not clear on what your point is?

I would like to know exactly what is on the pre installed dell partitions?

have a 71 gig NTFS C drive,including
47 MB FAT EISA
and a 2.75 mb FAt 32
and a 992 mb E partition

one of these must be Dell XP restore (as no CD shipped)

First make the OS CD with the installed utility because once you mess with the partitions you won't be able to and you won't be able to use the sys restore feature either. Then after that is done I would wipe the drive and repartition it into what ever you want.

I have no suggestions on what size the WIN and Linux partitions should be. That is really up to you.

There are 3 partitions on the drive as it comes from the factory. One is the C:\ partition, that is where the OS is installed along with where you would install any programs. One other hold the Dell diagnostic program, about 40-50MB in size. The third is a ?symantec? restore partition. That holds all the files and program that originally come with the system and can be accessed to restore the system back to a "As Shipped From Factory State". If you fool/mess with any partitions, THAT IS ANY PARTITIONS, create a new one, resize one that is aready there, DO ANYTHING TO ANY OF THE PARTITIONS, the restore feature will NO longer work and you will NOT be able to make the WinXP OS CD with the included utility.

Hope I've been clear enough for you.

Oh and my point was to MAKE a real Operating System CD before you do anythiong to the system. That includes loading program on it. Without a real OS CD you will NOT be able to install the paid for Win XP Home operating system once you repartition the drive.

Message Edited by Ed C on 08-11-2005 07:23 AM

thanks, now I know whats on the pre installed,I guess I'l create a partition on C

Seems strange ,or cheap, that dell doesnt even supply a restore CD like they do for desktop 8400 I have?

as for this tip,how can I do this? "MAKE a real Operating System CD before you do anything to the system. That includes loading program on it."

Look on the start menu for "Dell" and or "Dell Utilities" or some such listing. Could be in the "Start" "All Programs" "Accesories" catagory. I don't really know as I don't have any new Dells that I've had to do this on but I do know it's there somewhere.

all there is under Dell Accessories, and is driver reset tool,not Dell OS Recovery CD!

if you read this link(thanks for that)
this dude has figured out,that if add OS,like linux,u cannot restore dell os!

so you have PAID the M$ TAX ,and if add linux your unable to recover WINDOZE,..more nasty M$ tricks!!!

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/dellmbr.htm


>>>The use of new MBR boot code has significant ramifications. Multiboot managers that install themselves in the MBR will break Dell's PC Restore ability. Typical methods of restoring the MBR--e.g., "fixmbr" or "fdisk /mbr"--or installing Windows from a Windows installation CD will also render the computer incapable of subsequently booting the Restore partition.

Message Edited by wise on 08-11-2005 09:16 AM

Message Edited by wise on 08-11-2005 09:17 AM

---

@Ed C wrote:
Look on the start menu for "Dell" and or "Dell Utilities" or some such listing. Could be in the "Start" "All Programs" "Accesories" catagory. I don't really know as I don't have any new Dells that I've had to do this on but I do know it's there somewhere.

 

Program is no longer on the computer, see below:

 

Systems shipped after July 15, 2004 came with Symantec PC Restore. This utility restores the computer to an "as-shipped" condition. If you haven't reformatted, repartitioned, or otherwise modified the master boot record, it should work. Click here for instructions about Symantec PC Restore.

If the Symantec PC Restore utility won't work, but still resides on your computer, a Dell customer has figured out some ways to get it to work again. Note - If you removed this partition, it is not recoverable, cannot be downloaded from the internet, and cannot be shipped from Dell. Click here for ways to fix Symantec PC Restore. Users have also reported that the partition can be restored with Ghost 2003, and Ghost 9 using the '03 capabilities of it. If you boot to the Ghost 9 CD, select Advanced Recovery Taks, select Utilities, then Restore Legacy IMage it should work - but you want to verify the image before attempting the restore. It's in a folder called IMG.

Systems that shipped beginning in early 2005 may ship without Windows XP. There SHOULD be (but sometimes isn't) a utility on your computer to run and create the Windows XP CD, unless your computer shipped after 7/15/05 in which case you have to call Dell and beg. This is a RUN ONCE utility. Click here for instructions to create your Windows XP CD. Some users have reported needing to reboot a few times to get this utility to show up on the menu. You can also contact Dell and request a CD and wait for it to ship, see the link at the bottom of my signature.

---

@wise wrote:
all there is under Dell Accessories, and is driver reset tool,not Dell OS Recovery CD!

if you read this link(thanks for that)
this dude has figured out,that if add OS,like linux,u cannot restore dell os!

so you have PAID the M$ TAX ,and if add linux your unable to recover WINDOZE,..more nasty M$ tricks!!!

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/dellmbr.htm


>>>The use of new MBR boot code has significant ramifications. Multiboot managers that install themselves in the MBR will break Dell's PC Restore ability. Typical methods of restoring the MBR--e.g., "fixmbr" or "fdisk /mbr"--or installing Windows from a Windows installation CD will also render the computer incapable of subsequently booting the Restore partition.

Actually if you read more of what I provided, you can restore the functionality later.  I also provided you with the info to get the CD from Dell.