MS Shared Computer Toolkit / Dell partition query

Question

My new Dell computers come with the hard drive divided into three partitions.   Partition No. 1 appears to be the diagnostic partition. Partition No. 2 is the active user/OS partition Partition No. 3 appears to be the recovery partition.   Is there a way to merge partitions 1 and 3 into a single partition?   I'd like to install the new Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit   (available at   http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sct/default.mspx) on a half-dozen computers. The documentation says that the toolkit will not work on a drive with more than three partitions, and I'm loathe to delete either of the utility partitions.   Cordially,   Steven

ejn63 · Answer

You can't alter the partition structure and have the diagnostic and restore utilities function properly. What you probably should do is prepare your own image (using Ghost, True Image, etc.) and store it on a network server. That will render the Dell Restore partition useless, and you can then delete it and either rebuild the system (image it) or use Partition Magic to alter the partition structure.

StevenBrier · Answer

Thanks. /seb

Storage, Drives & Media

Was this post helpful?