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@b.r.i wrote:

Dell has ALWAYS only provided the one partition except when the OS mandated several smaller ones years ago.  This is nothing new. 

 

Maybe so, but I've never had a dell before.

 

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. 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 call Dell and request a CD and wait for it to ship.

 

I'm aware of this, but obviously I now have to download all the drivers, do a complete re-install, apply the drivers, update all of the windows update stuff all because I want a more secure partitioning strategy, which is a no brainer to apply from the factory. At the very least the flexibility to re-partition without breaking the dell restore facility would be nice.

Yes, you've correctly identified what you need to do.  No argument on what would be nice from Dell, it would be nice if they explained all this to each customer in writing, but they don't. 

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@b.r.i wrote:

Well I took delivery of my 8400 yesterday and am generally very pleased. However, I am seriously disheartened by the partitioning used on the disk ... basically 1 massive partition (well except the dell restore ones)... I bought the 250 Gig drive for a reason to store data / video etc and ideally I like to isolate these things from the OS/Apps to ensure they do not get 'lost' as a result of the OS etc going pear shaped.

 

Now I know that I can re-partition, but this means I have to buy Partition Magic, I did try to use the linux based system rescue cd (see http://www.sysresccd.org) as this has a free partition resizer on it (QtParted), but unfortunately it doesnt see my SATA drive ... I tried chaging the SATA Operation to Autodetect/ATA but still no joy, so that only leaves PM.

 

In addition, I discovered thanks to this forum that if I do resize the partition, then the dell restore thing will stop working too .. I know one member has a fix utility, but this surely isn't the best option and can potentially leave you with no system at all.

 

This is ridiculous situation... All I want is the WinXP Pro CD plus all the drivers on another CD and therefore no problem. Or alternatively the partitions supplied by default from Dell should at least show some form of 'strategy'.

 

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

Dell has ALWAYS only provided the one partition except when the OS mandated several smaller ones years ago.  This is nothing new. 

 

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. 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 call Dell and request a CD and wait for it to ship.

 

And you can download the drivers.

Well b*ll*cks to dell,  bought PM resized the partitions, bought ghost and now have my own restore facility. You'd think having spent a small fortune on a pc basic things like good practise disk management would be a given.

Having worked in IT for over 10 years, this is a first and amazes me the consumer still accepts it.. conspiracy, how to sell extra on-site gold support contracts...