How to format & partitioning Acer 5024 ?

Anybody has already done it ?
My 5024 arrived at home just today and I need to erase all and make this partitions:

1) WIN XP home NTFS
2) Linux SUSE 9.3 ( +linux swap partition )


I have many doubts:

1) Can i delete the hidden partition ? Is it only for a quick recover or it contains data that are not in the recovery CD ?

2) If i make partition with partiion magic, what the recovery cd will install ? Only winxphome ? Or it will make the factory partition scheme again ?

3) The code of the recovery win xp home is valid for full version of xphome ?

4) How i can "ghost" the entire virgin harddrive before erase all ? wich software do i need ? I need to make it in case i need to send back the notebook to acer for repair.

Thanks a lot for your help and sorry for dumb question but i'm a real notebool newbie...it's my first notebook !!

 

1) you can delete the hidden partition when you setup windows
2)I dont think it will do the factory partition
3)yes
4)I would go get Norton Ghost. You'll need another hard drive so you can ghost it over.

Good luck.

 

Francesco,

1. The hidden partition, I believe, contains a copy of the OS recovery image. I don't think it's 100% necessary as other users have removed it. But if you're not sure, you might as well just keep that partition there and not touch it for now. You can always modify it with Partition Magic at a later time.

2. Running the Acer Recover CD's will automatically restore all the original partition settings (except for the hidden partition I believe, not sure). The Acer recover CD's are designed using an Image technology like ghost. It's an exact copy of the drive, partition info, files, drivers, configs, etc... from the factory. By running the recovery CD's, you'll loose all your Partition Magic partition settings. The only way to avoid it is to manually run a full version of XP and install from scratch.

3. Yes, the COA license at the bottom of your unit is valid for any version of XP Home (if the COA is for XP Home). You can install XP Home from a different set of discs and use this Product Key and it should be fine. Just make sure the XP Home version is a retail version (VLK or OEM versions may not work).

4. You don't need to Ghost the drive because the original Acer Recovery CD's are also an Image of the drive. Just run the Recovery discs and it'll revert the system back to how it was from day one. But I'm not sure of the Hidden Partition. That's why I'd recommend leaving it there for now.

-Vb-

 

I'm upgrading my harddrive from 60g 4200 to 100g 7200. Would using the acer recovery disc on the new 100g hard drive cause the new hd to be formatted and partitioned to the original 30g + 30g partition + (40g)? I would prefer it to be one whole 100g without partition, how do i go about doing that if i were to use the recovery discs?

 

Ifie,

The Acer Recovery discs should auto expand the partitions, but it could have been set so that it leaves the rest of the space unpartitioned (similar feature can be set on Ghost). If it does auto expand or if it doesn't, you can run Partition Magic or other partition management software and re-partition your drive. This can be done without wiping the data already on your drive. You can merger all the partitions together to make 1 huge drive or you can partition it the way you want. There are some other ways you get around this:

1. Get an external USB 2.0 drive enclosure and put your 100GB drive into that. Connect to your notebook and run Ghost (or any other imaging s/w you like) and image the C: drive to your USB (100GB) drive. Just perform a partition image, not a drive image. If you do drive image, it'll transfer the same partition settings to the new drive. A partition image will just transfer the partition you want to the other HDD. The remaining space should automatically be allocated to the same partition and therefore you'll get 1 huge partition.

2. Make your very own Recovery CD's. It's pretty easy to do and you can do it in a couple ways.

A: You can perform step #1 and then run Ghost again to make an image file of the partition/drive. use your CD/DVD burning software to make a bootable DVD. Copy the Ghost executable & Ghost image to the DVD and burn. Now you can boot off this disc and restore your image to your HDD.

B: You can make a slipstream disc. This is like a standard XP install CD, but it contains all the modifications you make to your system (software, drivers, settings, etc...).

This is basically how it works:
Install OS
Install all your apps/drivers and make all your necessay changes (resolution, desktop settings, etc...)
Follow steps on Slipstreaming
What this gives you is a full XP install disc with all the changes you made above. You don't need to re-install these apps or make changes to your settings. It's like doing a manual OS load with all your settings/software installed.

Here are the instructions on how to Slipstream Windows XP.
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp

Good Luck!

-Vb-

 

Thanks Venombite

I will give the recovery cd a try when i get my new hd, do you know if partition magic or any other partition software has a free version that does what is required for my purpose?

So the steps are just to use the recovery cd and use partition software to re-partition it into one whole drive if the cd does partition it with that 30gig partition.

My Acer comes preinstalled with NTI cd backup and cd/dvd software, i think it has an option to backup drive image into a bootable disc. I'll try that after i have done everything with my new drive and see if it works.

Thanks.

 

No problem.

I don't think Partition Magic offers a trial version. You may be able to find other freeware/shareware software that may do the same.

Here's a small list of free/trial software that can partition your HDD. Just scroll down a bit and you'll see the list.

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Storage/Q_21267472.html

Just remember, when making a backup of the HDD, if it does have partitions, just make sure you just backup the C: partition (the one you want), so when you restore, it'll just restore C: drive without any other partitions.

Good luck!

-Vb-

 

can you re format the d side of the drive to ntfs without deleting every thing