link 2) and follow the steps described below. Attention! This version of NAPP usually requires more space and the size of the hidden partition should be 5 GB or more! It is possible to change the current version of NAPP (3.3.x.x) to version 4.0.1.x (see "Addendum" at the end of the article).

Creating hard drive partitions and installing the operating system

Removing and creating hard disk partitions can be done directly in the Windows environment using the program gdisk32.exe. First of all, make sure that you save all your data as it will be completely deleted from your computer.

1. Copy the file gdisk32.exe to a location convenient for you, for example, to drive C:

2. Launch the command line (Start-> Execute enter cmd and press Enter) or as shown in the screenshot:

3. Enter the command C:gdisk32 1 and press "Enter" to display all available partitions on the hard drive.

4. Enter the command C:gdisk32 1 /del /all and press "Enter" to delete all hard drive partitions:

C:gdisk32 1 /cre /pri /V:PQService /SZ:3500 /for /ntfat16– this is a command for creating the first section, which will be hidden in the future. Team /SZ:3500 specifies the partition size in MB. You can choose it as you wish, but there must be enough space for all the files in the hidden partition, including system image files.

C:gdisk32 1 /cre /pri /V:ACER /SZ:20000 /for– a command to create a partition where the operating system itself will be located. You can also choose the size at your discretion.

C:gdisk32 1 /cre /pri /V:ACERDATA /for– command to create the last, third section. It is not necessary to specify a size and the partition will be created based on the entire remaining hard disk space.

To the question “A primary DOS partition already exists. Create another? We answer by pressing the key “ Y».
As a result, you will get the following disk layout (when you enter the command C:gdisk32 1):

Note: in in this example(screenshot) do not pay attention to the sizes of the disks - you will have your own (of course, larger size) and are shown here for example only.

Before installing the operating system, you must make the first partition hidden and the second partition active. To do this, use the following commands:
C:gdisk32 1 /hide /P:1- the first partition has become hidden, but is not on the disk active partition so the next step is:
C:gdisk32 1 /act /P:2- now the second section has become active.

6. Hard structure disk has been created. Now you can start installing MS Windows XP (any version). Install the installation CD with MS Windows XP and reboot the computer. Press F12 during boot (a window will appear where you can choose to boot from CD/DVD). Otherwise, you need to go into the BIOS and select boot from CD/DVD. Follow the instructions of the installation program. To install the operating system, select partition 2, this is required.

We install the operating system in the usual way. After installing the operating system, go to “Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management” (or right button mouse on "My Computer" - "Manage -> Disk Management") and make sure that the system is installed in the right place. If the last partition is not allocated, you can easily create a main partition from it by right-clicking it. It can be either FAT32 or NTFS.

After all of the above, your hard drive structure should look something like this:

It is advisable to immediately change the drive letters ACERDATA (E:) and CD-ROMa (D:). To do this, right-click on the selected device and select “change drive letter or drive path...”. For CD-ROMa we set the letter F:, then for the ACERDATA drive we select the letter D:. Next, apply the letter E to the CD-ROM: As a result, we get the following:

Creating a hidden section "PQService".

1. Now we need the gdisk32.exe file again. Let's copy it to a location convenient for you (for example, to the root of the C: drive). On the command line (this has already been described above), enter the command C:gdisk32 1 and look at the disk structure:

The first section is hidden (Status - H) and to work with it you need to open it. To do this, use the command here C:gdisk32 1 /-hide /P:1 and press “Enter”.

For the changes to take effect, you must restart your computer. After the restart, you will see the following picture in Windows Explorer (the “PQService” disk has appeared):

2. The next step is to copy the entire contents of the D2D.rar archive to the “PQService” drive (F:)

After that, copy the contents of the folders IMAGES And PATCH, located on the Acer Recovery CD/DVD, and place it in the folders accordingly IMAGES And PATCH located on the “PQService” disk in the folder D2D. We also copy files from Acer Recovery CD/DVD RCD.dat And SCD.dat(if there is, then SWCD.dat) to the root of the “PQService” disk.

After copying the files to the D2DImages folder, you must also create three files here (in this folder) with the name corresponding to the name of the image file. For example, your image file is 71EO4303.wsi, then the files will have names 71EO4303.P1 71EO4303.P2 71EO4303.ALL (only the extensions are different). In the contents of the files, you also need to write down the name of the system image archive (see below - instead of ******, put the name of your image):

Contents of file ******.P1

OPNUMBERS=1

OPERATION=RESTOREDRIVE
SOURCE=Z:Images******.WSI
DES=\HARDDISK0PARTITION1
FORMAT=ORIGINAL
TITLE=RESTORE PARTITION

Contents of file ******.P2

OPNUMBERS=1

OPERATION=RESTOREDRIVE
SOURCE=Z:Images******.WSI
DES=\harddisk0partition2
FORMAT=ORIGINAL
TITLE=RESTORE PARTITION
CHANGECD=Please insert next disk and Click to Continue.

Contents of the file ******.ALL

OPNUMBERS=2

OPERATION=PARTITIONDISK
DES=0
Partitions=100%b,
TITLE=CREATE PARTITION

OPERATION=RESTOREDRIVE
SOURCE=Z:Images******.WSI
DES=\HARDDISK0PARTITION1
FORMAT=ORIGINAL
TITLE=RESTORE PARTITION
CHANGECD=Please insert next disk and Click to Continue.

These files are necessary for the correct creation of recovery discs.

Now you need to change the obr3.ini file (see screenshots below). Open it in notepad and find the lines

ImageFileName=
ImageFileNumber=
Enter the name of your system image (see D2DIMAGESacerxxxx.wsi) and the number of files, for example:
ImageFileName=acerxxxx.wsi
ImageFile-Number=42
(count only image files, do not count files with the extension .ALL .P1 .P2). Save the file. Next, I highly recommend copying two files mbrwrwin.exe And rtmbr.bin(from the root of the “PQService” drive) to the root of the C: drive. These files will come in very handy soon.

3. Next, you need to restore the bootloader of the first partition so that you can later boot the recovery system from it.
To do this, restart the computer and boot it from the installation CD Windows disk XP.
When the installer displays installation options, select “...using the console
recovery", that is, press R.

So, you now see two systems: 1:minint and 2:windows. For example, D:minint and C:Windows.

You need to go to one of them by typing 1 or 2 . If you don't have an administrator password, just press "enter". Next, enter the command fixboot D:(be careful, the name of the disk where minint is located may be different for you, here D: is given as an example). Confirm the bootloader entry by pressing Y and that's all. Team exit will restart your computer. The system will boot normally.

4. Now you need to make the first section hidden and working. To do this, we use the files copied earlier mbrwrwin.exe And rtmbr.bin in the root of drive C: Launch the command line by clicking “start all programs standard command line”, in the window that appears enter C: mbrwrwin install overwrite rtmbr.bin and press “Enter”. You will see a message that the bootloader installation was successful.

You can safely restart your computer.

5. After rebooting the system, make sure that the first partition is hidden and its configuration EISA(there should be a warning that the installation of new devices is complete and you need to restart the computer, which is what we do). Next, go and look at “control panel – administration – computer management – ​​disk management”.

If everything is in order, you can try to use the recovery function by simultaneously pressing the AltF10 buttons when booting the computer. If everything starts and you see the Acer Recovery Management Environment window, congratulations, restore the factory configuration.

An image of drivers and programs preinstalled on the computer (AUTORUN folder)

The AUTORUN folder contains a file (SFX archive) that contains drivers and programs for your laptop. I hope you have an Application CD. Copy the entire contents of this disk to your hard drive to some folder (for example, Autorun). Having selected all the files from this folder, add them to the SFX archive with the following parameters (the “General” tab): “path for unpacking” - C:windowssystem32autorun; “Run after unpacking” CheckFiles.exe; celebrate "Absolute Path" And "Save and restore paths". In the tab "Modes" celebrate "Hide All" And "Overwrite all files without prompting".

Autorun.exe. When you open the file properties you should see the following:

That's it, copy it to a folder AUTORUN in a hidden section. The hidden partition has been restored.

If you do not have such a disk, you can make it yourself by downloading the “skeleton” of the disk and placing your drivers and programs in the appropriate folders.

Useful tips

If you're having trouble seeing a hidden section, making it visible is quite simple. You need to run the command again mbrwrwin.exe(now you can take it in the folder C:AcerEmpowering TechnologyeRecovery..or in another place, depending on the laptop model) Do it mbrwrwin mount hd0:1 J: Where J: any letter of the alphabet you like (the main thing is that you do not have disks with such a letter in the system). Now in Explorer you can safely work with the first partition, as with a regular hard drive partition.
You can also use special utility to mount a hidden partition. It also asks you to select a drive letter and partition.
And here you can see information on the types (ID) of all existing sections:)
Partition types: List of partition identifiers for PCs

ADDITION

You can change the NAPP version of your hidden partition from version 3.3.x. (not 3.2.x. !!!) to version 4.0.10 to allow the eRecovery program to work with NTFS and Empowering Technology version 2.0.x. To do this, mount the hidden partition (see above), open the napp.dat file in Notepad and look at your NAPP version. Make sure the version is 3.3.x. Take the files of this archive (napp4.addon) and unpack them directly into a hidden partition (to the root), replacing the files if the program asks. The rcd.dat, scd.dat and swcd.dat files remain intact. You should only edit the obr3.ini and obr3.acr files in notepad, replacing the "*" symbol with your values. After this, you can safely install Empowering Technology version 2.0.x. and eRecovery for this version (you need to reinstall eRecovery version 2.0.xxxx) will work.
PS. How to run Empowering Technology for Windows XP in Russian. The latest Empowering applications for Vista work in Russian without problems. Versions tested for XP:
Empowering Technology 2.3.4001 and 2.3.5003,
eNet 2.5.4003,
ePower 2.0.4002 and 2.0.5006,
ePresentation 2.0.4000,
eData 2.0.4088,
eLock 2.1.4003,
eRecovery 2.0.4003 and 2.0.5001 (work in ET versions 2.3.4001 and 2.3.5003, respectively),
eSettings 2.3.4005,
ePerformance 2.0.2007.
Of these applications, only the Framework itself, eData Security, eRecovery and eSettings work in Russian. I haven’t checked the availability of newer versions yet, but the “Russian language” may be implemented there. So, to be able to work in Russian, open the registry editor (command line - enter the regedit command). We are looking for the following thread:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREAcerEmpowering Technology 2.0Framework
Find the line MachineType and use the right button (change) to change the value 0 to 1
After this, ET will be displayed in Russian and all applications that support Russian will also be in Russian.

Good luck!

P.S. I changed the wallpaper when loading the Acer eRecovery Management Environment utility. This image appears when you boot the Acer NAPP CD version 5 to create a recovery shell with Windows Vista preinstalled.
And one more thing... programs for working with sections of hard Disk is the number one enemy for your computer! Use the operating system itself or a program developed by your computer manufacturer.

The material was prepared specifically for http://site (author – Guryev Denis, GDenis)
e-mail [email protected]
(modification of material, copying and distribution only with the permission of the author)

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