back up "recovery partition"?

Ok, this might be a silly question, but I am a bit confused.

If I choose the "backup" function and I go through the 'create backup' wizard, I come to 'partition selection" where I can choose what I would like to backup. I can choose my C: and my D: drive (which is what I want to save), but also a 'recovery Partition' which is 5,222 GB large.

What is this?
Do I need it?
Where will it get stored?

Assuming I backup C. and D: (and perhaps this recovery partition) to an external HDD and create a bootable rescue media, is that enough to save me in case of hardware failure? Is the operating system included in the backup in this case? Am I missing something?

Any help is much appreciated, I am acomputer greenhorn who just had to go through a hardware crash and I want to be prepared for such an event in the future.

Thanks!
Jozi

 

Hello Jozi,

You may want to search this forum for dell recovery partition. A very informative thread was this one:

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=137223&highlight=dell recovery partition

 

Hello Jozi,

Assuming your C:, D: and Recovery partitions are all on the same hard drive then, when creating the image, ensure you tick the checkbox adjacent to Disk 1 when selecting what to backup. This will ensure that TI backs up all the partitions plus the MBR & Track 0 data into what we call a "whole disk image". If you wish, these can be restored individually provided the original hard drive hasn't failed catastrophically. Note that when restoring the system partition you will need to either allow TI to reboot into the Linux based rescue environment or commence the restore after booting from the TI (Linux based) rescue disk that you created.

In the event of a hard drive failure, fit a replacement HD, boot from the TI recue disk and ensure that you again tick the checkbox adjacent to Disk 1 when selecting what to restore. This will cause TI to restore all original partitions and the MBR & Track 0 data to the replacement HD (the MBR & Track 0 data is needed to ensure that the new drive is bootable). If the replacement HD is larger than the original then you will need to follow the procedure in <Post #5 in this previous thread> in order to utilize all the available space.

When restoring to different hardware (other than a direct replacement HD i.e. IDE for IDE or SATA for SATA) then things are not so easy as the device drivers, etc. that are needed would likey not be the same as those contained in the image. In which case, after the restore, you could try booting from a Windows Installation CD and carrying out a <Windows in-place upgrade (repair reinstall)>. You will also then be faced with reactivating your version of Windows XP and any applications you may have that are digitally signed to specific hardware.

Note that Acronis sell a separate product called "Universal Restore" that eases the pain of migrating to different hardware. However, this requires that you are using a version of TI 9.1 rather than TI 9.0 Home.

Regards