Deleting disk sector

The 39G partition is actually the Dell utility DE partition, not a system restore partition. True Image does not support removing partitions - you can create new partitions via Add Disk, though. TI is not a partitioning program like Disk Director. You can either try Disk Director or one of the many freeware available partitioning programs. Don't move your system partition location, though, or you probably won't be able to boot!

Thasnks, If I get a new HD and reinstall XP from the dell reinstallation disk that they sent me. will it still have the Dell DE partition? On my current drive this partition will not work to get me back to factory settings, If I do a clean reinstall (on a new HD) I could then reinstall what I want from Acronis TI. At the moment the Dell utility is taking up 39gb of a 80gb drive.

Thanks

JR:

The Dell Utility (DE) partition should not be that large. Are you sure that you don't mean 39 Megabytes out of 80 Gigabytes?

You should be able to delete the partition. Further information about the Dell Utility partition is on Dan Goodell's site here: http://www.goodells.net/dellutility/index.htm

Thanks Mark, you are right it is 39MB. At the moment my 80gb disk is showing 40.89gb C, 4.64 FAT32 Acronis SZ 4.99gb the DE partition and 23.94 gb unallocated. How do I use the unallocated partition?

Thanks

It would be a good idea to post a screenshot of what Disk Management shows. If you just have 24G unallocated at the end of the drive, you could just make this a partition.

I believe if you do a full reinstallation of XP from the CD on a new HD, it won't have the DE partition. If you restore an image of your current disk to your new disk, it will have the DE partition, but you can get rid of it so long as you don't move your system partition. It make be useful to take a look at this thread: http://forum.acronis.com/forum/10265

I'm not sure what you mean by If I do a clean reinstall (on a new HD) I could then reinstall what I want from Acronis TI. If you do a clean reinstallation of XP from the CD, you would have to reinstall most of your software from scratch. You can't just copy the files in most cases.

Thanks a lot, As the DE partitiion is not very big I dont mind it being there. Its just that I am running out of space and I have a large unallocated partition which I would like to merge with C. Yes I think that it would be a lot of work to do a clean install to a new larger HD using the Dell disk and then have to reinstall all the software. I was thinking that possibly I could clone to a new larger disk (using TI) but am wondering if the unallocated partition would go with it. I do not know why the unallocated 39GB partition is there, any ideas?

Thanks

John

PS Screenshot

You are going to need some decent partitioning software, I think. This is beyond me, but if Mark Wharton returns, he would be of more definitive help.

I'm not sure what the 4.64G FAT32 partition is, but if it could be moved to below the Acronis SZ partition, you could resize the 41G system partition (you do not want to merge). But I know nothing of the SZ, since I don't use it.

To transfer to a larger disk would probably be easier. Do an entire disk image, including the DE partition. You could then do a restore to the new disk with manual resizing, keeping the DE partition the same size and location (at the beginning), the system partition next (starting position the same, resizing to the right it as large as you want to, giving you more space). This can be done via TI, no partitioning software needed. The two FAT32 partitions I have no idea what to do with, though. Sorry I can't be of more help.

JR:

The 4.64 GB partition is a Dell Restore partition that can be used to restore the PC to factory state. Since you are a TI user, you have better methods of restoration available so that partition can be deleted if you wish.

If you want to proceed, try this:

1. Start Windows XP Disk Management
2. Right-click on the 4.64 GB partition and choose "Delete partition..."
3. Choose "Yes" to delete the partition

At this point you should have 28.58 GB of unallocated space following your "C" partition. If you want to create a new partition in this unallocated space, use XP Disk Management to do so. Disk Management is very limited in partition operations, so if you want to do anything fancier than creating new partitions then you will need partitioning software. Acronis has Disk Director 11 available now, or you can download several free partition managers that are compatible with XP.

If you want to just add all of the unallocated space to the existing "C" partition to make it larger (you'll end up with a "C" partition size of 69.47 GB) and you don't have access to partitioning software then you can use the so-called "Secure Zone trick". Assuming that there isn't anything of value on your existing Acronis Secure Zone, use TrueImage to expand the Secure Zone. Expand it to use all of the unallocated space on the disk. Immediately afterward, delete the new, larger Secure Zone. When asked what to do with the space formerly occupied by the Secure Zone, allocate all of it to the "C" partition. Now you should have a "C" partition of 74.46 GB. Finally, create a new Secure Zone of the desired size.

The steps in the preceding paragraph can all be done much easier with partitioning software, if available. Otherwise, the "Secure Zone trick" will substitute for partitioning software in a pinch.

Thanks Mark thats very clear. I did try disk management but it will not let me do anything on the unallocated partition except look at properties.The "new partition" is greyed out. I was wondering if Dell have fixed it so that it cannot be changed, but see no reason for that. I have also read that it might be something to do with SP3.

JR:

No, there's nothing that Dell could have done to prevent the use of unallocated space. You have a full partition table now with four entries, one for each of three primary partitions and one for the extended partition container, so you will be unable to add another partition until you delete the 4.64 GB Dell Recovery partition. Deleting this partition will free up one slot in the partition table and then you should be able to create another primary partition.

If the 4.64gb partition is the Dell recovery what is the 39MB eisa partitiion?

That's the Dell Utility partition - it basically has the delldiag.exe program in it, which you can always get to via a CD. It's a small DOS partition. Mark gave you the link to Dan Goodell's page which explains this partition. It's not too useful, although I like it altered like Dan Goodell points out how to do, since I have a few DOS programs I don't like to be without. You don't really need it except that the space needs to be there before the system partition, or you can't boot.

Here is my internal disks with that utility partition. My second disk has my test system that I can boot into if I want to, and it was made by restoring the utility partition and the system partition from a True Image disk backup of the first disk.

Thanks Gary, I thought that if I got rid of the eisa partition it would cause problems. Could you tell me if removing the 4.64gb partition will affect system restore as before doing any changes I like to set a new restore point. I am not worried about losing system recovery as I know that it does not work, I looked at Dan Goodell's site and decided not to attempt to get it working. If neccessary I have a dell XP reinstallation disk, but certainly do not want to go down that path.

Regards
John

I have tried the Secure Zone trick but when deleting secure zone it does not ask me where to allocate the space. It just returns it to unallocated.