How to tell if a partition is primary?

[Guest Sal]

I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 that has 16MB partition that's used for

diagnostic testing. The disk management snap-in only tells me that

it's 16MB FAT, Healthy (EISA configuration). I need to know if this

counts as one of my four primary partitions. How can I tell? When I

right click on it, it just brings up a help menu for the Disk

Management Console.

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: How to tell if a partition is primary?

 

 

"Sal" <here@softcom.net> wrote in message

news:16fc93fd-d74b-4083-9c56-a00bc6abbb1f@y21g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...

>I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 that has 16MB partition that's used for

> diagnostic testing. The disk management snap-in only tells me that

> it's 16MB FAT, Healthy (EISA configuration). I need to know if this

> counts as one of my four primary partitions. How can I tell? When I

> right click on it, it just brings up a help menu for the Disk

> Management Console.

 

Have a look at the colour codes shown at the bottom of the

disk management frame.

[Guest Bill in Co.]

Re: How to tell if a partition is primary?

 

Pretty sure it does, along with the Dell System Restore partition, and your

Windows partition (so that's 3 primary partitions in use). At least

that's the way it is over here.

 

Actually, it *does* tell you, if you look carefully at the color bar legend

(in Disk Management).

 

Sal wrote:

> I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 that has 16MB partition that's used for

> diagnostic testing. The disk management snap-in only tells me that

> it's 16MB FAT, Healthy (EISA configuration). I need to know if this

> counts as one of my four primary partitions. How can I tell? When I

> right click on it, it just brings up a help menu for the Disk

> Management Console.

[Guest Timothy Daniels]

Re: How to tell if a partition is primary?

 

"Sal" wrote:

> I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 that has 16MB partition that's used for

> diagnostic testing. The disk management snap-in only tells me that

> it's 16MB FAT, Healthy (EISA configuration). I need to know if this

> counts as one of my four primary partitions. How can I tell? When I

> right click on it, it just brings up a help menu for the Disk

> Management Console.

 

I've always assumed that it does. Try creating another Primary

partition to test it. Since Dell includes a CD with the same diagnostic

utilities on it, you can nuke the diagnostic partition and just use the

CD when you need diagnostics. I cloned the Vista partition on my

Dell laptop to an external drive, then nuked all the partitions on the

internal drive, then created an unformatted partition for Vista by using

Gparted from a live USB stick, then re-cloned the Vista partition onto

the newly created partition. Without the utilities partition, the recovery

partition, and the hellacious MediaDirect partition, I now have lots of

room for an installation of Ubuntu.

 

A convenient feature of Casper (the cloning utility that I use) is its

ability re-size a partition in the process of cloning by ignoring sectors

that contain no data. With that, I got the entire Vista partition down to

fitting in an 18GB partition. In transferring the clone back to the internal

hard drive, I used that feature in reverse to put the clone into a newly

created (unformatted) 100GB partition.

 

One thing to watch out for, though, is mixing your partition managers.

If your hard drive was partitioned by Vista's Disk Management or for

Vista by the PC manufacturer, you ought not use partitioning utilities

authored prior to Vista. The reason is that Vista uses a different data

offset from the start of the partitions that it makes. Vista can read

partitions from the old format, but old partition managers (i.e. all other

partition managers) cannot read Vista's format. This is especially

sensitive when dealing with removal or addition of selected logical drives

within an Extended partition. For background on this, read the section

on Vista's new partitioning rules from McTavish's treatise on multibooting:

http://www.multibooters.co.uk/partitions.html .

Also read these support pages by Microsoft:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931854 ,

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931760 .

 

On my new Dell laptop, I found (using Cute Partition Manager) that

the Vista partition's contents were offset according to the old format, but

the logical drive within the Extended partition was offset in the new Vista

way. So I used Gparted to nuke all the partitions except Vista's, then I

used Casper to clone Vista's partition to an external drive and then to

re-clone it to a new position (and used "bcdedit /rebuildbcd" to adjust the

BCD), and then used Gparted to create the new partitions for Ubuntu.

Now all the partitions are offset according to the old pre-Vista format,

and both the OSes are happy.

 

*TimDaniels*

[Guest John John (MVP)]

Re: How to tell if a partition is primary?

 

Several different ways to find out from within Windows.

 

Using the Disk Mangement tool look at the colour bar of the partition,

primary partitions are a deep navy blue, logical drives are a light blue

surrounded by a smaller green border.

 

On the right click menu if you see an option to mark the partition

active it is a primary partition, if you see no such option it isn't.

 

Use the DiskPart utility at the Command Prompt, use the following

commands (for clarity the DiskPart commands are in UPPERCASE):

 

C:\>

C:\>DISKPART

 

Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

 

Copyright © 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation.

On computer: YOUR-27E1513D96

 

DISKPART> LIST DISK

 

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---

Disk 0 Online 149 GB 0 B

 

DISKPART> SELECT DISK 0

 

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

 

DISKPART> LIST PARTITION

 

Partition ### Type Size Offset

------------- ---------------- ------- -------

Partition 1 Primary 5544 MB 32 KB

Partition 2 Primary 144 GB 5544 MB

 

DISKPART>EXIT

 

Leaving DiskPart...

 

John

 

 

Sal wrote:

> I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 that has 16MB partition that's used for

> diagnostic testing. The disk management snap-in only tells me that

> it's 16MB FAT, Healthy (EISA configuration). I need to know if this

> counts as one of my four primary partitions. How can I tell? When I

> right click on it, it just brings up a help menu for the Disk

> Management Console.

[Guest Timothy Daniels]

Re: How to tell if a partition is primary?

 

Disk Management doesn't deall well with partition types that are

not NTFS or FATxx. The various proprietary Dell partition types

are portrayed by Disk Management as being Primary - even when

they are actually logical drives within an Extended partition, such

as used to house Dell's MediaDirect atrocity.

 

*TimDaniels*

 

"John John (MVP)" wrote:

> Several different ways to find out from within Windows.

>

> Using the Disk Mangement tool look at the colour bar of the partition, primary

> partitions are a deep navy blue, logical drives are a light blue surrounded by

> a smaller green border.

>

> On the right click menu if you see an option to mark the partition active it

> is a primary partition, if you see no such option it isn't.

>

> Use the DiskPart utility at the Command Prompt, use the following commands

> (for clarity the DiskPart commands are in UPPERCASE):

>

> C:\>

> C:\>DISKPART

>

> Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

>

> Copyright © 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation.

> On computer: YOUR-27E1513D96

>

> DISKPART> LIST DISK

>

> Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

> -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---

> Disk 0 Online 149 GB 0 B

>

> DISKPART> SELECT DISK 0

>

> Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

>

> DISKPART> LIST PARTITION

>

> Partition ### Type Size Offset

> ------------- ---------------- ------- -------

> Partition 1 Primary 5544 MB 32 KB

> Partition 2 Primary 144 GB 5544 MB

>

> DISKPART>EXIT

>

> Leaving DiskPart...

>

> John

>

>

> Sal wrote:

>

>> I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 that has 16MB partition that's used for

>> diagnostic testing. The disk management snap-in only tells me that

>> it's 16MB FAT, Healthy (EISA configuration). I need to know if this

>> counts as one of my four primary partitions. How can I tell? When I

>> right click on it, it just brings up a help menu for the Disk

>> Management Console.

[Guest Bill in Co.]

Re: How to tell if a partition is primary?

 

The Dell Partition types are "DE" for the tiny utility partition near the

beginning of the HD, and "DB" for the larger DSR Restore partition near the

end of the HD, from what PM reports. And both are listed as Primary by

both PM, and Disk Management (where they show up as dark blue).

 

Timothy Daniels wrote:

> Disk Management doesn't deall well with partition types that are

> not NTFS or FATxx. The various proprietary Dell partition types

> are portrayed by Disk Management as being Primary - even when

> they are actually logical drives within an Extended partition, such

> as used to house Dell's MediaDirect atrocity.

>

> *TimDaniels*

>

> "John John (MVP)" wrote:

>> Several different ways to find out from within Windows.

>>

>> Using the Disk Mangement tool look at the colour bar of the partition,

>> primary partitions are a deep navy blue, logical drives are a light blue

>> surrounded by a smaller green border.

>>

>> On the right click menu if you see an option to mark the partition active

>> it

>> is a primary partition, if you see no such option it isn't.

>>

>> Use the DiskPart utility at the Command Prompt, use the following

>> commands

>> (for clarity the DiskPart commands are in UPPERCASE):

>>

>> C:\>

>> C:\>DISKPART

>>

>> Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

>>

>> Copyright © 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation.

>> On computer: YOUR-27E1513D96

>>

>> DISKPART> LIST DISK

>>

>> Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

>> -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---

>> Disk 0 Online 149 GB 0 B

>>

>> DISKPART> SELECT DISK 0

>>

>> Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

>>

>> DISKPART> LIST PARTITION

>>

>> Partition ### Type Size Offset

>> ------------- ---------------- ------- -------

>> Partition 1 Primary 5544 MB 32 KB

>> Partition 2 Primary 144 GB 5544 MB

>>

>> DISKPART>EXIT

>>

>> Leaving DiskPart...

>>

>> John

>>

>>

>> Sal wrote:

>>

>>> I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 that has 16MB partition that's used for

>>> diagnostic testing. The disk management snap-in only tells me that

>>> it's 16MB FAT, Healthy (EISA configuration). I need to know if this

>>> counts as one of my four primary partitions. How can I tell? When I

>>> right click on it, it just brings up a help menu for the Disk

>>> Management Console.

[Guest Sal]

Re: How to tell if a partition is primary?

 

On Aug 5, 6:14 pm, "Bill in Co." <not_really_h...@earthlink.net>

wrote:

> The Dell Partition types are "DE" for the tiny utility partition near the

> beginning of the HD, and "DB" for the larger DSR Restore partition near the

> end of the HD, from what PM reports.   And both are listed as Primary by

> both PM, and Disk Management (where they show up as dark blue).

>

>

>

> Timothy Daniels wrote:

> > Disk Management doesn't deall well with partition types that are

> > not NTFS or FATxx.  The various proprietary Dell partition types

> > are portrayed by Disk Management as being Primary - even when

> > they are actually logical drives within an Extended partition, such

> > as used to house Dell's MediaDirect atrocity.

>

> > *TimDaniels*

>

> > "John John (MVP)" wrote:

> >> Several different ways to find out from within Windows.

>

> >> Using the Disk Mangement tool look at the colour bar of the partition,

> >> primary partitions are a deep navy blue, logical drives are a light blue

> >> surrounded by a smaller green border.

>

> >> On the right click menu if you see an option to mark the partition active

> >> it

> >> is a primary partition, if you see no such option it isn't.

>

> >> Use the DiskPart utility at the Command Prompt, use the following

> >> commands

> >> (for clarity the DiskPart commands are in UPPERCASE):

>

> >> C:\>

> >> C:\>DISKPART

>

> >> Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

>

> >> Copyright © 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation.

> >> On computer: YOUR-27E1513D96

>

> >> DISKPART> LIST DISK

>

> >>   Disk ###  Status      Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt

> >>   --------  ----------  -------  -------  ---  ---

> >>   Disk 0    Online       149 GB      0 B

>

> >> DISKPART> SELECT DISK 0

>

> >> Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

>

> >> DISKPART> LIST PARTITION

>

> >>   Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset

> >>   -------------  ----------------  -------  -------

> >>   Partition 1    Primary           5544 MB    32 KB

> >>   Partition 2    Primary            144 GB  5544 MB

>

> >> DISKPART>EXIT

>

> >> Leaving DiskPart...

>

> >> John

>

> >> Sal wrote:

>

> >>> I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 that has 16MB partition that's used for

> >>> diagnostic testing. The disk management snap-in only tells me that

> >>> it's 16MB FAT, Healthy (EISA configuration). I need to know if this

> >>> counts as one of my four primary partitions. How can I tell? When I

> >>> right click on it, it just brings up a help menu for the Disk

> >>> Management Console.- Hide quoted text -

>

> - Show quoted text -

 

It really burns me up that Dell would waste a primary partition on a

mere 16MB partition, only half of which is used (50% free). I'm using

XP Home and can't delete it using the Disk Management snap-in. Two

questions:

1. Can I delete it?

2. If I delete it and create other primary partitions greater than 16

[Guest Sal]

Re: How to tell if a partition is primary?

 

On Aug 5, 6:41 pm, Sal <h...@softcom.net> wrote:

> On Aug 5, 6:14 pm, "Bill in Co." <not_really_h...@earthlink.net>

> wrote:

>

>

>

>

>

> > The Dell Partition types are "DE" for the tiny utility partition near the

> > beginning of the HD, and "DB" for the larger DSR Restore partition near the

> > end of the HD, from what PM reports.   And both are listed as Primary by

> > both PM, and Disk Management (where they show up as dark blue).

>

> > Timothy Daniels wrote:

> > > Disk Management doesn't deall well with partition types that are

> > > not NTFS or FATxx.  The various proprietary Dell partition types

> > > are portrayed by Disk Management as being Primary - even when

> > > they are actually logical drives within an Extended partition, such

> > > as used to house Dell's MediaDirect atrocity.

>

> > > *TimDaniels*

>

> > > "John John (MVP)" wrote:

> > >> Several different ways to find out from within Windows.

>

> > >> Using the Disk Mangement tool look at the colour bar of the partition,

> > >> primary partitions are a deep navy blue, logical drives are a light blue

> > >> surrounded by a smaller green border.

>

> > >> On the right click menu if you see an option to mark the partition active

> > >> it

> > >> is a primary partition, if you see no such option it isn't.

>

> > >> Use the DiskPart utility at the Command Prompt, use the following

> > >> commands

> > >> (for clarity the DiskPart commands are in UPPERCASE):

>

> > >> C:\>

> > >> C:\>DISKPART

>

> > >> Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

>

> > >> Copyright © 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation.

> > >> On computer: YOUR-27E1513D96

>

> > >> DISKPART> LIST DISK

>

> > >>   Disk ###  Status      Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt

> > >>   --------  ----------  -------  -------  ---  ---

> > >>   Disk 0    Online       149 GB      0 B

>

> > >> DISKPART> SELECT DISK 0

>

> > >> Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

>

> > >> DISKPART> LIST PARTITION

>

> > >>   Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset

> > >>   -------------  ----------------  -------  -------

> > >>   Partition 1    Primary           5544 MB    32 KB

> > >>   Partition 2    Primary            144 GB  5544 MB

>

> > >> DISKPART>EXIT

>

> > >> Leaving DiskPart...

>

> > >> John

>

> > >> Sal wrote:

>

> > >>> I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 that has 16MB partition that's used for

> > >>> diagnostic testing. The disk management snap-in only tells me that

> > >>> it's 16MB FAT, Healthy (EISA configuration). I need to know if this

> > >>> counts as one of my four primary partitions. How can I tell? When I

> > >>> right click on it, it just brings up a help menu for the Disk

> > >>> Management Console.- Hide quoted text -

>

> > - Show quoted text -

>

> It really burns me up that Dell would waste a primary partition on a

> mere 16MB partition, only half of which is used (50% free). I'm using

> XP Home and can't delete it using the Disk Management snap-in. Two

> questions:

> 1. Can I delete it?

> 2. If I delete it and create other primary partitions greater than 16- Hide quoted text -

>

> - Show quoted text -

 

Continued (I accidentally hit send too soon):

 

2. If I delete it and create other primary partitions greater than

16MB, will that space go unused? If so how can I close the gap, so to

speak.

[Guest Bill in Co.]

Re: How to tell if a partition is primary?

 

Sal wrote:

> On Aug 5, 6:41 pm, Sal <h...@softcom.net> wrote:

>> On Aug 5, 6:14 pm, "Bill in Co." <not_really_h...@earthlink.net>

>> wrote:

>>

>>

>>> The Dell Partition types are "DE" for the tiny utility partition near

>>> the

>>> beginning of the HD, and "DB" for the larger DSR Restore partition near

>>> the

>>> end of the HD, from what PM reports. And both are listed as Primary by

>>> both PM, and Disk Management (where they show up as dark blue).

>>

>>> Timothy Daniels wrote:

>>>> Disk Management doesn't deall well with partition types that are

>>>> not NTFS or FATxx. The various proprietary Dell partition types

>>>> are portrayed by Disk Management as being Primary - even when

>>>> they are actually logical drives within an Extended partition, such

>>>> as used to house Dell's MediaDirect atrocity.

>>

>>>> *TimDaniels*

>>

>>>> "John John (MVP)" wrote:

>>>>> Several different ways to find out from within Windows.

>>

>>>>> Using the Disk Mangement tool look at the colour bar of the partition,

>>>>> primary partitions are a deep navy blue, logical drives are a light

>>>>> blue

>>>>> surrounded by a smaller green border.

>>

>>>>> On the right click menu if you see an option to mark the partition

>>>>> active

>>>>> it is a primary partition, if you see no such option it isn't.

>>

>>>>> Use the DiskPart utility at the Command Prompt, use the following

>>>>> commands (for clarity the DiskPart commands are in UPPERCASE):

>>

>>>>> C:\>

>>>>> C:\>DISKPART

>>

>>>>> Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

>>

>>>>> Copyright © 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation.

>>>>> On computer: YOUR-27E1513D96

>>

>>>>> DISKPART> LIST DISK

>>

>>>>> Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

>>>>> -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---

>>>>> Disk 0 Online 149 GB 0 B

>>

>>>>> DISKPART> SELECT DISK 0

>>

>>>>> Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

>>

>>>>> DISKPART> LIST PARTITION

>>

>>>>> Partition ### Type Size Offset

>>>>> ------------- ---------------- ------- -------

>>>>> Partition 1 Primary 5544 MB 32 KB

>>>>> Partition 2 Primary 144 GB 5544 MB

>>

>>>>> DISKPART>EXIT

>>

>>>>> Leaving DiskPart...

>>

>>>>> John

>>

>>>>> Sal wrote:

>>

>>>>>> I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 that has 16MB partition that's used for

>>>>>> diagnostic testing. The disk management snap-in only tells me that

>>>>>> it's 16MB FAT, Healthy (EISA configuration). I need to know if this

>>>>>> counts as one of my four primary partitions. How can I tell? When I

>>>>>> right click on it, it just brings up a help menu for the Disk

>>>>>> Management Console.

>>

>> It really burns me up that Dell would waste a primary partition on a

>> mere 16MB partition, only half of which is used (50% free). I'm using

>> XP Home and can't delete it using the Disk Management snap-in. Two

>> questions:

>> 1. Can I delete it?

 

I wouldn't if I were you, unless you have a really pressing NEED to. Yes,

it is a bit annoying, however.

 

But there is still one available primary partition slot left (since 3 out of

4 are in use, including the one for Windows), and the fourth (if you created

it) could be used as an extended partition to put other logical partitions

into, like I have done over here.

 

So you probably don't need to delete it (either the Dell Diagnostics

partition or the Dell System Restore partition, either of which might come

in useful some day).

>

> 2. If I delete it and create other primary partitions greater than

> 16MB, will that space go unused? If so how can I close the gap, so to

> speak.

 

You can use Partition Magic (e.g: version 8) to mess around with the

partitions like that, but as I said, unless you know exactly what you are

doing, I'd suggest that you leave them alone. For example, if you delete

the DSR (Dell System Restore) partition, you WILL have some problems booting

up!, because its expected to be there, as part of the Dell BIOS bootup

routines. (I'm not saying there isn't any way around that, but that's

another nother' story)

[Guest Timothy Daniels]

Re: How to tell if a partition is primary?

 

And so, as I said, Disk Management reports them to be Primary.

What you may not see, unless you have a Dell laptop, is the

logical drive in the Extended partition, and that logical drive was

portrayed as a Primary partition by Disk Management in my Dell

Vista laptop, and as a logical drive in Cute Partition Manager, and

who knows what by Partition Magic. In my case, didn't even

try to delete any of them with Disk Management because I didn't

know exactly what DM would do with them, so I nuked 'em with

Gparted and created the partitions that I needed with Gparted,

knowing exactly what Gparted would create. The OP may have

better luck with XP's Disk Management, but he hasn't said anything

yet about the portrayal of the last partition (which is usually for

MediaDirect in Dell laptops).

 

*TimDaniels*

 

"Bill in Co." wrote:

> The Dell Partition types are "DE" for the tiny utility partition near the

> beginning of the HD, and "DB" for the larger DSR Restore partition

> near the end of the HD, from what PM reports. And both are listed

> as Primary by both PM, and Disk Management (where they show

> up as dark blue).

>

> Timothy Daniels wrote:

>> Disk Management doesn't deall well with partition types that are

>> not NTFS or FATxx. The various proprietary Dell partition types

>> are portrayed by Disk Management as being Primary - even when

>> they are actually logical drives within an Extended partition, such

>> as used to house Dell's MediaDirect atrocity.

>>

>> *TimDaniels*

>>

>> "John John (MVP)" wrote:

>>> Several different ways to find out from within Windows.

>>>

>>> Using the Disk Mangement tool look at the colour bar

>>> of the partition, primary partitions are a deep navy blue,

>>> logical drives are a light blue surrounded by a smaller

>>> green border.

>>>

>>> On the right click menu if you see an option to mark the

>>> partition active it is a primary partition, if you see no such

>>> option it isn't.

>>>

>>> Use the DiskPart utility at the Command Prompt, use the

>>> following commands (for clarity the DiskPart commands

>>> are in UPPERCASE):

>>>

>>> C:\>

>>> C:\>DISKPART

>>>

>>> Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

>>>

>>> Copyright © 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation.

>>> On computer: YOUR-27E1513D96

>>>

>>> DISKPART> LIST DISK

>>>

>>> Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

>>> -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---

>>> Disk 0 Online 149 GB 0 B

>>>

>>> DISKPART> SELECT DISK 0

>>>

>>> Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

>>>

>>> DISKPART> LIST PARTITION

>>>

>>> Partition ### Type Size Offset

>>> ------------- ---------------- ------- -------

>>> Partition 1 Primary 5544 MB 32 KB

>>> Partition 2 Primary 144 GB 5544 MB

>>>

>>> DISKPART>EXIT

>>>

>>> Leaving DiskPart...

>>>

>>> John

>>>

>>>

>>> Sal wrote:

>>>

>>>> I have a Dell Inspiron 1200 that has 16MB partition that's

>>>> used for diagnostic testing. The disk management snap-in

>>>> only tells me that it's 16MB FAT, Healthy (EISA configur-

>>>> ation). I need to know if this counts as one of my four

>>>> primary partitions. How can I tell? When I right click on it,

>>>> it just brings up a help menu for the Disk Management

>>>> Console.

>

>

[Guest John John (MVP)]

Re: How to tell if a partition is primary?

 

Sal wrote:

> It really burns me up that Dell would waste a primary partition on a

> mere 16MB partition, only half of which is used (50% free).

 

This is the service partition that is booted when you press the Function

key (F12 on Dell?) when your computer starts to boot. To be able to

boot the computer it has to be a primary partition. The other

alternative would be to have you use a diskette or a cd to boot the

computer.

 

John

[Guest Bill in Co.]

Re: How to tell if a partition is primary?

 

John John (MVP) wrote:

> Sal wrote:

>

>> It really burns me up that Dell would waste a primary partition on a

>> mere 16MB partition, only half of which is used (50% free).

>

> This is the service partition that is booted when you press the Function

> key (F12 on Dell?) when your computer starts to boot.

 

Yes, <F12> will get you there (to the Boot Menu).

> To be able to

> boot the computer it has to be a primary partition. The other

> alternative would be to have you use a diskette or a cd to boot the

> computer.

>

> John