Inside the Dell PC Restore Partition

An Exploration by Dan Goodell
Introduction   Manual Repairs: Dell MBR PBR Descriptors PBR Labels Reference Table
Manually Repairing Dell's DSR Function

If you prefer to make selected repairs manually, the following sections will show you what is involved. Use Dsrfix as illustrated earlier to get an idea what needs to be fixed. Then follow the appropriate sections below.

These instructions make use of the following utilities, though you may use any suitable alternatives if you prefer. I've chosen to illustrate with these particular tools because they are free and available to anyone.
MBR Saver (mbrsaver.com)
My utility to save and restore your MBR sector is bundled with my Dsrfix, which you can download from www.goodells.net/dell/restore/files/dsrfix.zip.

PowerQuest Partition Table Editor (ptedit.exe)
Download from ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/tools/pq/utilities/.

PTS Disk Editor (de.exe)
Download from http://www.geocities.com/thestarman3/tool/de/PTS-DE.htm.


WARNING: The following procedures involve directly altering sectors on your hard disk. Improper changes can render all data on your hard disk inaccessible. Have current backups of your data, make sure you know what you are doing, work carefully, and proceed at your own risk!
Restoring Dell's MBR boot code

Fixing PBR descriptor Alerts

Fixing PBR label Alerts

Refreshing the reference partition table

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author: Dan Goodell