Hypothetical Scenario: If I create another logical partition called, say E: Drive, and a disaster occurs which neccessitates a reinstall on C:, how do I get Vista to 'see' that E: drive again and showing in Computer Disk Drives section again?

 

I have Vista Home.

right click on the icon for my comuter, select manage, select disks and sotrag(IIRC) and there should be some self explanitory options there.

OK, IA Thanks.

It should be completely automatic.

ok mate...I shall find out when I try it.

Whoa I completely missed this thread

 

I have vista home basic and have had to reinstall my OS several times due to tech support while...not entirely sober... and have never had my E: drive affected by the bounce, except that it changed my drive letter (strangely)

 

both partitions are on the same physical disk, if you haven't done so already, you should be fine as long as you format the right partition

OK Dudde .Thanks. It was just a thought experiment really.

 

Here's another one. If I put the System Restore files on another partition then at a later date decide to do a reinstall, how do I get Vista to use them again as part of the new installation?

 

It didn't work when I tried it some time ago. The idea was, in the event of a mishap that warranted a reinstall on C:, instead of having to update all the System Files, Service Packs, Updates etc again, I would just use System Restore files from the original installation which would be untouched on the other partition. Can the old System Restore files be linked back to the new installation so that the new System Restore can use them? Can it be done?

 

I'm not interested in using an external hard drive, My system is not mission critical and I just want to try ideas out like this.

according to Microsoft Technet there isn't currently a way to move the system restore points to another location, however, the last post in that thread said he found the actual files and just didn't have success copying them.

 

It's probably something interesting to look into, I'll do it when I get a chance, but I doubt it would be a good idea to rely on them once moved, I'll test that out too.

Thanks for having a look into it Dudde. The idea really appeals to me. It could potentially be an easy, quick and free alternative way of restoring your computer back to its original pristine system state without spending hours putting it all back.

 

It's not as bomb proof as a separate hard drive but I can live with that risk.

 

In my previous experiments I have turned off System Restore storage on C: and allocated it to other partitions. I used the 'vssadmin' command to allocate and limit the size on another partition in Vista.

 

It all fails when I reinstall the OS to C: .....it doesn't see the old Restore files on the othr partition if I remember correctly or can't use them anyway.

 

I tried asking about the idea on another forum but people always sidetrack and suggest 'better' ideas which invariably involve commercial software and more hardware. My goal is to create the best possible backup solution IN my laptops using no external hardware.

 

I'm going to look into this again now youve brought it back up.