I'll be brief. My PC is a dead zone. I am trying to perform a system recovery but here's the catch: I have done it before so the hidden partition is gone from my PC. Also my DVD-RW drive has gone down due to some sort of a glitch. Fixing it is my only hope. The only way I can do it is probably their something called "Packard Bell Smart Restore". It allows me to revert my hardware to original settings. But there are only 4 options to reinstall: Media, Modem, Monitor and VIDEO.
Does anyone has any idea which one of them will reinstall the DVD-RW if any?

Having used the "hidden partition" once should not have removed it.

What error do you get when you try to use it?


Also what error or behavior suggests that the DVD drive "has gone down"?

I am not familiar with the PB software but "Media" would apply to disk drives.


What is the exact PB model?

I used the Master DVD. It increased my memory on the hard drive by 5 Gig. First I was happy but later I was rather disappointed to find that the partition was removed. It happens if you use the Master DVD. I don't get any errors when I try to use use the hidden partition as I can't activate it. It's gone from the options menu and is not activated when I press F11 at start-up.

And here is the problem with the DVD drive:
-At start-up if there is a disk inserted it tries to boot from it but then the process brakes and it goes on to load windows
-If I insert the disk when the system if fully loaded it tries to read it. But then the disk sign flashes next to the mouse cursor and disappears

Did you try the "Media" install?

Not yet. I am not entirely sure whether it will fix the problem or just make it worse. I have spent hours digging the net and found 0 information on this program. I'll try to fix the drive. If it fails, I will use the "Media install"
Plus, i will back up the data on the PC before I attempt anything.