I had partitioned a 60 GB (Notebook! HD) with
Primary 20 GB "C:"
Extended Partition: 20 GB (Assigned one logical drive for now, D:)
..this left ~18 GB of free space at end.

I thought Restore disk - in worst case, anticipating presentation of a blank new HD - could complete the format choice, not needing Any format applied within partitions (as would, of course be converted to HPFS in due course.)

Nope.

Brain-dead Restore disk had No Idea what to do with such a disk (as would be the case had I indeed a merely low-level formatted new HD..)

Formatted C: and D: - FAT-32 as is fdisk's only repertoire (Jeez that's OLD)

Nope; can't find a disk (!! cretin)

Remove Swiss-army-knife XP-boot disk; add mine with sys.com
Sys the sucker - yup, transferred; *IT* could find a drive.
fdisk / mbr just because - exits with no error.

ie a Home User had best have a toolkit, know basic DOS - to replace that hP hard drive.

NOW ... Ex Pee 'Restore' notices a disk and the partitions.
Wants me to select Something to do with the free space; figure it can't hurt (?) to tell it to go ahead and assign it a partition/logical drive.
[Hah.. some of us never learn]

Reinstall completes with the tedious necessary evasions of "Unknown User" and "no thanks, don't start that Wizard"

Runs; replace the Garish with 'Classic' face and go to put a Shortcut to file manager on desktop.

W.T.F. - Not. Much. *There* on C:

The Artificial Dumbth Algortithm - decided to put most-all of the install on F:
(ALL those bloated files with an F:\\ in their absolute address!)

[Space reserved for any foreign epithets naming syphilitic camels, their ancestors and coprophilic activities]


So then, a couple things emerge re THIS Restore disk (not quite as you described re IBM)

1) Yes you Can force it to recognize a Primary Active Partition.
(Am not sure that above would apply to prior -Home Restore disks on a second try with more details in other partitions.. Hope not to learn this piece of trivia the hard way, either.)

I am using [\ufffd] ""Professional"" on this RRR, from the later notebook: it's all for Science, natch.

2) And yes, I presumed from previous sagas - not only Must Doze be installed first, recognizing as it does: no other software exists. Implict was that, with the in-bed Corporate Marketing relationships of mfg. - so would the Restore faux-OS versions insure that, if your Doze stuff dies beyond even zIWE-grade resurrection:

you buy a Retail package / or prepare to reinstall the entire HD.
Am I right sir, am I right?
Breakfast with crocodiles.. when you put this stuff on innocent magnetic materials.



[\ufffd] As likely all here know - while ""Prof"" contains yet more layers of Enterprise, AD-ready Group management gobbledygook, all mixed in with the Useful pieces: there are at least a few more things you Can turn off, that demand Registry hacks in the intentionally crippled -Home.

ie
[Give the people needing the Most protection: The Least
/ Pure Redmond (or, pure Cheney?)
And leave them fewer security tools, even after they find out w2hat the out-of-box Experience: just cost them.]

I shall rely upon modularization of the AD-related infestation by XP-Lite\ufffd tp greatly assist in the vacuum cleaning of this Monstrous kluge.

So then next:

Wipe, leave the F: drive in that partition. See if I can get the sucker to leave F alone, as it did D (CDROM == E, as would have been changed)


Geronimo . . .