Reformat Inspiron 6000 but no disks

I need to reformat the hard drive on a Dell Inspiron 6000 because the chump that had it before me partitioned the 50Gb hard drive so that the c: drive is only 9.76Gb and the D: drive is 30Gb. Consequently the c drive keeps runnin out of space. I need to remove the partition but I don't have any Dell disks to reinstate the OS. Anyone got any ideas?

 

You can order them from Dell or find a buddy who has discs. Inspiron 6000 shipped out with XP Home, Media Center or Professional (look on the bottom for your COA). Get a Dell branded discs and then delete all partitions. Make sure you backup your data.

 

You shouldn't need to have Dell branded disks... vanilla media will work, but you'll have to activate with the code on your CoA.

 

I agree. Plus, you will get a clean install of windows. I suggest you download all the drivers and put them on a CD or USB etc.. before formatting and once your done, you can install all the devices since windows will not do that for most dell machines. You'll need all the video, sound, main board, ethernet, BT or whatever the dell support site has listed for your model. Be sure to put your exact model product number and it reduces it down to the exact drivers your machine needs. All that info is on the sticker on the bottom of your notebook including the oem key you will need to activate over the phone with Microsoft to activate windows.

 

I recommend Dell media as it preactivates and no headaches reading half worn out COAs (big problem as I work in a tech shop). And Dell recovery media is basically a modified vanilla image that preactivates. It doesn't have anything else, that's when you need the driver/applications disc which I never use. Now Vista/7 will install a good portion of the drivers in my experience.

 

Thanks guys for the advice

 

Good luck with it thestratman!

 

Repartition the drive to 1 partition. No need to reformat.