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Why has Dell given me 3 partitions- FAT, NTFS, and FAT32?

post #1 of 14
1/16/06 at 1:02am
Thread Starter 
I recently recieved a 630m w/ XP Home. In the process of reformating, I discovered that dell shipped my 40GB hard drive partitioned three ways:

The first partition is listed as the "-" drive, FAT format, and only 39 MB.
The second is the C: drive, NTFS, and ~33GB. This is what I'm used to seeing and formating with my XP Pro installations on other computers.
Third is the E: drive, FAT32, ~3GB.

What is a "-" drive? I've never even seen the original FAT format; that was before my time.

Why did they set up the HDD this way?
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post #2 of 14
1/16/06 at 1:39am
I'm figuring that the FAT partition contains the Dell Diagnostics software--that's what it was on my 9300.
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post #3 of 14
1/16/06 at 2:48pm
Thread Starter 

Problem solved

Could the 3GB FAT32 part be for MediaDirect (playing DVDs, viewing pictures, etc, without fully starting windows)? Has anyone had problems booting to MediaDirect with the press of the MD button after wipping all three partitions and creating just one NTFS?

After searching the forums some more, some people are calling it a "recovery partition." Can someone please confirm and then elaborate on this?

UPDATE I've found the answer: one is the Dell Utility partition (a diagnostic suite), and the other is the Dell Restore petition (used to return PC to shipped state).

http://www.goodells.net/dellutility/index.htm
http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/index.htm

This information should be added to the stickied format guides, IMO.
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post #4 of 14
1/16/06 at 5:15pm
One is Michael Dell's off-site back up partition.
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post #5 of 14
1/16/06 at 6:12pm
Thread Starter 
I see you've managed to keep your humor partition. It may, however, be infected with the wise-ass virus; I suggest deletion.
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post #6 of 14
1/16/06 at 6:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by C. zoui
I see you've managed to keep your humor partition. It may, however, be infected with the wise-ass virus; I suggest deletion.

(clever too)

Back on-topic: I suspected as much as you found, C., since it was exactly the same that I found on my 9300 when I "partition-magic'ed" it. I just didn't want to mention it as if I knew for sure for your case, since I never personally saw the partition structure of a 630m (didn't want to lead you down the wrong path based on bad info).

Glad you worked it out!
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post #7 of 14
1/16/06 at 7:15pm
When I installed my 7200RPM harddrive on my 630m, I needed Dell to send me a MediaDirect Reinstallation CD to restore that function to the notebook and the button that activates it. I had to create a second partion on my harddrive of 1308MB to reinstall MediaDirect.
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post #8 of 14
1/16/06 at 9:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NYCscorpio2000
I had to create a second partion on my harddrive of 1308MB to reinstall MediaDirect.
Yikes!
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post #9 of 14
1/16/06 at 11:35pm
Ok, didn't want to start a new thread as it looks like ya'll have a pretty good start here.
My Dell came with a "system" partition (19 GB) and a "data" partition (36.7 GB). This is possibly the most idiotic system I've ever heard of. Unfortunately, I really can't reformat this on my terms (it's a special network ). Is there a way I can alter my partition sizes without reformatting?
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post #10 of 14
1/17/06 at 12:18am
PartitionMagic, my Sony VAIO had a factory install of two 14GB's on a 30 gig Drive.
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post #11 of 14
1/17/06 at 12:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pilotart
PartitionMagic
Know of anything cheaper?
(By which I mean "free")
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post #12 of 14
1/17/06 at 2:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crowd_Control
Know of anything cheaper?
(By which I mean "free")
I thought Partition Magic had a downloadable demo? A working one at that...

EDIT: Correction, it is a free trial, not a demo .
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post #13 of 14
1/26/06 at 12:49am
Thread Starter 
I can now confirm that, upon wiping my HDD clean and installing a single partition for XP Home, the MediaDirect button no longer loads up the MediaDirect service while the computer is off (when pressed).

After pushing the button it fakes like it is going to load MediaDirect, displaying the MD splash screen, but instead it boots into normal windows.

Unless Dell included MediaDirect on my XP Home CD or my Drivers and Utilities CD, it looks as if I will have to request a seperate disk for MediaDirect like the poster above.

So yes, wipping all partitions to install your own does gimp the MediaDirect button, at least in my experience.
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post #14 of 14
2/19/06 at 4:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NYCscorpio2000
When I installed my 7200RPM harddrive on my 630m, I needed Dell to send me a MediaDirect Reinstallation CD to restore that function to the notebook and the button that activates it. I had to create a second partion on my harddrive of 1308MB to reinstall MediaDirect.

Hi,

I may need to do the same for my E1705... what specific steps are involved in doing it this way through partition magic? Also, what version of MediaDirect? 2.0?

I'd hate to have to reinstall the OS and all my apps and data. agghhh!

Thanks,

Ben
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