Re-installing Media Direct 3.5

Hello, someone please help.

Windows Vista crashed and the OS disk that was included with the system was corrupt so I had a local company re-install from their disk, however, I did not supply them with the media direct CD (v3.5 on an Inspiron 1525) because I didn't know that it had to be installed at the same time. Now I need to (from looking at other threads) partition the disk - will this be done by just running the Media Direct CD and picking option 1? Or do I have to have the OS disk (which I don't have)? I don't want to pick option 1 until I know that I don't need the OS disk.

And if I do this what do I lose - will I lose all programs that are on my laptop already?

I have a 160 GB hard drive, I assume I need at least 2 GB partition?

By the way all of this happened 1 week after the 1 year warranty ran out and I had already replaced the hard drive and the fan in the first year. Don't want to deal with Dell again, this is why I had a local company do the reinstall and my company paid for it.

 

I wouldnt even try to get started without the OS cd/dvd it is required

 

should be the same for 3.5

http://support.dell.com/support/top...3082DAC1D7384CD5E040A68F5B2814A2&doclang=en#1

 

all you have to do is put the media direct dvd in and boot from cdrom. press option 1 and it makes like a 2 gig partiton for the media direct and then it allociates the the rest of the space to the operating systems. then put your windows vista dvd in and boot from cd/dvd and install windows. after that install your drivers and put the media direct dvd back in and install it thru windows. after that turn of pc and then hit media direct button and will be first time wizard and then your done

i remeber on one of my dell laptops if you hit the media direct button without the media direct installed it wont boot windows and you will have a permaent ntldr error. so it is kinda of important to have it