windows partition error?

[raygunpk]

My cousin asks me to format her Acer laptop, which has just one drive but split into two partitions. She has important files on her D: drive and I tell her it's okay to just format the C: and make it bootable. She has Vista.

So I boot up a Windows XP CD and go to the select partition part. There's a C:, D: and an F: which seems to be a hidden partition with just Acer recovery files and utilities. I delete the C and F and make a new one...

All goes smooth, I get to the initial setup screen where you can set your user name, workgroup name, etc. After that reboot though I get a blue screen and it will just be on a restarting loop.

I googled a bit on this and a lot of people were saying it was a partition problem and it should be a fresh install...

Is that the case here? And if so, how do I get those important files out of her D: drive partition? Should I have used a Vista install instead of XP or does that not matter?

Thanks guys!

 

[Blain]

Why not reformat wit her Acer restore?

 

[RebateMonger]

A couple of suggestions for next time....

1) Don't delete the Recovery Partition. It's a great tool for restoring a PC to its factory configuration. The restoration also includes the drivers needed to make everything run properly, which is probably the problem that you've encountered.

2) Make fresh backup copies of important data before reformatting a partition. It's very common to make a mistake and format the wrong partition, or have something else go wrong.

I'd:
Remove the hard drive and attach it to another PC with the appropriate adapter. Copy any important files to the other PC.
Decide what OS you want to install. You are going to need drivers for the laptop for that OS. In particular, you may need disk controller drivers to complete the install. Download the drivers from Acers Support Site.
Install the new OS. If you want to use your XP disk, you are going to need to provide an XP license Key, unless your XP CD is an ACER OEM install CD. The key on the bottom of the laptop would be a Vista Key. If you want ot install Vista, I suggest you obtain a recovery DVD from Acer.

 

[raygunpk]

I read that you could delete the Recovery partition, as it holds all the junk files and utilities that would slow the laptop down. My mistake there...and I've never taken apart a laptop so this would be interesting.

 

[DayLaPaul]

The recovery partition won't slow a laptop down. It does, however, take up disk space, which is why some people opt to delete it. If the laptop came with Vista, I'd just try installing Vista on it again. If she doesn't have a Vista disc, then see if Acer will send her one.