Create the Hidden Diagnostics Partition

Question

I am preparing to install a larger capacity Hard Drive on my Dimension 2400 computer. I have read everything I can find, including statements that the artition is un-ne4cessary, and only stupid people would want the Diagnostics partition. I am stupid! I want it.

I have prepared as far as I know how.

I booted to the existing Diagnostics, and tested it to insure it works.

I used Ghost to Image the Diagnostic Partition and then extracted and saved the files on another computer.

I downloaded PTEdit in case I need it to change the properties on the partition I make so that it is hidden and has no drive letter. I have Partion Magiic if I need that, too.

I have looked at and written down everything I can find about the existing Diagnostic partition, (some of which I don't understand, but I have the info).

My first confusion is that the current download of diagnostics software is 32 bit, while my present Diagnostics is FAT (16 bit). When I format the newly created partition, shuld I make it a 16 bit, using DOS Format.exe and reload the files I saved? Or should I format it 32 bit and load the files I just downloaded? Someone poster that when they ran the doagnostics Utility from a floppy, it made the hidden partition and put the files in it. Dell makes no such claim,nor implies that it is a simple as that.

Next, I need to know the sequence of getting the new drive ready for use. I have Western Digital Lifeguard tools, which can be used to partition and format, but I am sure I cannot make a 31.35 MB Hidden FAT partition with that. The Microsoft hard drive utility gives the choice of NTFS or 32 Bit FAT.

I suspect I should:

1. Install the new hard drive as as the secondary drive.

2. Use Partition Magic to make three partitions on it.

3. Use DOS Format to make the first partition a DOS Partition FAT(16)

4. Use Windows XP to format the remaining two partitions NTFS.

5. Copy the files I saved from the original drive's hidden partition to the new drive's DOS partition.

6. Use Windows XP to name the DOS parttition [Diagnostic] DellUtility

7. Use PTEdit to Hide the DOS partition and remove thee drive letter.

8. Use Norton Ghost to make an image of the existing active partition (the one with the OS) on the second NTFS partition one the new Hard drive.

9. Swap the positions of the hard drives, so that the new drive is the Master drive (drive 0)

10. Boot to DOS Ghost with a floppy and restore the image to the first NTFS partition.

11. Use PTEdit to hide the DOS partition on the new drive - and remove the Drive Letter.

Is this the proper proceedure? Is there a better way? Please afirm my steps, or tell me how to do it.

Please don't reply by telling me how stupid it is to want to re-establish the Diagnostic partition on the new drive. My wife is in charge of abusing me, and she desn't need your help.

jackshack · Answer

I certainly think you have studied the problem thoroughly. You might have an easier time, however, if your version of Ghost can "clone" the drive. In this process the disk is copied as an image directly to the new drive, but the cloning process usually allows you to expand the information from the old drive onto the new one. In this way you have exactly the same partitions as before except that they have been expanded proportionally to take up the entirety of the new drive. Your diagnostic partition should work just as it did before you switched the drive. Or, you can just clone the existing drive into exactly the same size as the old drive, but use Partition Magic to expand the C drive to occupy the remainder of the disk.

If you want you can check to see if Ghost will adjust the diagnostic partition to be the same size as before since there is no reason to make it larger. Given that it is only about 32 MB in the first place I wouldn't think that any problem would result from making it larger, however.

UncleTime · Answer

Thank you for the reply, JackShack.

I like your suggestion to use Norton Ghost. I didn't realize my Ghost 2003 version would clone.

Do I need to do anything to the new drive before cloning? Specifically, can Ghost see the drive if it is completely blank as it came from the factory, wthh no partitions?

Also, you may be able to answer another question I have, now that I have searched and studied some more.

Cloning with Gost makes this a moot point, but I would like to know how the original drive is partitioned. Is it:

1. A Primary partition, 31.35GB, formated FAT(16), hidden from Windows, with Diagnostic Utilities in it

2. A Primary partition, 39,166.3GB, formated NTFS (the C: drive), With Windows in it

3. A Primary partition, 7.8GB, Unallocated, with nothing in it

And, finally, was number 3 above where recovery software once resided? 7.8 GB seem too small to hold anything except a launcher for software located elsewhere.

As you can tell, I am in a LEARN mode and it is a steep climb.

jackshack · Answer

What you get on a Dimension 2400 depends upon when you purchased it. The Dimension 2400 I bought in November, 2003, came with a 40 GB hard drive with two partitions; a small 32 MB FAT 16 partition for the Utilities, and a 39 GB partition formatted as NTFS to hold the C drive. The Master Boot Record (MBR) was set up to default to the second, NTFS partition, in order to boot into Windows. If you purchased your Dimension 2400 sometime after 16 July, 2004, you might also have a third, FAT32, partition that holds the image for Dell PC Restore. If you have that configuration you can tell by the sudden appearance of a blue bar at the top of the screen immediately following POST. The blue bar is an indication that you have the special MBR required to run the PC Restore program. Since you state that you found a 7.8 GB partition that seems to have nothing in it, I imagine that you have one of the machines that contains PC restore. That third partition is normally set to a value that prevents you from examining it with something like Windows Explorer. If you would like to study this in more detail, Mr. Dan Goodell has a paper on the web that should interest you: Inside the Dell PC Restore Partition.

Your cloning tool does not require you to do anything to the new drive. The contents of the drive you are cloning will replace everything on the new drive whether or not you have formatted it.

jackshack · Answer

I'm afraid I don't understand why EZ-Drive should be on your 40 GB drive. Isn't that an overlay for machines that have size limits on the drive? The Dimension 2400 easily handles any size IDE drive on the market as it has 48 bit LBA support in the BIOS. Additionally, the version of Windows XP that shipped with the D2400 incorporated Service Pack 1, so the OS should also have been able to handle 48 bit LBA. What is really strange to me, however, is that a 40 GB drive would have been ok even if neither the BIOS or the OS could handle 48 bit LBA. So at this point, you are not the only one who is puzzled.

If your diagnosis is correct, the only way you cure this problem is with a clean installation from the installation CDs. If the EZ-Drive you are describing is a dynamic disk overlay (DDO), it must load from the initial sectors so that the overlay code is substituted for the BIOS code during the boot phase. Many DDO programs have their own translation scheme for the layout of the sector information, so while using something like FIXMBR may get rid of the overlay load, the standard BIOS code might not translate things in a way that allows you to retain your data.

UncleTime · Answer

Thanks JackShack.

Thanks JackShack

You pretty much confirmed my suspicions.

I am going to take EZ-Drive off the system. The very worst that can happen is I would have to restore from the Ghost image I made.

Incidentally, when I used WD Lifeguard Tools to set up my new 160GB drive, it asked me to confirm that I had Windows XP SP1, twice. It notified me that if I was unsure, to stop the installation and find out, because if I didn't have SP1 I would have to start the install all over again.

What I suspect there is that If I did not have SP1 installed it was going to put a DDO on the new drive, and maybe on the old drive too. But, it would not have been EZ-Drive, because that is not on the Tools floppy.

So, I'm off to either correct the DDO/partitioning software problem, or use it the wa6y it is presently configured.

Thanks much for your replies. They helped lots.

UncleTime

Systems Management General

Create the Hidden Diagnostics Partition

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