Any dell/recovery savey people here?

[j2k]

Hi guys my first post
I recently installed xp on my inspirion (vista) laptop,formatting the c: which had the vista OS,i want to go back to the vista but cant restore vista from partition DRECOVERY) which contains vista incase you want to restore factory settings,can anyone explain is its possible for me to restore it as i dont have the options on the advanced boot menu,probably over being and old xp-sp1 install.
Fire away your thoughts anyway

Regards

 

[kimsland]

To access the restore partitition: (Assuming: DataSafe feature was originally activated)

1. Power the computer on
2. When the Dell screen appears press and hold the <Ctrl> key on the keyboard, press the <F11> key, then release them both at the same time.

The Dell Restore by Symantec window appears.
NOTE: Press the keys only one time. If you press them more than once, a keyboard error occurs and the process has to be initiated again.

3.Click the Restore button or press the <Tab> key to highlight Restore and press the enter key.
A caution message appears advising that all data will be lost.
4.Click the Confirm button or press the <Tab> key to highlight Confirm and press the enter key.
The Progress window appears. Once the process is begun, Dell PC Restore usually takes only 8 to 10 minutes to complete.
When the restore is complete, the message The system recovery process was successful appears.
5. Click the Finish button or press <Tab> key to highlight Finish and press the <Enter> key.
The computer will restart.
Your software is now as it was when you first received your computer.

NOTE: After the Operating System has been restored, it is important to run Windows Update as soon as possible to bring the system to the latest level of security.

More info: Here and Here

Edit:

I decided to read the entire links myself, and at one point this is stated:
"Dell systems that shipped with Vista preinstalled do not have a Dell System Restore (DSR) partition"
Therefore I am now unsure if the above will work.
If it does please let me know, in reply post. Otherwise you may wish to read the entire info links yourself.

In either case, please reply back with results.