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What's this dell partition thing?

post #1 of 8
7/27/05 at 11:40pm
Thread Starter 
i've been reading the forums...and i often come across people asking if they shud delete it or not..where can u find the dell partition? c:? sry i'm a noob
and basically..what is it?

Thanks in advance
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post #2 of 8
7/28/05 at 12:21am
It's a hidden partiton, and there should actually be two hidden partitions. One is a restore partition, which you can use to restore your computer to the state it was shipped in. This should be the larger of the two. The smaller one should be a partition which just contains diagnostic tools and stuff. Basically, I think it's okay to delete both of them, as all the diagnostic tools can be found on the website, I believe, and also, if you reinstall anyway, that means you have a CD, and you don't need a restore partition. The restore partion would get rid of all the files, as would reformatting, so it's useless if you have a CD and you are comfortable with reformatting and reinstalling the OS.
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post #3 of 8
7/28/05 at 1:08am
Thread Starter 
hmm ok..and how would i be able to see those partitions..? inside the blue screen when the windows cd boots up?
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post #4 of 8
7/28/05 at 10:28am
Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> select disk management from the left pane. This will show you all the partitions on your drives. The two FAT partitions are the diagnostic and restore partitions that dell has placed there for you.
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post #5 of 8
7/28/05 at 11:22am
I deleted my restore and kept the diagnostics. At the time, the diagnostics was only 47 MB whereas the restore was over 3 GB.
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post #6 of 8
7/28/05 at 1:34pm
same here......i took an image of my restore and burned that to a dvd first tho, just in case. I bet i never need. Im using my own xp anyway.
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post #7 of 8
7/28/05 at 3:29pm
aw0515,

If you are truly a noob to laptops and the idea of partitions, I recommend that you DO NOT delete these partitions. For the casual user, the restore feature is a good tool for fixing problems you might have in the future. If you plan to really get into modding and customizing your laptop, go ahead and delete them. It just depends on your level of commitment.
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post #8 of 8
7/28/05 at 3:51pm
Thread Starter 
how would i burn that partition? it doesn't haf a drive letter so how do i choose it when i'm burning it
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