Dell's back-up partition policy...

Wertz

OK my fairly new insp 8600 is suffering from a slow boot and some other issues. I can only blame it on the overheads dell put on there when they're configuring it.
Now since their laptops don't come with an xp reinstall disk, owners are more or less restricted to using the back-up image (which eats 5gigs of my 40gig HDD :rolleyes: ).
So my question is, if I have another dell xp reinstall disc, can I simply format the drive and install from that one? I'm not concerned about the legality, just the functionality (ie will it work).
Loosing sh*t like the media experience or trial Paintshop doesn't bother me.

Assuming I can do this, what else will I need to reinstall afterwards? Driver for the vga card obviously, but what else? Is stuff like the wireless card or screen plug and play? Anything else that could cause a problem?

Just a quick spec list;
2.1mhz P4M "Dothan", on 855gm chipset. 400mhz FSB
fx5200 go 64mb
512mb 333mhz RAM
DVD-rom
Intel 2100 Wireless card
Samsung WSXGA

The stupidity of Dell's policy on not supplying install discs, to simply save a few quid per unit, annoys me. I'm not complaining as I got the machine for a steal but if I paid full whack for it I'd be pretty annoyed that I wasn't given the option of a clean format/install. Loosing 5gigs on a laptop HDD is similarly annoying.
As ever, any help/comments are greatly appreciated.

Wertz

Anyone help me out on this? I don't wanna format the drive only to discover that I need to go out and buy a new copy of XP.

tk123

The disks will work with all Dells - well the ones I have in work do anyhoos...You might have probs with drivers but you can dowload them from Dell...just make sure you have a copy of the drivers you'll need to get on t'internet to download the rest!!

tinkerbell

Ahhh ... formatting a Dell laptop, one of my favourite hobbies

My laptop is such a heap of junk that I have wiped the entire hd on numerous occasions because it goes so wonky. Plus, I figure a clean slate is probably the best way to start

However! I would advise the following (this is what I do):

Leave the small Dell partition there (tiz about 31MB or so, tiz for diagnostic checking, etc.)

Format the other partition, and partition it into two separate partitions - one for Windows, and one for all your stuff. That way, if Windows goes hullabaloo, then you can just wipe the Windows partition without having to worry about backing up your stuff over and over again. Maybe that's why I'm so inclined to format the Windows partition every so often

That's if you have an actual XP disc, I'm not sure about Dell's useless re-install discs though.

You will need to install ALL the drivers again - e.g. graphics card, sound, modem, network card, printer, etc. So your best bet before you go formatting anything, is go check what drivers you need, and download them. Also, download Service Pack 2. Burn them all onto a disc.

Format > Reinstall Windows > Install Drivers > Install SP2.

Then you can surf the 'net again safe from viruses, n the likes

astec123

http://www.simplyguides.net/guides/using_autostreamer/using_autostreamer.html

Never had a dell and never want one either. That program should be able to back up windows to a disk provided you can get hold of a windows disk from a mate etc, it is legal to do this, so long as its the same version of windows and you use the 1 CD key on only 1 machine, just make a back up disk and sod all the dell rubbish.

Thats what I would do anyway.

Sparky

This is a long process so be warned could take the best part of 3hrs to complete.

stuff needed.
DVD Burner
Norton Ghost
Dos tools like Fdisk etc. or possibly use the tools on the norton ghost recovery CD.
A windows XP installation CD borowed if you do not have one (i noticed i did'nt need to input a serial key when installed on a dell system, but if needed use your own serial key)


well what i done to redo my HDD was to make the dell image partition shown and to give it a letter, then to install windows on the active partition, (now named D in my case) then when windows was installed and ready you should see 2 HDD in my computer there is a 1.3gb file in the image partition named image.ifo, this file is the image of your complete windows installation, if you have a DVD burner burn this file on to a dvd then verify the data. once this is done you can format the whole HDD to one partition or 2 if you want to keep the diag. partition

Then use a programme called norton ghost to reinstall the image, this should take approx. 10-20 mins because of it being on a DVD, once done you may need to change the MBR to the partition using the tools on the norton ghost recovery cd.

Once done you have an extra 3-5gigs available and your windows system back as the day you got it, but with extra HDD space.

Oh and it should work again for you if you put in a bigger HDD just follow the above.

Hope this info helps.

Wertz

Big thanks for all the help and suggestions ..
I like Tinkerbell's way best, so far...
Sparky_S; great post but I lack both norton ghost and burner for now...I also lack patience and formidable knowledge of partitions and master boot records
astec123...yeah definitely a slipstreamed install when I do get round to it.

Just for a laugh I timed my cold boot up last night....1min 14 seconds before everything loaded and a further 45 seconds before firefox managed to drag itself off the harddrive :rolleyes:
Bear in mind that I have almost no personal data or documents/files saved on the lappy; for now I use it as a network satelite and pull files from my desktop for playing/watching/listening.
Seems like I have waaaay too many overheads and services running at start up (or rather Dell has).
Clean format/fresh install is the only way to be sure that I have what I want on it, not what Dell think I want on it.

At least I've got no backing up to do...

tinkerbell

You don't need any knowledge of partitions etc. asuch to do my suggestion.

If you are installing windows with an XP disc, ya just stick the disc in and let it run. It'll go through and ask if you want to install XP or repair. If you select install, it'll ask where you want to install it. You don't need fdisk or anything - it'll let you partition through the XP disc. You can delete the C: partition, and then create two new ones, and then you can install XP on the new smaller C: partition. You don't have to do anything to the other partition for all your stuff.

Then you just install, and away ya go. Complete new slate for your lappy and if Windows screws up in future, ya can just happily wipe the C: partition without having to worry about your stuff

pseud

A bit late in the day on this one. After applying a little pressure, I managed to get all of the installation and driver discs from Dell for my laptop. Like many other people, I didn’t like the idea of being out on a limb if anything drastic happened, having to send the machine back to them for a re-install. I also didn't like losing a large chunk of my 40 gig hard-drive either to Dell's back-up. When I got mine, there was barely 30 gig left on it for me to fill up. Another person, applying pressure, also got all of the discs out of them.

Wertz

pseud wrote:

A bit late in the day on this one. After applying a little pressure, I managed to get all of the installation and driver discs from Dell for my laptop. Like many other people, I didn’t like the idea of being out on a limb if anything drastic happened, having to send the machine back to them for a re-install. I also didn't like losing a large chunk of my 40 gig hard-drive either to Dell's back-up. When I got mine, there was barely 30 gig left on it for me to fill up. Another person, applying pressure, also got all of the discs out of them.

Not late in the slightest! I'd been putting this off till this sunday. I'd prefer to do it the easy way...
You mind posting/PMing any advice on what kind of pressure to apply and to where/who?
I really don't want their partition....about the only use I could think for it would be if I wanted to sell on the machine, but with all the discs I could just do a clean install should that time come.
I mean if they're willing to send me MS Works (pfft) on a disc, then why not the OS and utilities? Makes no sense...

JohnnyMobile

any of the dell machines i order in work arrive in with all the os and driver CD's. the diags partition dell have on this machine (latitude x300) is 50MB.

I do a bit of both of the suggestions made so far.

As soon as I get my new machines I resize the main partition and leave 1.5GB spare. I then make another partition out of the 1.5GB and then use a norton ghost boot disk.

Boot from the ghost boot disk and select create and image from a partition. And take a snapshot of your C: drive with the OS etc setup and working fine and save it to the 1.5GB partition.
If anything goes wrong with your OS you can then just boot off the ghost boot disk and restore from the image and be back up and running in about 15 minutes.

I would also resize the partition and create another partition of about 3/4's the size of the harddrive and use that for storing all files etc that way it doesnt get overwritten when you restore from your backup.

If you havent got a ghost boot disk or partition magic PM me I will further advise

andrea

With Dell you get the option of getting all the extras or paying less. You get to choose. A lot of companies buy the machines to put their own images on, so they don't want to pay for the disks. It is an option when you order a system though, choose the os you want and whether you want media. Customer care can issue disks after the fact if you happen to change your mind.

Have to agree with leaving the diags partition on the hard drive, definitely a handy tool to have access to so easily.

Wertz

andrea wrote:

With Dell you get the option of getting all the extras or paying less. You get to choose. A lot of companies buy the machines to put their own images on, so they don't want to pay for the disks. It is an option when you order a system though, choose the os you want and whether you want media. Customer care can issue disks after the fact if you happen to change your mind.

Have to agree with leaving the diags partition on the hard drive, definitely a handy tool to have access to so easily.

I'm going to have to disagree with you there...machine was bought from Outlet so NO configuration options. Fair enough, I knew I was getting back up provided as an image but Dell throw that much useless peripherals and trial s/w on there that I just wanted to reformat from the get-go, and it's pretty tough to do that without the install discs :rolleyes:
If you pay for an OS you should get the discs by default ESPECIALLY as a home user...the cost of an install disc and a disc of drivers would set Dell back a couple of euro at most. Since a buyer has already forked out a good few quid for the license, I think they're entitled to a copy of the OS too.

greeg

hi,

i'm a newbie but i've got something on the subject. i was also annoyed at all the junk dell stuck in and also wanted my 5 gigs back so i completely wiped the drive for a squeaky clean re-install (this was like 6 months ago and they had sent the disk with). after reinstalling everything, drivers and all in their respective orders etc. i found that certain little things just not working right. for example because the touch pad manufacturer’s original driver kept crashing the machine, i had to use the windows driver which doesn’t have "gestures" and things like that. now it's no big thing- but just having spent two grand on a computer i want it all to work how it's supposed too! i tried to work with dell but they pretty much told me to go to hell because i should never have removed their restore partition…

at the end, because i was still in the 21 days, i just returned the machine and had them send me a new one. now i go back to their re-install and clean all the stuff out bit by bit...

last thing i would like to say to all that are reading: dell sucks big BIG cock and i will not buy from them again if I can help it. their customer service is TERRIBLE. they provide work around solutions and feign complete ignorance of anything else. after, they try to switch you to "someone that is qualified to help you with this"… pay support! total scum-bags. never again dell.