Delete recovery partition?

Question

Hey there, I just got my new vostro 1400 today. Overall I am very pleased with it and happy that as advertised it wasn't filled with bloat ware and lots of trail software. Much better start up than with my last dell (inspiron 8500) where I just reformatted the HDD out of the box. When checking my HDD I see dell put on a couple partitions. The main one with OS, a recovery partition 10GB, and a third one that was 2.5GB. After looking the 3rd 2.5GB partition didn't seem to do anything but waste space. It didn't show up in windows as a drive, but only on the disk management page. I already deleted it and extended the main disk volume. But now the recovery partition. This thing is taking up 10GB of my disk. If I just delete it and extend the main drive volume will this do anything to hurt my system? I would like to delete it as I have never had problems with crashes and such. And if such an event were to occur I feel I could handle everything myself. My system came with 3 CDs; 1 with windows, 1 with drivers, and 1 with media direct so I don't think I need this thing taking up 10GB of my disk space. So long story short. Can I just delete this partition? Will it do anything I might need or want later?

jcn77056 · Answer

I've seen other posters indicate that deleting the Media Direct partition caused problems if they pressed the Media Direct button.  It would corrupt their partition table.   Since you've already deleted it, if the machine still works, I guess you're OK.  If you delete the other partitions, the automated recovery and diagnostics will no longer function.   If you find deleting the Media Direct partition did cause problems, follow the instructions on how to recover it.

Mike Gee · Answer

I removed mine.  Everything except Dell Media Direct works fine.  I decided that if I need to restore I do not want my computer back to the way Dell shipped it and will do a clean install.  Yeah it will take longer.  One thing you might want to think about though.  That recovery drive (mine is d:\, yours probably is to) actually occupies space on the disk BEFORE the c:\ drive.  Windows disk management will allow you to resize c:\ but not move it.  So you will only be able to use that space to create a new drive right there of the same size and it seems that even that may be a problem in Windows disk management.  Maybe the best way to use the space is to just delete all the files on it and use the space.    I got rid of mine, moved and resized c:\ , by using Partition Commander.  As far as I know this is the only 3rd party disk partitioning tool compatible with Vista.  BUT, if you have Dell Media Direct think twice before doing any repartioning.  Dell Media Direct will still work after you start and are in Windows but won't start directly using the Media Direct start button.     My guess is that even this could be solved by changing the Master Boot Record but I am not sure.  Dell Technical support will not even discuss that with me.  I am pretty sure that that 2.5GB drive at the end of the disk is somehow wrapped up in the whole Dell Media Direct booting scheme even though its empty.  If you have Dell Media Direct and it still boots up directly from the Media Direct start button without starting the computer first with the regular start button I would like to know.      Good luck and make sure you don't have a problem with doing a clean windows install and installing dell drivers before messing around with your disk partions

jcn77056 · Answer

There's a description of the Media Direct for Dell hardware here.

Sting7k · Answer

Mike Gee, thanks for the information.  After talking with one of my friends he said he just left his on there and would delete it later if he needed.  I saw that the drive is only using 3.4GB of the 10GB so I tried to shrink it by 2GB to free up some.  When I did though the disk management in windows would not let me extend the C: drive to take up that new volume.  I tried deleting the new 2GB partition, which became empty space.  And every way I could think of but C: wouldn't let me extend its volume.  I didn't have a problem doing that with the other partiton that was 2.5GB and seemingly did nothing but the space I shrink from recovery won't let me add it to C:.    My recovery is named d:, and if I did reinstall the OS I probably wouldn't want it like it was from the factory, I would want a completel restart and clean slate.  I have reformatted HDDs and reinstalled XP before a bunch of times on various computers and my old inspiron so it isn't that tough.  I guess I will just live with it for now and figure something out later.

Storage, Drives & Media

Delete recovery partition?

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