Win10 recovery DVD

Mike Easter wrote:
previously I was able to access the now hidden part just using Win's
file manager; now it has disappeared from both Win and linux.

I was going to use Win's or linux tree command to show/print all of
those files and their directories to ask a question, but now that it has
disappeared, I may have to unhide it w/ something to access the
partition or the directories for listing and for copying.

Earlier:

The recovery part has a collection of directories and the largest file in there is a 2.4G WIM file.

And:

This device has a recovery part which is 14.4GiB size holding 2.6GiB of file/s. I don't know why they wasted that much space.

That is the part which I can't see anymore with Win or linux.

And yet another problem; that (stupid) Windows Recovery Drive which took
forever to make, apparently from the installed OS not the recovery part,
won't even boot from the USB. It was previously a linux, but I had
rufus format it and then Win format it. The only thing I know to scrub
it harder would be to zero some of it.

I don't want to 'mess up' the condition of the recovery part because
besides wanting to use it to make a 'proper' recovery bootable USB, I
also want to be able to use it as a recovery method of itself. I would
like to be able to use/ do/ the following:

- the recovery part to restore the original refurb install to C W/O
booting Win on C
- the recovery part to restore W/ booting Win on C
- a USB version of the recovery part which will boot from USB and
restore the original refurb install (obtained from the 2.6GiB restore
part, not from the installed part the way W10 recovery driver process
does badly)


--
Mike Easter

Paul wrote:
sudo disktype /dev/sda

Nope disktype doesn't show it to me either.

What I see several ways is 3 parts, all NTFS, 2 are 07 and 1 is 27. The
install is on part 2 a 297 GiB 07. The little parts are 350 & 750 MiB,
not big enough.

inxi can show mounted and unmounted parts and it only finds the above.
The 750MiB is /called/ Recovery image, but it isn't big enough and
doesn't match what I saw earlier.

The reported /size/ of the sda is 298.09 GiB, so that would fit w/
combining the 3 which are seen many ways, but it doesn't explain the
'missing' 14.4 GiB part which contained the 2.4GiB wim file which was
the largest part of 2.6GiB of files on that part I saw earlier.

--
Mike Easter

Mike Easter wrote:
And yet another problem; that (stupid) Windows Recovery Drive which took
forever to make, apparently from the installed OS not the recovery part,
won't even boot from the USB.

I got the recovery drive USB to boot on a different Win7 machine. That
box is rigged for both legacy bios & uefi, whereas the new Win10
bios/uefi came configured as legacy bios only w/ CSM enabled.

So, I guess I would have to tweak the new Win10 bios for UEFI to get the
USB to boot over there.

--
Mike Easter

Mike Easter wrote:
Mike Easter wrote:
previously I was able to access the now hidden part just using Win's
file manager; now it has disappeared from both Win and linux.

I was going to use Win's or linux tree command to show/print all of
those files and their directories to ask a question, but now that it
has disappeared, I may have to unhide it w/ something to access the
partition or the directories for listing and for copying.

Earlier:

The recovery part has a collection of directories and the largest file
in there is a 2.4G WIM file.

And:

This device has a recovery part which is 14.4GiB size holding 2.6GiB
of file/s. I don't know why they wasted that much space.

That is the part which I can't see anymore with Win or linux.

And yet another problem; that (stupid) Windows Recovery Drive which took
forever to make, apparently from the installed OS not the recovery part,
won't even boot from the USB. It was previously a linux, but I had
rufus format it and then Win format it. The only thing I know to scrub
it harder would be to zero some of it.

I don't want to 'mess up' the condition of the recovery part because
besides wanting to use it to make a 'proper' recovery bootable USB, I
also want to be able to use it as a recovery method of itself. I would
like to be able to use/ do/ the following:

- the recovery part to restore the original refurb install to C W/O
booting Win on C
- the recovery part to restore W/ booting Win on C
- a USB version of the recovery part which will boot from USB and
restore the original refurb install (obtained from the 2.6GiB restore
part, not from the installed part the way W10 recovery driver process
does badly)



Do you think, perhaps, there was an interaction between
the 14.4GB part, and the making of the USB stick ? Maybe the
RecoveryDisk logic declares that the 14.4GB partition should
be erased, because you just made a USB key of a similar nature ?

I don't understand why such a partition would go missing.

And TestDisk at the best of times, has lots of trouble detecting
missing partitions cleanly enough to use the partition table
it generates. That's probably not going to happen.
I think, maybe once did I get a partition table that
I could use from TestDisk.

This is why when I get equipment, the *first* thing I do is
a safety backup. Because that's the kind of person I am.
I'm also careless with backups and later throw stuff
like that away. So if there is a benefit to making such
a thing, for me most of the value is early on. At some point
I will need space, and things like that tend to get turfed.

If you know the relative location of the 14.4GB part, and
no writes have happened to it, you can just "dd" that section,
like a hoover vacuum cleaner, and work some forensic magic on it.

When you've finished hoovering, you can try out HxD.
I might, for example, *carefully* examine what I hoovered
up, for a file system header.

https://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/

Paul

Mistakes.

Mike Easter wrote:

And yet another problem; that (stupid) Windows Recovery Drive which
took forever to make, apparently from the installed OS not the
recovery part, won't even boot from the USB.

It was booting; I tho't it was the installed Win10 booting (because of
the splash) but it was the USB recovery USB drive.

I got the recovery drive USB to boot on a different Win7 machine.* That
box is rigged for both legacy bios & uefi, whereas the new Win10
bios/uefi came configured as legacy bios only w/ CSM enabled.

Wrong. The Win10 Lenovo is also default rigged for legacy & uefi,
legacy first.

So, I guess I would have to tweak the new Win10 bios for UEFI to get the
USB to boot over there.

The USB recovery does boot on the Win10 and the bios/uefi is OK for that..

--
Mike Easter

Mike Easter wrote:
Paul wrote:
The COA that used to be on the machine, is supposed to
have a sticker placed over the key that is no longer
valid. A new COA does not need to be placed on the
Refurbisher machine.

That is the way it was w/ both the Win7 refurbs from Joy.

Back to Macrium Reflect:

I see a MR7 free feature, a rescue media builder that also involves Win
PE or RE. I have no experience w/ that yet.

https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/di...+Media+Builder
Macrium Rescue Media Builder

However, previously I was able to access the now hidden part just using
Win's file manager; now it has disappeared from both Win and linux.

Aren't these partitions visible in Windows' 'Disk Management' tool?
(On 8.1 (and probably on 7): Control Panel - System and Security -
Administrative Tools. Or Start - Programs - Administrative Tools -
Computer Management.)

Only normal partitions with drive letters will show up in Windows'
File Manager/Explorer.

FWIW, my 8.1 system has both a (650MB) partition of *type* 'Recovery
Partition' and a (19.43GB) NTFS partition (of type 'OEM partition'),
which is *named* (i.e. volume label) 'RECOVERY' (with drive letter D.

BTW, Macrium Reflect (Free) gives more details about the 'special'
partitions than Windows' Disk Management tool.

For example for the 650MB partition, MR lists a label ('WINRE'),
filesystem type (NTFS) and says that 276.3MB (of the 650MB) is used.
Windows' Disk Management tool does not list a label or file system
type and says that '% Free' is '100 %', which is clearly not the case

Similar differences for what Windows' Disk Management tool calls a
(260MB) 'EFI System Partition'. And then there's a (128MB) 'Unformatted
Primary' partition, which is listed by MR, but not by Windows' Disk
Management tool.

So *my* money is on Macrium Reflect (Free).

On 24/07/2019 00:49, Mike Easter wrote:
Mistakes.

You seem to be a muppet here. Why don't you just stick with whatever
you know better rather than using Windows 10 that is made for
professionals who are likely to be intelligent enough to find solutions
themselves.



It was booting; I tho't it was the installed Win10 booting (because of
the splash) but it was the USB recovery USB drive.


Please hire a technician to sort you out. Windows 10 is supposed to be
the easiest system around but you are really struggling because you are
trying to steal Microsoft Software.



Wrong. The Win10 Lenovo is also default rigged for legacy & uefi,
legacy first.

There you go again. Systems are not supposed to be rigged. What the
**** are you trying to do? Just go and hire a technician to sort you out.


So, I guess I would have to tweak the new Win10 bios for UEFI to get
the USB to boot over there.

You don't have to tweak anything. System are supposed to be left as
they are. How many times we have to tell you this. This is not some
junkies' OS that they can spend days and months tweaking it until they
get it right. This is Windows. It works out of the box first time.

The USB recovery does boot on the Win10 and the bios/uefi is OK for
that..

So what the **** is the problem? You don't recovery to use a machine.
You need to install Windows 10 and it should work first time. Why are
you so stupid wasting time on recovery. You haven't even used a machine
so there is no need to worry about recovery. Just use the machine and do
some serious work on it. Windows is for professionals and you can make
money by using it. It is not for hobbyists and enthusiasts.


--
With over 999 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

On Wed, 24 Jul 2019 21:16:59 +0100, ? Good Guy ?
wrote:

On 24/07/2019 00:49, Mike Easter wrote:
Mistakes.

You seem to be a muppet here. Why don't you just stick with whatever
you know better rather than using Windows 10 that is made for
professionals who are likely to be intelligent enough to find solutions
themselves.



It was booting; I tho't it was the installed Win10 booting (because of
the splash) but it was the USB recovery USB drive.


Please hire a technician to sort you out. Windows 10 is supposed to be
the easiest system around but you are really struggling because you are
trying to steal Microsoft Software.

Don't you think he "tho't" about that?

Wrong. The Win10 Lenovo is also default rigged for legacy & uefi,
legacy first.

There you go again. Systems are not supposed to be rigged. What the
**** are you trying to do? Just go and hire a technician to sort you out.


So, I guess I would have to tweak the new Win10 bios for UEFI to get
the USB to boot over there.

You don't have to tweak anything. System are supposed to be left as
they are. How many times we have to tell you this. This is not some
junkies' OS that they can spend days and months tweaking it until they
get it right. This is Windows. It works out of the box first time.

The USB recovery does boot on the Win10 and the bios/uefi is OK for
that..

So what the **** is the problem? You don't recovery to use a machine.
You need to install Windows 10 and it should work first time. Why are
you so stupid wasting time on recovery. You haven't even used a machine
so there is no need to worry about recovery. Just use the machine and do
some serious work on it. Windows is for professionals and you can make
money by using it. It is not for hobbyists and enthusiasts.

You seem to have put some tho't into that.