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How do I remove the two partitions before OS partition?

post #1 of 14
5/14/10 at 10:30am
Thread Starter 
OK, this is a bit more than I can do without help, I think... I have the Precision M6500, and before the Windows 7 partition there are two smaller partitions that I don't want or need. I will install from the DVD if I need to reinstall it and I use Acronis to do full image backups. So I started up with changing the active partition from one of those recovery partitions. Suddenly I get the "BOOTMGR missing" pain in the a$$. No problem to fix it of course, I use a Linux Partition Manager boot CD for that.

But the problem is that if it reacts that badly to that change (I even tried the original Windows 7 DVD to startup repair, fixboot and fixmbr, but it didn't help), then I fear that removing those partitions all together will really mess things up. Can I force the Windows 7 bootmanager over to the OS partition, or is this some custom Dell stuff that means that I would have to reinstall 7 totally to get it fixed?
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post #2 of 14
5/14/10 at 11:31am
How large are the partitions (capacity-wise) ?
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post #3 of 14
5/14/10 at 11:33am
Thread Starter 
A gig or so. The main problem is that I don't like messy drives...
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post #4 of 14
5/14/10 at 11:41am
Thread Starter 
Never pretend you understand computers...they will bite you in the a$$ again soon! I didn't manage to do it by rebuilding the boot with bootrec /rebuildbcd. And it didn't help to run startup repair after that. But running startup repair even one more time worked! Nothing else done in between. Stranges thing I've ever seen, but I'm a happy camper! No more clutter on my drive!
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post #5 of 14
5/14/10 at 1:02pm
That's good to know.
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post #6 of 14
5/14/10 at 1:04pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah, one of the reasons I write the method here is so I can go back to this thread if I have the same problem one day.
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post #7 of 14
5/16/10 at 5:31pm
You'll find a lot of info about the Dell layout of partitions and their interaction here:
http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/Ya...57809610/20#20
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post #8 of 14
5/16/10 at 5:51pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks! Well, there's a lot of bull made for people who know nothing in modern computers... Not like when I started. My first computer was luxery, it had two 3.5" diskette drives! Btw I'm still mad at Norton for buying up PowerQuest and mess up their great PQ Drive Image (which I still use for anything that isn't Windows 7, since it can't handle 7)!
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post #9 of 14
5/18/10 at 5:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mastiff View Post
I'm still mad at Norton for buying up PowerQuest ...
You mean Symantec. Norton didn't buy PowerQuest, Symantec bought out both of them. That's been Symantec's modus operandi from Day One -- buy out smart, creative companies that developed good programs and milk them until the cash cow runs dry. They've done that to maybe 100 companies in the past 20 years. I don't think they've ever created a commercial app on their own.
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post #10 of 14
5/19/10 at 5:09am
Thread Starter 
Yeah, right. Sorry. I tend to mix those two since they have been together for so long. I haven't been using Norton utilities the last 5-10 years, but I was using them maybe 15 years up to then...which makes me almost grown up!
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post #11 of 14
5/28/10 at 2:28am
Those 2 partitions are usually used for the recovery of the operating system, remove them and if you need to reinstall win7, you'll need a win7 disc that is the same as on the product key, to find all the drivers (which is usually pretty simple with DeLL) and have to activate it.... If you don't want them, use some sort of backup program to create an image to DVD's of the OS, saves loads of hassle in the long run...
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post #12 of 14
5/28/10 at 3:50am
Thread Starter 
I have saved them, yes. Anyway I prefer to install from ground up. And you don't really need the same Win7 disk, as long as the file ei.cfg in \Sources is deleted from the DVD you can install any version you want from any DVD. The only difference is 64 versus 32 bit. And 32 bit is sooo 2000's!
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post #13 of 14
5/28/10 at 5:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mastiff View Post
I have saved them, yes. Anyway I prefer to install from ground up. And you don't really need the same Win7 disk, as long as the file ei.cfg in \Sources is deleted from the DVD you can install any version you want from any DVD. The only difference is 64 versus 32 bit. And 32 bit is sooo 2000's!
Thanks for that, that is what I'll try later.. I tell off my employess for deleting recovery partitions, it reduces the time of a format reinstall and I try and make as many recovery discs as possible on new laptops just for this occasion...
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post #14 of 14
5/28/10 at 5:34am
Thread Starter 
I use a totally differnt method. I have around 15 computers here and in my shop (a small pet shop) that I'm the "tech guy" for. I actually installed Windows 7 on my daughter's new Acer notebook yesterday. I install Windows 7 with drivers and stuff, do a full image backup with Acronis TrueImage, install other necessary programs, do another full image backup and put it out to use for a week or so. If everything's OK I'll do a final image backup then, with the user configuration and stuff. Then I do regular backups later, usually every second month if stuff is changed. But on computers like the HTPC and the Server, where hardly anything changes I only do backups when I have done something significant. That way we never loose much if anything happens.
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