deleting a drive

[billbonza]

hi everyone. this is my first post, so im not sure if this is the right place to put it. i installed XP pro on my dell 1525 last year - not to dual boot, but to replace the vista that shipped with it - albeit on a separate drive . I havent used the vista o/s for about 10 months and really want to delete the C drive that its installed on. C is now about 20 Gb - which is about as small as i can make it with partition software. i have removed all the pics/vids etc on the drive, but am a bit concerned that if i wipe the drive the machine wont boot.the folders that are listed on the drive are: Dell, Drivers, Doctemp, Intel, Users (empty), c866bdc561ce241227 (mpengine.dll) programe files (internet explorer;dell;symantec;reference assemblies;conexant etc) Windows.

 

any advice appreciated. (very experienced should read " fairly experienced")

[RandyL]

I believe you mean you have a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop.

 

Since this is a laptop you probably mean that you have one hard drive that you have partitioned into two parts. Is this correct?

 

I don't know what partitioning software you've used.

 

To me it sounds like this is the Dell Factory Image Restore files which might be on a hidden partition there.

 

To be honest at 20GB you have very little to gain from this. Worse still is if you ever do need to reinstall Vista you might need those files.

 

If you reallly want to do it right get the Dell CD's while you can. Backup all your data. Install XP and when you do choose to use the entire hard drive.

 

I would leave well enough alone though. You do run some risk of not being able to reinstall Vista in the future if it's not already too late.

[billbonza]

the laptop has three partitions, and one hard drive. I dont know of any pc that has two or more hard drives. i dont want or need vista. There are no hidden partitions. Ill go elsewhere because you given me a really patronising answer.

[Tootech]

I dont know of any pc that has two or more hard drives

 

HP DV9000 multimedia laptops do, one either side at the front of the machine. Also, a number of tower PC's are built with RAID setups requiring 2 hard drives - its quite common.

 

Your Dell does have a recovery partition, accessed by pressing Ctrl F11 at boot. Installing another operating system will remove that partition.

 

Its always a policy to be cautious, to make sure nothing is advised that would cost you money to recover at a later date.

 

am a bit concerned that if i wipe the drive the machine wont boot

 

I'd back up everything on the XP partition before I start, then remove the Vista partition.

 

As you have installed XP as primary boot OS, your Vista recovery Ctrl F11 will not work anyway - thats been trashed. Also, any boot instructions that were written to the disk for Vista have also been trashed.

 

With dual boot, the rule is always to install the oldest OS first, as the newer OS will deal with Dual Boot. You installed the older OS last, so Vista is defunct. It could be repaired, but that is not what you want.

 

My opinion is that you can go ahead and remove the partition - just make sure XP is backed up first.