New Vostro 1500 ... MediaDirect & HD questions

I've just got a new Vostro 1500, and going through all the crap with it to see what can go I'm not sure about this MediaDirect thing - apprently it hogs about 3GB of the hard disk to itself, which seems rather a lot. I've been using it to watch DVDs so far, but it didn't particularly seem to do anything other DVD programs can't. Is there something I'm missing about it? It doesn't seem to be worth the space & bloat to me from what I've seen so far, but maybe I just haven't played around enough? What would you think?

Also ... HD ... I do know HD's are generally smaller than advertised due to the 1000 / 1024 MB thing ... however. I'm supposed to have a 120 GB HD. What actually shows up are 2 partitions, one of 99.2, the other of 9.99. Fine, with the 3gb-ish hidden partition that's supposed ot be there (according to google) that sort of makes sense. BUT, out of the box, only 80GB of the first partition and and 7GB of the first are free. Is that really right?? only 87 GB free from a 120 GB start? Is there something wrong? Or if it's all just bloatware, where should I start deleting? I've already trawled through a great deal of the installed programs list deleting stuff, tho not entirely done, and it doesn't seem to have made a whole lot of difference. Also, is there much point having a 10gb partition set aside for recovery? Would you recommend removing it? How could I do that?

 

There is another 10 gb partition with the dell restore partition that can go. If i were you, pop in the vista disk and delete all partitions and install from scratch. It should take no more than 30 minutes.

 

the media direct is for all media...dvds,photos,music etc ,ive not had the need or chance to really have a play with it yet as my machines nearly always on anyway, but its a handy thing to have, just had a quick test and it looked good

the 10 gig dell recovery partition is what it is.. your recovery, i have filled the empty space on that with latest drivers and my most important programs i always install and stuff, just so its always there handyt

basicly...if your desperate for the space and have the windows disks,and dont nwant the media direct, delete it and like above says do a clean install deleting all partitions, if like me your not too fussed or desperate for the space and like the handyness of media direct, just leave it be untill a time when you need to make a choice

 

You may also add codec to MD to play Divx and xVid. I did that on mine. It makes it the best portable MP4 player.

 

OK... if I decided to reinstall from scratch some point down the line ... cos right now I'm OK for disk space ... would there be any easy way to transfer/keep all my settings etc? Don't really want to have to redo a years worth of fiddling with settings at some point.

Also, is it normal on a Dell to have only 87 GB of the non-hidden 110 GB free? (that means MediaDirect isn't even included there)