009098

Ok so i have my laptop and i havent cared much untill now because i am running out of internal HDD space... When i look at my partitions in Computer Management i see 4 partitions. Two of which i can access...

C: 79.13 GB NTFS (System)
D: 26.52 GB NTFS

questionalbe partition 1:
78 MB FAT (EISA Configuration)

Now if i understand correctly that is the boot partition for Extended Industry Standard Architecture to configure devices... am i right? Why do i need it? im sure i dont have any EISA parts, but i may be wrong...

Questionalbe partition 2:
4.64 GB FAT 32 (Unknown Partition) 742 MB free space

If i had to guess i would say this is where windows boots from... I read somewhere that windows can't boot from NTFS... So my question for this is what is it mostlikely for and what would happen if i deleted it...

Now for combining drives C: and D:... Can i use the Computer Management? All i do is delete D: and drag over C:? I dont want to buy partition Magic (or whatever it is called) soo what can i do now to combine?

Thanks for any help

imsati

Don't fret over 78 MB - it's fine, I'd just leave it.

That is most likely your Recovery sector of the Drive. So, if you ever need to reinstall Windows, that is the partition you would boot to in order to do so (refer to your laptop's manual for instructions).

If space is an issue and you have a combined 100+ GB of Drive space, freeing up 4.5 more is only a band-aid fix. Have you looked into an external drive you can hook up?

__________________
--Jay
Creepy Lurker Guy

Motoxrdude

Yeah, don't go around deleting those partitions, you need them. Like Imsati said, if you need more space buy a bigger hard drive or an external.

__________________
Estne volumen in toga, an solum tibi libet me videre?

Vizy

Windows can boot from an ntfs file system.

As others have said, those partitions are most likely recovery, this becomes all the more likely since it is a pre-built computer.

jdbennet

*Windows NT

And yeah, its a hidden FAT partition in fact, it just shows up as EISA for some reason. The hidden diagnostic partitions on compaq servers do the same thing.

__________________

Quote:

I am not an expert so try what i say at your own risk

009098

ok, thanks guys... i have ohhh two or three external harddrives, but they are either slow, are ok speed but need external psu, and i dont like having them... but when i get a desk that i can put my laptop on so i can keep my stuff there. Its jsut annoying having the external drives on the outside... Last question... If i get a new harddrive to replace my curent one do i have to buy windows again or can i just get a backup copy from dell and use it to install windows?

009098

Also im not sure if i have sata 1.5 or 3.0... Is there a way for me to find out? Cuz im not gonna buy a sata 3.0 HDD when i can only get half of that...

Vizy

If you want to change the hdd that window's is installed on (if this is a prebuilt by dell) then you would have to purchase the OS itself. Either that, or you can borrow a buddie's windows disk and use the serial number on the side of your prebuilt system.

009098

but i dont know anybody who would have xp media center and i like it lots... i may know someone with xp sp2...

So i guess what you are saying is that i will have to pay twice as much for a new OS... well i'll just have to wait longer, but thats ok... i guess i may as well get Vista while i'm at it....

Thanks

Vizy

NP dude. I know...it sucks a big one. The dell windows cd's are all coded to work with the hardware inside your computer at the time it was in the factory. That is why, when your mobo is fried, you must get a mobo from the manufacturer of your computer. The mobo is already 'tatooed' with the right stuff to get your OS CD working. I spent 30$ to find that out the hardway.