NC8430 Partitioning/Recovery Partition/Z:

When I first received this notebook, I attempted to perform a clean install of Windows XP Professional. I partitioned the disk into three drives, installing XP on C:\. After realizing that I didn't have all of the drivers, I used the recovery discs to restore the factory image of the computer. Ultimately, this restored the factory image only on C:\, without affecting the other partitions.

However, it created the recovery partition from the factory image and now there is a Z:\, which shows as being 93GB. When I try to remove the recovery partition using the HP software, it does not work and the Z:\ remains there.

I like that the recovery discs install all of the drivers, but the Z:\ issue is quite annoyinig. I could perform a clean install of XP, using the drivers from the SWSetup folder, but I'd do this as a last resort.

Is there anyway to resolve the Z:\ problem (i.e. will Partition Magic fix this problem?)

 

Could try gparted. It is free.

 

Follow ZaZ's advice. Then get a good backup app like Acronis True Image. You'll need both. You'll be sorry if you don't.

 

"Partition Z" is a known problem with HP laptops. Any attempt to format the partition, even though *you* didn't create it will your laptop up and you will have to reformat

The solution is to make sure each partition you create is a " primary" partition as well. The problem seems to be created when you create additional partitions set as "logical". You can have up to 4 primary partitions on a drive, so that should be enough

No need to try alternative software

 

Here's simple enough solution. Backup your C partition (the one with all the drivers loaded from the recovery discs). Then use gparted or PM to repartition the drive to your satisfaction. Then just restore the backed up C partition. No more Z and you've got all your drivers.

 

Yeah I know this is an old thread, but i'm posting this anyway, just in case anyone could use this information in the Future.

Today i finally decided to delete the recovery pertition on my 6910p, and as a result got that unusable Z: drive...
After playing around with it a while (and spending a few hours trying to manually recover my partition table, which was messed up after trying to format Z: (stupid me!)), I found the solution:

Just disable the "PC Angel" Service in msconfig, that extra drive will be gone and you're set.

It's as easy as that!
Hopefully this will save some time for someone like me who doesn't need the recovery partition but still wants to keep using logical partitions.