What to do with existing partitions (clean reinstall of XP)

[rudy45]

I want to "wipe the slate clean" on my Dell laptop, and reinstall Windows XP. I boot from the operating system CD, and get to a menu that shows existing partitions. FAT is about 10 Gb and NTFS-OS has about 230 GB. The system asks me where I want to put the new XP. I tried the FAT partition but it's too small. I selected NTFS but the system said it is a potential problem to have two operating systems on the same partition.

I have backed up what I need, and am OK with wiping the disk clean. In order to do what I want to do, should I therefore delete one or both partitions? thanks.

[OldDeckHand]

To be clear, you do want to eliminate both existing partitions? Or, do you just want to install the OS in the larger partition?

[randomhero97]

If everything is backed up then smoke’em. I would create two partitions, though. Maybe use 30 - 50 gig space for the OS and another partition with the rest of the space for software, docs, etc.

[OldDeckHand]

Oops, I reread your post - sorry. Yes, you want to delete both partitions and reformat using NTFS.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I want to "wipe the slate clean" on my Dell laptop, and reinstall Windows XP. I boot from the operating system CD, and get to a menu that shows existing partitions. FAT is about 10 Gb and NTFS-OS has about 230 GB. The system asks me where I want to put the new XP. I tried the FAT partition but it's too small. I selected NTFS but the system said it is a potential problem to have two operating systems on the same partition.

I have backed up what I need, and am OK with wiping the disk clean. In order to do what I want to do, should I therefore delete one or both partitions? thanks.

Since this is the case, why not delete the existing partitions, create a single new partition over the entire hard drive and format to NTFS? I'd guess the 10MB partition was used by Dell to store system restore utilities.

Or just let the XP installer reformat and install on the 230 MB partition.

[smokingfrog]

I don't know of any reason why you would need the FAT partition.

NTFS is the preferred file system to format the hard disk unless you want to run an earlier version of Windows that cannot read NTFS partitions.

How to Reinstall Windows XP

[AnotherUnixGeek]

LOL, sorry, replace MB with GB in my post.

[TWohlford]

“I don’t know of any reason why you would need the FAT partition.”

Gonna bet this is the “reinstall” partition that some manufacturers put on their machines. I know my IBM had this partition when it was new, and as I recall, HP did the same thing.

[rockrr]

For the sake of simplicity I would delete all partitions and then create new ones in the size configuration that works for you (either a single one or a two-partition schema).

Here is a Microsoft Knowledge-base article that describes the process: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348

[VR-21]

Bookmark for later read.

[LouAvul]

I always just use the NTFS partition and leave FAT alone. With your size hard drive you’re not going to miss anything.

[KKing]

The FAT partition could be for Media Direct. If it exists, it really is something to pay attention to.

[Publius6961]

Laptops are problematic.

I would back up the entire disk on a USB portable drive, then reformat the original hard drive to a more balanced configuration.

With a desktop, with the availability of enormous economical hard drives, there's no excuse for NOT having separate program software disks and data disks, internally. For the last 5 years or so, I insist on the practice. To prevent the old lose a drive-lose everything option.

[uptoolate]

Delete all partitions. If you are using the Dell XP installation CD it will reallocate the space needed for the “back to manufactures shipping state” on its own partition and then it will automatically create a new partition for the usable OS. That’s why when you do a Disk Defrag you see 2 green sections appear. One is Dell’s reset allocated area and the other is your current OS.

When prompted for a file system type to use, choose NTSF.

[dennisw]

get to a menu that shows existing partitions. FAT is about 10 Gb

>>>>>Leave that one alone. It is probably a restore partition that you can restore yr system from if you have no discs

and NTFS-OS has about 230 GB.

>>>>>> Reformat 230gb and re-install XP there. Reformat w NFTS will avoid problem of “two operating systems”

[Rose in RoseBear]

Do not delete or otherwise disturb your drive's partitions. There's no need, and removing them will interfere with the proper operation of your portable.

Portable computers, unlike desktops, use a power profile that minimizes battery use in stages. Portables go through five stages of power use:

1. Maximum power consumption: hard drive and/or optical drive spinning, read-write heads reading and writing data, and/or laser reading and burning an optical disk, music playing, Wi-Fi up/downloading data, memory pulling power to keep hold of the data, CPU pulling data off the data bus and pushing it through registers, screen bright and pixels changing colors.
   
   
2. Lower power consumption, aka sleep mode: the screen is off, but indicator lights may still be on. The hard drive and optical drive not spinning, reading, writing, or burning, no sounds from the speakers, no Wi-Fi connection, CPU is on but not computing. Memory is still pulling power. All computation at a minimum, but if you touch a key, the system comes back up.
   
   
3. Even lower power consumption, aka sleep mode: the screen is off, and so is everything else but memory, which is still getting a power trickle to hang onto the stored data.
   
   
4. Minimum power consumption, aka Standby: everything is off except memory, which is at minimum power to preserve the data.
   
   
5. Hibernate: when the battery is almost drained, everything in memory is written to the hard drive in a special file on the FAT partition. Spinning up the hard drive and successfully writing out the data usually exhausts the battery, and leaves everything in the system off.
   
   

If you repartition your drive, and don't leave room for the hibernation file, when your system goes to Hibernate, you'll get an error, and your system will shut down in an unknown state. This is a Bad Thing. Over time, if you let your battery run now a lot, it can cause software failure.

Leave your partitions alone.

Next message: About your reinstall ...

[Rose in RoseBear]

About your reinstall ...

First, I would recommend that you perform a whole-disk backup of your drive before you go any further. No matter how careful you think you've been in backing up your data, trust me, you overlooked something vital. A whole-drive backup, that allows for restoration of individual files, is the only way to be sure.

Next, make sure you have all the latest drivers and applications necessary for your particular model to work properly. To find out what you need, go to support.dell.com, select "Support For Small Business," select "Drivers And Downloads," and type in your service tag number. (Your service tag is on the bottom of your Dell portable; it is a seven-character string of letters and numbers on a barcoded label.) When you enter your service tag number, you'll get a list of the drivers you need. Download them to a USB drive.

When you're ready to reinstall, boot up to the Windows CD. It will ask you about partitions; you want to install on the NTFS partition. When the installer reports an existing version of Windows, that's fine; tell it to reformat the NTFS partition.

Do NOT **EVER** install a new version of Windows XP on top of an existing version; this is known as a "dirty install," with very good reason. In fact, you should never upgrade Windows; a clean install on a reformatted partition is the best way to upgrade.

Once the drive is reformatted, reinstall Windows XP. Next, install the drivers in the order advised by Dell. Next, hook your system up to a network connection and start downloading the Microsoft Updates for XP. The last time I did an XP install, it took 4-5 hours and three reboots to get XP up to snuff ... and that was almost a year ago.

Have fun!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I don't know of any reason why you would need the FAT partition.

Since it's a Dell, it's probably the recovery partition or something similar.

I also think rudy45 is asking how to format the drive since it doesn't seem apparent.

There is an option to delete pertitions using the XP CD. It may have been on a previous menu selection. Read carefully as you proceed through the screens after booting and you'll find it. It will ask you a couple of times if you are sure you want to delete and reformat...but it is there.

[21stCenturion]

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