Compaq Presario V3000Z Recovery Partition?

okay here is my question.
what is the point of having a recovery partition if they are going to allow you to create recovery discs or include it (+$10) with your laptop?

can i delete it?
i have already made 2 copies of recovery discs, one to keep with me, and another in a protected place.

i took the 60 gig hd cause when i bought my laptop it was a free upgrade and i could not resist but when i got it i could only use 45 gigs, cause of win xp, programs, and about 8.34 gigs for the recovery which i could really use.

is there a way i could copy the partion on a Dual Layer dvd+r? and in such a case i have to use it, how would i access it, because its protected. also how would i burn it to a dvd dl? iso?
help!

 

I don't think that is an option. The SWSETUP folder has most of what you need. Since you have two copies of the recovery discs, I would say it's OK to get rid of it.

 

Yes, as long as you have the recovery DVDs there is NO REASON AT ALL for HP to suck 15 gigs out of your Hard Drive, as I know all too well.

To delete the partition you need Norton Partition Magic.

 

if i bought the recovery dvd directly from hp , still i need to burn the swsetup and I386 folders ?

 

Not necessary. A backup of those 2 folders is recommended to people who want to install XP using their own CD's instead of using the recovery discs. If you have the recovery disc and have no intention of installing clean version of windows XP and/or mess around with Quickplay(if equipped) then you dont really need the folder.

The only other advantage of keeping a backup of the SWSetup folders is that you will have an offline copy of the drivers. So you can setup/install any of the software/drivers without connecting to the internet.

 

yeah i have a question though,
is partiton magic hard to use?
because for me i try to stay away from partitioning anything cause had bad past experiences with it.
can someone show me step by step on how to use it on a v3000z?

also about the two folders, the ones that include the drivers, if i were to do a clean install, why are some people saying you still have to go online to look for drivers?
here is the thread for that
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=91129
because i want to have a clean install of Win XP Pro, because i only have home.
the only reason i have a backup of the recovery discs is just incase something bad happens.
but i want to remove the recovery partition first, and just have one big partition.

but here is another question
is it a real good idea to make a clean install of windows xp since vista is coming out soon? im in the vista express upgrade
also will we need drivers? or will vista just run smooth with the win xp drivers?

ok so i have Norton Partition Magic 8.05
i deleted the partiton, now how do i merge the partition?

WHEN I TRIED TO MERGE THEM TOGETHER I GET AN ERROR ABOUT CLUSTERS!
WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?

also another question
if the SWsetup folder is the drivers what is the I368 folder?
so if i were to do a clean install what would i do with the I368?

 

Never used partition magic but I have heard that you will have to either defragment or run chkdsk before trying to use Partition Magic. If athat doesnt work then try Gparted Lie CD, it is open source & equivalent to PM.

Drivers get updated frequently, so the ones which shipped with the system might not be the latest. Its your choice on whichd rivers you want to use. The drivers located in the SWSetup folder contains the wifi, networking drivers which are necessary to get the internet up & running. So, having a backup of the whole folder saves you time & pain of downloading the drivers everytime you do a reinstall.

The i386 folder is the exact copy of the Windows XP installation CD. You can use this to create your own clen windows XP CD...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=91129

 

i have a problem to partition my hd , i'm use partition magic 7 and it doesn't recognise the hd . partition magic 8 and get a batch error . i don't know why this thing happen to my v3000z , i try with my old desktop and it's work ....

can anyone help me ?? does SATA make a partition magic not work ??

and miner u said GParted
do u have a link to this software ??

 

Sure...
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

Heres instructions on how to use it(if needed)...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=78214

 

ok i did some reaserch on it, and found out it was easier to delete partition D and resize Partition C
and it worked
thanks miner for your help!