XPS 1330 Media Direct Removal

I've been searching the forums and google trying to find current information on how Dell's media direct works. I am going to be working on a clean install of Vista and I'd like it to be gone as it sounds like it's more trouble than it's worth.

Can anyone point me in the right direction here? Maybe I'm just not finding the right guides but everything I see looks like a thread started over a year ago when Dell was switching from the 2.x series of Media Direct to the 3.x series. Since I got my laptop a few days ago I want to know what's on there right now and what my options are for removing it entirely from the system. Since I'm going to dual boot XP and I read about pushing the button hosing XP installs, I'm nervous in that area as well. Can anyone point me in the right direction or give me a good guide? Thanks.

 

check here, flamenko's guide is good. it's a long thread but worth it.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157838

 

Thanks for the link. I've done some reading in that thread but it appears to show how to do it and keep media direct. I can't really find a good reason to keep it and I've read a lot about how it can cause some difficulties so I'd like to just get rid of it. I'll keep reading but I'd hate to get through all 52 pages or whatever and find that it says nothing in there about removing media direct....

 

Bump. I read a long ways through that thread and no mention of removing Media Direct. Can anyone provide some info about what that media direct button actually does? Does it make the BIOS do something different when you hit this button to start the computer? Then when the computer is running it does something else?

 

Kind of makes sense to keep Media Direct unless you really need that extra space.. you get more battery life watching a movie etc using Media Direct...

 

Go here http://www.killdisk.com
download option for making USB Flash drive
Insert the USB Flash drive and boot from it
Execute Killdisk,it will remove the media direct partition and you will end up with 1 partition
Reinstall Vista OS and your drivers,viola...your done

 

Honestly I wouldn't mind keeping it but my understanding of the Media Direct installation process is that it doesn't allow you to create enough partitions to do what I want to do. I could be wrong and if so, I'll gladly keep it.

Here's an overview of my (perhaps lofty) goal. When I boot with the power button I want a choice between Windows Vista and Windows XP. When I boot with the Media Direct button I want it to boot into Ubuntu.

15 Gigs for XP, 15 Gigs for Ubuntu, 35 Gigs for Vista. The remainder of my 160 gig hard drive will be for NTFS partitions for data storage.

If getting it to work so that the Media Direct button does not boot Ubuntu, that's fine as long as I have a choice between the three operating systems with the normal power button.

Anyways, I don't believe the Media direct installation CD will let me do all these things, or at least I've never heard of anyone having a triple boot with Media Direct working properly....

 

That is definitely the kind of info I'm looking for. Thank you very much. Let's say I do that and only install Vista. What will happen when the computer is off and I accidentally hit the Media Direct button. From what I've read the splash screen comes up maybe doing nothing, maybe hosing your MBR. From what I've read it's more likely to screw things up if you have a dual boot of Vista and Ubuntu or Vista and XP. I've yet to hear of anyone trying to do all three but this possible hosing of the MBR is why I'm wanting to set it up so that the Media Direct button will call up Ubuntu instead of hosing things....

 

Nothing will happen because the media direct partition/data doesn't exist anymore,my 1530's just boot to the OS now if I push the Media Direct button.

 

Also, does anyone know if new computers ship with Media Direct in an HPA or just in a hidden partition? I could probably figure it out as soon as my Linux Live CD is downloaded (currently in process) but I want to get my ducks in a row and develop a game plan. Thanks.

 

Oh good. That's what I was hoping. Some of the stuff I was reading was indicating that the Media Direct button somehow made the BIOS go looking for something in the MBR and if it didn't find anything it would make something and really mess things up. Sounds like that is not the case or at least isn't the case anymore. Thanks.