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21468
Vostro 1400 new HDD and Dell Utility Partition
Hi guys,
I'm trying to install a new HDD with Win 8.1 64bit on Vostro 1400.
Currently I have an Acronis True Image backup of the FAT16 dell utility partition + OS partition. I also have a image of only the FAT16 partition. Both are saved on an external HD.
Can I restore only the FAT16 image to a completely new HDD using ATI bootable USB then boot from Windows USB installer? Or do I need to restore both the FAT16 + old OS image, then reinstall Windows on to it?
Is the Dell Utility Partition required to boot? or can I skip restoring it?
I also refered to Goodell's site, on how to clone the dell partition but I cant find ptedit.zip anywhere, the Symantec site ftp link doesnt work anymore.
Thanks.
On the old HDD there are 4 partitions: FAT16 unnamed partition, C: partition, D: partition, MediaDirect. My BIOS version is A09.
DELL-Todd S
1.8K Posts
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October 21st, 2015 10:00
Hi,
The 1400 will support 4 MB, utilizing 2 2-GB memory chips in each of the 2 slots on the motherboard, and should be able to handle those two RAM chips you mentioned, at 667 Mhz speed.
I hope this helps.
Todd
DELL-Todd S
1.8K Posts
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October 20th, 2015 14:00
Hi,
You should not need the Dell utility partition on that drive to be able to boot it. I'm not positive on your other quesitons but I don't believe you need to reinstall the old OS partition. You should simply be able to format the disk, create a partition, and install Windows directly onto that partition and go from there.
You wouldn't have the Dell diagnostics or recovery tools available to you that way but those aren't required to be able to boot of a drive.
I hope this answers your questions.
Todd
svefn
5 Posts
0
October 21st, 2015 01:00
Hi Todd,
Thanks for the reply. yes I wasnt sure how the OEM partitions work since they were there on the old disk. I clean installed 8.1 64bit on the new disk without the utility partition and it works fine after hunting around for compatible drivers, guess if I really needed the diagnostics there is the bootable USB diagnostics Dell provided.
Just one more question now, does the Vostro 1400 support up to 4GB RAM usable on 64bit 8.1? I will be using 2x2GB DDR2-667/800. The manual says it supports up to 667 I think.
Thanks.