MediaDirect / Deleting partition

I alerady one good thread by Mark on this one.. but does not answer my situation..

My HD is 60GB. Windows sees only 49.7GB.. The rest is supposed to be hidden partition and for PC restore. The BIOS shows 58GB (I assume 2GB swallowed for formatting?) Anyways, When I go to admin tools/comp mgt/disk mgt, I see

- 49.7GB for "C" NTFS (system),
- 47MB for FAT (EISA configuration), and
- 4.36GB for FAT32 (unknown),

with all showing healthy.


Even if I add this up its only sums up to some 55GB, so I assume like said in other forums, that this is the result of the difference between, what 1GB means to the OS versus harddisk manufacturers.

After reading the other thread, I assume there is another hidden partition(4th one), that is not even visible in the XP.

Now my issue:

I spent lot of time cleaning out all the Dell bloatware already.

I want to wipe out that hidden partition along with PC restore/recovery. Can I simply delete that fat32 4.36GB partition from XP disk mgmt? If I do that will it wipe out that space and add 4.36GB to my main C drive partition?

I dont want that ****py PC Restore, but want to have the MediaDirect function available and get that additional 4.36GB on my C.

thanks

This is Inspiron laptop E1505..

 

hth

Mark

 

Adding to what Mark said,
the 40MB partition is the Dell diagnostics partition, which I recommend you leave alone since mediadirect won't work if you delete it. The only way to add the unallocated space from the restore partition is to do a clean install of XP

 

Thanks guys, this certainly does help..

primehunter326.. Which one is needed for MediaDirect.. as per mark it looks like the HPA (hidden 1.5GB or so), but your responses indicate the other 47MB diagnostics..

In any case I can leave them both alone, but clean out the 4.36GB and get that space ..

Some say if I do a delete it only deletes the partition and not actually wipe out the entire data on that partition.. Is that true?

Mark.. maybe like you said, if I create a new partition on that space.. (say D ), then perhaps I will have that space wiped out and available for me.. If disk management does not cut it then I may have to download partition magic or something like that..

 

Cheers

Mark

 

Mediadirect won't work unless the partition at the front of the drive is inactive, hence the Dell utility partition. The actual data for Mediadirect is store on the HPA. you could just delete the Dell partition and create an empty partition at the front of the disk but many recommed keeping the Dell partition since you never know when you might need it. You can go ahead and delete the restore partition since it won't work after the reinstall(or at least it's a lot harder to use use it than before)

 

For the sake of accuracy, let me make a slight edit or two....

Mark

 

So is it worth deleting the restore partition (the one that is approx 5gb) on the e1705? or is it it worth leaving it alone since making that space even usable seems complicated but its useless after formatting the c: drive from what i understand and it can't be reintegrated back to the c: drive .

I am also wondering since my e1705 is on its way and i'm wondering how to go about doing this. I'm thinking of either formatting it or my other option would be just uninstalling the junkware and getting the registry cleaned out using one of thos registry cleaning programs and using msconfig to optimize startup or doing a full fledged format but i'm not sure if it will run as fast with the uninstallations and optimizations as it will if a clean format is done.

Also another advantage is if i don't have to do a full format the restore partition will still be useful.

Thanks in advance for the replies

 

Cheers

Mark

 

What do you mean in your previous post about being able to reintegrate the other partition to the C: drive with a windows reinstall?

please elaborate

Thanks again

 

I got it working the way I wanted..
MediaDirect working as per design..

I deleted the that partition, cleaned out everything.. reformatted, put new stuff on it, did another wipeout to make sure everything is clean and did full format again..

I have almost 55GB at my disposal now with already cleaned registry and 100% bloatware free..

v43..Like mark said, instead of reintegrating in C, you can delete the partition with Dsk Mgt and reformatt and create a new partition with different drive letter.. I always had few drives in all my win2000 machines, and its really helpful if you want to install certain stuff seperate.. For ex. you can throw in jbuilder or visual studio.net on that drive or keep all your video / mp3s there...

If you know your way around, clean out all the dell junk and the registry and I did get mine optimized as if it were a clean reformatt.. tweak boot.ini, msconfig, services and also BIOS, along with the registry..

 

During the steps to perform a Windows reinstall, you will be asked about which partition to use for the 'new' operating system. When you get to that section one of the other things you can do is Add or Delete partitions. This is where you can 'consolidate' your partitions.

You'll be starting out with three partitions. In order they are the Dell Utility partition, the Win XP system partition and the Dell Restore partition.

What you'd do is delete the Win XP AND Dell Restore partitions leaving just the Dell Utility partition and a bunch of unallocated hard drive space.

Next you would Add a partition of whatever size you like [up to the maximum of the unallocated/free space on the drive]. At this point you'd have two partitions. The Dell Utility partition and the 'new' partition you just created.

Your last step would be to designate the 'new' partition as the target for the Windows reinstall.

When all is 'said and done' you'll have the Dell Utility partition and one Windows XP system partition.

Now I personally don't like that, but it's up to you.... I'll offer this thread I made earlier on the subject.

Mark