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Hi,
OK before we get started I highly and I mean highly recommend you get a tool to do a complete image of the Hard Drive including the Recovery Partition / MBR and partition table before you begin. I sed Acronis True Image but things like Ghost, Ghost4Linux, PartImage, etc should all do the job.
I’ve also only tried this on an NC10 but I cannot see why it wouldn’t work on the other models.
Right once you’ve got an image of your HDD lets begin.
The first step is to install Windows 7 and configure it how you want it. For myself I’ve loaded all the Samsung drivers and applications along with activating Windows so when I restore the image it will already be activated. You could if you want also install extra applications like Office, etc if you want as I will also be talking about how to resize the partition. Just remember the more you install the bigger your recovery partition will become but if your happy to give up some space then it could save you a ton of time next time you need to restore.
I imagine this will work on all the Samsung models but I’ve only tried it on an NC10.
Windows 7 drivers for the NC10 are here
Now you’ve got a Windows 7 running just the way you want it you need to make an image of it using the Samsung Recovery software of which you should have installed v4.x from the Samsung website. To do this you will need an external USB Hard Drive. So go ahead and make a complete image of your Windows 7 onto this Hard Drive.
Once this is done and your back in Windows lets make the recovery partition visable. It’s actually just a normal NTFS volume with Windows PE installed onto it but also hidden because of a special partition type. To make it visable do this… Make sure the USB HDD is disconnected by the way.
Open a Command Prompt as an Administrator so right click on the Command Prompt in the Start menu and select run as Administrator.
diskpart
select disk 0
select partition 1
set id 07 override
exitNow it will be a normal NTFS partition but it won’t be visable yet as you need to give it a drive letter. So right cick on Computer and go to Manage. In here go to Disk Management in Storage and you’ll see the a partition called Recovery. Right click on this and select Change Drive Letters and Paths. Click on Add and give it a letter. It doesn’t matter what.
Now in Windows Explorer you should see the Recovery drive on the drive letter you selected. Open this up. Now most likely we’ll need to make this partition bigger before we can fit everything on for Windows 7 but lets get the Windows XP stuff off first.
Rather than delete it I recommend copying this off but it’s up to you, you do already have a full image of the entire Hard Drive I hope.
The files you need to remove are
init.wcl and init.woo (This is the image)
All the files in Recovery / Files (Show hidden and system files to see them all).The files in the Recovery folder are the Windows XP files used when doing a basic restore. You’ll be replacing these with Windows 7 files as I don’t think restoring Windows XP files into Windows 7 is going to ever solve any boot issues 😉
Now you should have a recovery partition without Windows XP on it. Go to your USB Hard Drive and look in the SamsungRecovery to see the size of your image. You’ll need enough space to fit this on the drive and in my case also 1.6GB’s for the Windows 7 files for the basic recovery however this might vary. I’d recommend sizing the partition far too big and then just sizing it back down once it’s full.
To resize my partition I used EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition which is free. You can get it at.
http://www.partition-tool.com/
So load this tool or whatever you’ve selected and shrink the size of your Windows partition to make room for a bigger Recovery partition. Not only will you need to shrink it but also move it to the right. Then also move the 100MB system partition that Windows 7 makes to the right. Now you’ll have space to resize the Recovery partition into the free space directly after it. Now apply this and wait.
Once this is done copy the files from the SamsungRecovery folder on your USB Hard Drive to the root of the Recovery partition. Also rename them so they are init.woo, init.wcl, init.w01. The recovery software will fill up the Windows files for the Recovery folder automatically when you do the first restore which we’ll now do in a second.
Lets make the drive invisable again. So go into Storage Manager first and remove the drive letter.
Now load the Command Prompt as an administrator and type in the following
diskpart
select disk 0
select partition 1
set id 27 override
exitBefore we reboot seeing as we’ll be restoring Windows pretty much as it is now on your laptop I’d recommend putting a text file on the Desktop say so you know when it’s vanished after the restore that it’s worked fine but this is optional of course.
That’s it, now reboot and press F4 on the Samsung logo to load the recovery software. We’ll now do a complete recovery. You should see the Windows you select will be called whatever you called it when you made the image in the Samsung Recovery software. Select this and restore it. At the end you’ll notice it’ll then actually say it’s copying the files it needs for the Windows Basic restore so these will match with your Windows install.
Now reboot and go back into Windows. That should be it, system restored back to Windows 7 and the Basic files created for recovery (I’ve not tested a basic restore but as far as I know it just copies whatevers in that recovery/files folder to the C drive so no reason it wouldn’t work).
Now if you have a lot of space left on the recovery partition use the same resize tool to shrink the free space down. Mine went from 6GB to 8GB with some free space left over so it doesn’t need to be hugely bigger unless you’ve put a lot of apps on your Windows before imaging it.
Hope this helps people out. I offer no warranty on this of course you do it at your own risk but as long as you have a complete hard drive image if it all goes wrong restore that and your recovery partition along with Windows will go back to how it was before you started.
If you’ve Linux on the Hard Drive then this might cause problems, I’ve not tested it with a dual boot situation either. I’ve got only Windows 7 on mine now.
No problems. I’ve been lurking for a while but never really had a reason to post before.
Hope this helps people out.
I think this will be a really helpful thread. Would it be OK to make it a sticky thread, please FastLaneJB 😕
My Recovery partition is 15GB.
On this are init.w01 (2.6GB), init.w02 (1.3GB), init.wcl (4.2GB) and init.woo (1KB) files.
There are also:
WinClon.WCL (0KB)
imagex (471KB, an application)
bootmgr (375KB)
boot folder
EFI folder
Restore folder
Sources folder
SystemSoftware folder
WinClon folderI presume the folders are the basic Win7 Starter installation?
I since upgraded to Home Premium – how is that represented here?
Am I correct in saying that ALL I need on this partition to restore my Win7 Home Premium are the init.wcl and init.woo files?
All the other folders are what the Sammy uses when you first switch it on…?
Thanks for any help you can offer.
***********************
OK, I think I’ve answered my own questions, having now accessed Recovery using F4 at boot!The options within SRS4 are to i) restore the System files, or ii) a complete initial System image (from the Recovery partition, or iii) restore the latest complete System image from my external USB drive
I guess therefore I could simply remove EVERYTHING on the recovery partition, and copy across the contents of my external backup:
user1.w01
user1.w02
user1.wcl
user1.wooWhen I next select ‘F4’ at book, I presume I would get all the recovery options as before, but all would fail apart from selecting the latest System image that I had now copied onto the recovery partition?
This would enable me to shrink the partition a little and reclaim 5GB…
(I also read in the manual that SRS4 will NOT work UNLESS a recovery partition – of any size??? – is present; so, if I’m depending upon an extrenal SRS4 backup, I still need to have the recovery partition preent…)
__spc__ – You need only to make a backup with the SRS4 application (not F4 at boot) and copy the init.woo, init.wcl, init.w01 files, as shown in FastLaneJB’s post, into the recovery partition replacing the same named files there. Keep the files named as they were on the Recovery partition as if you change the names F4 will/probably not work.
Also do not remove any files as these are the Winclon software files and data that Samsung uses.
When the exercise is finished test the F4 function to check it is working. ie. you see the restore options correctly.
I remember reading a while back in another posting that you used the MBRfix.exe app so that being the case the F4 will not work. Use the Admin Tool and ‘Fix MBR’ option to correct if required. Details at the end of this thread if you need them.
Hope this helps
ps In you other current thread you wish to remove the Recovery partition?
Thanks jeepers01,
Preferably, I would like to remove teh recovery partition.
However, I read a thread that indicates without a recovery partition, the boot/F4 recovery solution/option will not work – and I want to use the boot/F4 option with my external backup
The alternative is at least to put my backup onto the recovery partition so that I have instant access to my Win7 Home Premium backup (vice Starter).
“Lets make the drive invisable again. So go into Storage Manager first and remove the drive letter.
Now load the Command Prompt as an administrator and type in the following
diskpart
select disk 0
select partition 1
set id 27 override
exit”This did NOT hide my drive…
My recovery partition is still visible under Windows Explorer, with the drive letter I assigned it; under Computer Management, it does not have a drive letter.
How do I hide my recovery partition?
[quote1267050144=__spc__]
“Lets make the drive invisable again. So go into Storage Manager first and remove the drive letter.Now load the Command Prompt as an administrator and type in the following
diskpart
select disk 0
select partition 1
set id 27 override
exit”This did NOT hide my drive…
My recovery partition is still visible under Windows Explorer, with the drive letter I assigned it; under Computer Management, it does not have a drive letter.
How do I hide my recovery partition?
[/quote1267050144]To remove the drive letter and hide the Recovery partition try as follows:diskpart
select disk 0
list partition
select partition 1 (number of the Recovery partition identified by list partition)
remove letter=Z (where Z is the drive letter you assigned to Recovery partition)
detail partition (Will show partition type as 07 ie. unhidden)
set id=27 override (to hide the partition)
detail partition (should show partition type as 27)see example screen below:
Hope this helps
Perfect!
“remove letter=Z (where Z is the drive letter you assigned to Recovery partition)” was the key bit.
Thanks again.
[quote1267126959=__spc__]
Perfect!“remove letter=Z (where Z is the drive letter you assigned to Recovery partition)” was the key bit.
Thanks again.
[/quote1267126959]Your welcome 🙂
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