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Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > General Storage > Dell Partitions

Dell Partitions

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jagman04   09-23-2006 at 09:07:10 AM

I have recently purchased a dell E1505 laptop and i was wondering how to remove the partitioning dell has done with the d: as the backup? Is this recomended. I dont see any need for this especially since i have backup disks. Appreciate any info.

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yourmothersanastronaut   09-23-2006 at 09:30:52 AM
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Option 1: Completely reformat your hard drive, and reinstall your OS. During the installation process, just remove all partitions and install it on the entire drive. Since you have backups, it wouldnt be a bad idea.

Option 2: Get a program like PartitionMagic, and use it to delete the partition. You may not be able to combine 2 NTFS partitions, I don't think, but at least you can use the space for whatever else you want. Maybe install Linux...

If you wanted, you could even take the Windows CD they gave you, copy the contents to your hard drive, remove the Dell crap, then burn it to a bootable CD with EasyBoot or something. Then use it to reformat your drive with only one partition and install your new, "clean" version of Windows.

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SomeJoe7777   09-25-2006 at 01:47:23 AM
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Partition Magic would be the best tool.

You need to be very careful with Dell machines these days, because they don't give you a recovery CD anymore. The recovery program and data is actually stored on the hard drive in a hidden partition (The Dell PC Restore Partition). If you format your hard drive, you will wipe this out, and be unable to restore the factory installation -- you'll have to install a retail version of Windows, and manually reinstall all hardware and Dell-specific drivers.

I recommend you thoroughly read Inside the Dell PC Restore Partition and download the Dell MBR Restore utility that is posted there before you do anything to that hard disk.

If you decide to repartition to make a large C: with no D:, after you run Partition Magic you'll need to run that Dell MBR Restore utility to re-enable the ability to run a system restore.

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