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Got a new dell laptop? Going to reinstall windows? Use this.

post #1 of 35
1/7/05 at 9:11am
Thread Starter 
http://dban.sourceforge.net/

I can't recommend this freeware program enough. Dell uses hidden partitions, which winxp doesnt see during the install. Download the cdrw iso file and burn it.

This program, when booted into, allows you to scrub your hard drive clean of the dell garbage.

thanks pctorque for hosting these forums, they've made me into the educated laptop consumer that I am today.

tom
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post #2 of 35
1/7/05 at 9:37am
I wish I had seen this earlier. I've already reformatted my hard drive and installed Windows XP and a BUNCH of software and set up my hard drive like I want it.

Now I realize that I am missing a hidden partition. I haven't tried GHOST yet to see if it sees it so that I can get it back...
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post #3 of 35
1/7/05 at 9:48am
As soon as I had my i9200, I did a clean WinXP Pro install.
My WinXP did recognize the hidden partitions, which I have all deleted and repartitioned to my own liking.
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post #4 of 35
1/7/05 at 9:58am
Hmm, maybe I don't have a hidden partition. Please tell me your free space readings when you do "properties" on drive C

thanks
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post #5 of 35
1/7/05 at 10:44am
Upon reinstalling windows I deleted a partition of about 3,5GB and a smaller one (don't remember it's size). Neither of the two was visible in windows explorer using the pre installed windows version.
I've partitioned my 80GB drive into a 19.5GB and a 54.9GB partition (both as listed under capacity in windows explorer).
Hope this helps you.
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post #6 of 35
1/7/05 at 1:33pm
If you do a refresh reinstall (which is always recommended), you will see all hidden partitions

Quote:
Originally Posted by zooner
http://dban.sourceforge.net/

I can't recommend this freeware program enough. Dell uses hidden partitions, which winxp doesnt see during the install. Download the cdrw iso file and burn it.

This program, when booted into, allows you to scrub your hard drive clean of the dell garbage.

thanks pctorque for hosting these forums, they've made me into the educated laptop consumer that I am today.

tom
Reply
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post #7 of 35
1/7/05 at 4:29pm
well I realize there is rounding with these figures...my 60GB Hitachi 7K60 reads as 52.3GB total capacity with 56,195,108,864 bytes. To me it sounds like even with the optimistic 60GB marketing figure I didn't do it right and still have a "hidden" partition.
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post #8 of 35
1/7/05 at 4:44pm
Looks like you are missing around 5Gig. I would ay you might have a hidden partition as well.
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post #9 of 35
1/7/05 at 5:45pm
hmm, I wonder if Ghost can help me now
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post #10 of 35
1/7/05 at 7:59pm

Fyi

Quote:
Originally Posted by Heinrich
well I realize there is rounding with these figures...my 60GB Hitachi 7K60 reads as 52.3GB total capacity with 56,195,108,864 bytes. To me it sounds like even with the optimistic 60GB marketing figure I didn't do it right and still have a "hidden" partition.
I installed the same drive in my I8600 and windows shows it as 55.8 GB capacity. FYI
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post #11 of 35
1/7/05 at 7:59pm
To get rid of the hidden partitions, simply install PartitionMagic or a similar program, which will let you see the hidden partitions and get rid of them.
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post #12 of 35
1/7/05 at 8:16pm
well, my xp pro cd found all 3 partitions,

one called -: which was 63mb
one called c: which was like 73gig
and one called somethn else which was 3.5gig

i gave em all the same treatment ;D
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post #13 of 35
1/8/05 at 12:01am
The small, first partition is diagnostic... I think it is recommended to keep that partition You can access it by clicking F12 while rebooting.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PedramK
well, my xp pro cd found all 3 partitions,

one called -: which was 63mb
one called c: which was like 73gig
and one called somethn else which was 3.5gig

i gave em all the same treatment ;D
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post #14 of 35
1/8/05 at 12:41am
When installing XP from DOS, simply delete all the paritions you see and create a new one if desired. My copy of XP saw both the hidden and non-hidden partions on my 700m when I reinstalled it.
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post #15 of 35
1/8/05 at 1:20am
one thing you must realize is when a hard drive manufacturer lists a hard drive's size (i.e. 60, 80GB), they are calculating the size under the formula that 1 megabyte = 1000K. The computer calculates the drives size as 1 megabyte = 1024K. Do the math on most of your drives and you will see the trickery...
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post #16 of 35
1/8/05 at 8:39am
You don't even need any 3rd party software. You can see them through Administrative Tools -> computer management -> disk management in XP or 2K.
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post #17 of 35
1/8/05 at 9:08am
Thread Starter 
I haven't had the problem as much on laptops, as I have on desktop dell systems. On 3 dimension 3k's that I purchased for resale, I was unable to remove the hidden partitions though winxp. they simply didn't show up.

partition magic's usefulness is questionable, unless they have ironed out all the bugs. I still don't trust it.

This program is freeware and runs off a linux kernel. It's very easy to use and if you're able to reformat and reinstall, it's a very valuable tool.
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post #18 of 35
1/8/05 at 9:19am
Well I also had one bad experience with Partition Magic but that was several years ago. If I don't want to spend hours reinstalling and reloading - yet again - I need to Ghost off the hd then reformat then ghost back. Problem is, I'm not sure how to ghost considering that I cannot phyisically put this hd into my desktop.

I have some ghost options for the network but I couldn't get them to work. Maybe I'll struggle with that again seeing how it would be useful in other situations.
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post #19 of 35
1/8/05 at 11:24am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Heinrich
Well I also had one bad experience with Partition Magic but that was several years ago. If I don't want to spend hours reinstalling and reloading - yet again - I need to Ghost off the hd then reformat then ghost back. Problem is, I'm not sure how to ghost considering that I cannot phyisically put this hd into my desktop.

I have some ghost options for the network but I couldn't get them to work. Maybe I'll struggle with that again seeing how it would be useful in other situations.
You can either buy an adapter (pretty cheap on ebay) or buy an external enclosure for your laptop HD(about $12).

I really like my ext enc. I picked up a laptop HD for pretty cheap a while back. What's nice is that you don't need a power supply, it runs entirely off usb.
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post #20 of 35
1/8/05 at 11:39am
Quote:
The small, first partition is diagnostic... I think it is recommended to keep that partition You can access it by clicking F12 while rebooting
I think u are rigth. After I cleaned all the partitions, I can not use sytem diagnostic. It asks for a "DELL driver&utility CD" which I think DELL should have been provided for 9200 users, but I don't have it like the rest of the other 9200 users... damnnn DELL is getting into my nerve...

Quote:
To get rid of the hidden partitions, simply install PartitionMagic or a similar program, which will let you see the hidden partitions and get rid of them.
DELL provided a small utility called DSR (it deletes all DELL hidden partition) you do not need another software. Run this program and make a clean install. You'll see all your hidden partitions during clean install.
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