Burn a copy of the restore partition

Hi
I just got my inspiron 6400 and I'm planning to do a clean install.
I want to burn a copy of the restore partition to a DVD before I format the harddrive. Do I need any additional software? like Ghost 8.3?, because I can't even see that partition. I checked Goodell.com but didn't find anything about this.
Thanks in advance!

 

Can anyone help me?

 

just use ghost and backup the partition or partitions you want to save

 

thanks, but is ghost preloaded?

 

no it is not you might be able to find a trial of it with a few searches

 

which version should I use then?

 

is ghost 2003 okay?

 

can anyone provide me with some detail about doing this?
Thanks

 

I tried ghost and acronis but neither of them could see the hidden partition

 

the only partition that ghost or acronis will not copy or see is the media direct 2 partition if you go to windows control panel-administrative tools-computer management-disk management how many partitions are listed on c drive there should be 3 or 4

 

4, but when I use disk clone(true image), it says there's only one partition C so the process just stopped.

 

i just imaged my whole drive with ghost 8.3 and then imaged c partition with xp pro and vista also it takes about 15 minutes to image or restore from a external drive

 

Thanks!I made a image of the retore patition. Shall I burn it directly to a DVD or convert it to a ISO file first?

 

i would do both if possible you can burn an iso to dvd anytime it would give you multiple copies which may not be a bad thing
jim