Regarding Reformating

hi everybody.......

i have just bought Dell Inspiron 1520
it has 160gb hard disk
vista basic

i want to reformat the hard disk and want to downgrade to window xp

after viewing the various threads here i am a bit confused

basicallly i wannt three partitions only (no Dell MD, No Recovery Disk and no dell diagonostic tools drive)

i want to keep my laptop as simple as possible

can u tell me how can i format everything and install windows xp on apartition of 10-12 gb and rest the space equally divided in two partitions?

thanks

 

Apart from the initial SATA drive detection issue, rest of the steps in installing XP is pretty straight forward (follow the on-screen instructions).

With 1520s (and most new notebooks) I think you have to manually load SATA drivers during the install time or slipstream them in to the XP installation. You can use a tool like nLite to slip stream them OR just download the drivers and burn them on to a CD, then load it manually by pressing F6 at the beginning of the installation.

Once you get it to detect the HDD and come to the disk partitioning step, delete all partitions and create your own, then select one and continue. Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots to help you through.

 

The XP installation will take you through the partitioning process, as PheonixFx said above.

One thing to note is that I never create mor ethen the first OS partition in the initial install. When you get to the partitioning tool during the install, delete all the current partitions. Then create your OS partition, however big you want to make it. Once you have created that, format it and install your OS into it (the partitioning tool in the install makes it nice and easy to do all the above).

Once you have installed your OS, install the drivers etc. When you are happy everything is running, right click My Computer and go to 'Manage'. In the left panel click on 'Disk Management'. It will display your HDD and the first partition you made, with the rest of the disc labelled as 'Unallocated Space'. Right click this space and a wizard will take you through creating more partitions etc.

 

You might want to leave more that 10-12GB for XP; thats enough space for the OS alone, but you have to account for programs and games.

 

"You might want to leave more that 10-12GB for XP; thats enough space for the OS alone, but you have to account for programs and games........"

4 sure > at least 20-25 gig, for the programs you install......

and acronis disk director, Cute PM or paragon for doing the partition, or what PhoenixFx showed you.......

Acronis Disk Dir Suite 10- Click Here

Cute PM -freeware > Click Here

 

XP really doesnt take up that much - the last clean install I performed it took just over 2GB, with all the system drivers etc installed.

Nevertheless, as mentioned above, your programs etc will also be installed here. Its a pain in the backside when you start to fill up your C: since it contains the OS. With the C: its better to overkill.

Using XP, I would recommend a partition of around 20GB.

With Vista, I create a 35GB partition, and after all my programs I still have about 21.5GB free - plenty for the future. My Docs, Multimedia files, and Games are all in their own partitions, and backup up as need be.