The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    I need to delete mediadirect!

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by NissanSupraGTR, Aug 25, 2006.

  1. NissanSupraGTR

    NissanSupraGTR Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    376
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    For soem reeason mediadirect stopped working, and trying to repair it isn't solving the problem. I keep getting some Microsoft Visual C++ runtime error, so I just want to get rid of the stupid partition. I know its on a hpa section of the drive, and I know it supposedly isn't easy to get rid of, but I don't mind doing some work. Any ideas on how to get rid of it?
     
    NissanSupraGTR, Aug 25, 2006
    #1
  2. sheff159

    sheff159 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    77
    Messages:
    880
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Call Dell and have them run you through it step by step, that will be the easiest way.
     
    sheff159, Aug 25, 2006
    #2
  3. vespoli

    vespoli 402 NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    1,134
    Messages:
    3,401
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105

    AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


    Sorry, Supra, I don't know how to help you. :( The above post made me almost wet my pants with laughter. :D :D :D
     
    vespoli, Aug 25, 2006
    #3
  4. Amber

    Amber Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    1,659
    Messages:
    5,066
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    Contact Dell and ask for the reinstallation disc. That should reinstall it - you'll need around 2gb of unpartition space located at the end of the HDD though.
     
    Amber, Aug 25, 2006
    #4
  5. NissanSupraGTR

    NissanSupraGTR Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    376
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Then what happens to the current mediadirect partition? I don't want to have 2 on my hd; mediadirect is wasting enough space as it is.
     
    NissanSupraGTR, Aug 25, 2006
    #5
  6. calvin_gsc

    calvin_gsc Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    37
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I would like to remove my Media Direct too.

    It freezes at the loading screen.

    [​IMG]
     
    calvin_gsc, Aug 25, 2006
    #6
  7. lumberbunny

    lumberbunny Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    57
    Messages:
    314
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Hey Nissan,

    For an easy way to remove the HPA, read my post (#7) in this thread:

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=72929

    You'll obviously need the Hitachi utility. Just remember, boot the Windows installer and format the 1443MB that used to be the HPA immediately after resizing the disk. Otherwise, it will revert to its old state.
     
    lumberbunny, Aug 25, 2006
    #7
  8. NissanSupraGTR

    NissanSupraGTR Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    376
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Do I have to reinstall windows? That's really not an option. Can I format the new space from within xp?
     
    NissanSupraGTR, Aug 25, 2006
    #8
  9. lumberbunny

    lumberbunny Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    57
    Messages:
    314
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    You don't have to reinstall Windows, but you do need to run the Windows Installer to format the area that used to be the Host-Protected Area. Running the Windows Installer does not necessarily mean that you're reinstalling Windows. Just get to the point where you're formatting that 1443MB. Booting to Windows after running the disk utility will reset the HPA to the way it was (don't ask me why, it's just one of the facts of life).

    Once that's done, you'll have a 1443MB partition (minus 8MB required unpartitioned space required by the Windows installer: again, don't ask me why) that will be visible to the OS. There are other utilities that can combine this partition to the system partition from Windows if that's the sort of thing that would bother you.

    Note: always back up your important data before making any changes to your partitions. I'm not saying there'll be a problem, but not doing so would just be asking for trouble...
     
    lumberbunny, Aug 26, 2006
    #9
  10. NissanSupraGTR

    NissanSupraGTR Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    376
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Couldn't get it running off of the cd image; I'll try w/ my usb floppy drive tomorrow after backup. thx for the help
     
    NissanSupraGTR, Aug 26, 2006
    #10