 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsPC HardwareCPUMotherboardsVideo CardsStorageNetworkingPeripheralsBrand Name Systems Related Topics Video GamesWindowsMS Server ProductsMS OfficeMore Topics ... |
Hardware Forum / Brand Name Systems / Dell / June 2007Removing the hidden partition
Just got my Dell E520 with Vista. I ended up formatting due to a larger than expected amount of bloatware on the system. When re-installing Windows, I was able to remove the Dell backup partition. But under disk management in Windows I'm still seeing a "hidden" 39 meg partition with no option to delete. How do I get rid of this? Do I have to use Fdisk outside of Windows to remove it or is there some other way? I don't mind reinstalling Windows one more time if needed. Why? It's 37 MEG, not GIG. It contains the Dell built-in diagnostics. You access them with CTRL + ALT + D at the Dell logo. I'd keep them around. > -----Original Message----- > From: Tracy [mailto:muppettracy@hotmail.com] [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > there some other way? I don't mind reinstalling Windows one more time > if needed. I just thought it would be better to clear out the entire drive since the diagnostics were on CD when/if they were needed. I used to delete it. I leave it there now. Your choice. Tracy <muppettracy@hotmail.com> wrote in news:1182973577.240355.202340 @w5g2000hsg.googlegroups.com: > Just got my Dell E520 with Vista. I ended up formatting due to a > larger than expected amount of bloatware on the system. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > there some other way? I don't mind reinstalling Windows one more time > if needed. I'd leave it there, too. My dad gave his 1 1/2 year old XPHome, Dell 8400 to a friend. I was going to reformat/partition the hard drive to delete all data, but I didn't want to hang around to reinstall XP and all other apps for his friend. I decided to reset to factory conditions and used the restore function to do that. It took under five minutes. Came in very handy, and at only 39MB, that's only a dozen or so medium bit rate mp3s. > Tracy <muppettracy@hotmail.com> wrote in news:1182973577.240355.202340 >> When re-installing Windows, I was able to remove the Dell backup >> partition. But under disk management in Windows I'm still seeing a >> "hidden" 39 meg partition with no option to delete. How do I get rid >> of this? .. > I'd leave it there, too. My dad gave his 1 1/2 year old XPHome, Dell > 8400 to a friend. I was going to reformat/partition the hard drive to [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > in very handy, and at only 39MB, that's only a dozen or so medium bit > rate mp3s. How does leaving the 39 MB diagnostic partition help in terms of utilizing the X GB backup partition? Do you believe the Dell restore process caused all of the data on the OS partition to be wiped? Except that the 39MB partition isn't the restore partition, it is the diags partition. The bigger hidden partition (around 5-8GB) is the restore partition. He already blew that one away. > -----Original Message----- > From: Boris [mailto:Boris] [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > in very handy, and at only 39MB, that's only a dozen or so medium bit > rate mp3s. There is no way that 39MB can hold a restore image of Windows XP. It requires at least 400 to 600MB. > Tracy <muppettracy@hotmail.com> wrote in news:1182973577.240355.202340 > @w5g2000hsg.googlegroups.com: [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > in very handy, and at only 39MB, that's only a dozen or so medium bit > rate mp3s. I guess that compressing the Windows restore image with lossy JPEG won't do it? Maybe that's what happened to Windows to introduce all the bugs? The other day in another newsgroup someone asked if the Windows OS restore image was burned into the system BIOS... Ben Myers >There is no way that 39MB can hold a restore image of Windows XP. It >requires at least 400 to 600MB. [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] >> in very handy, and at only 39MB, that's only a dozen or so medium bit >> rate mp3s. >There is no way that 39MB can hold a restore image of Windows XP. It >requires at least 400 to 600MB. Barry, I think he just mixed up some of the sizes. Probably the 39megs is the partition with diagnostics. Bottom line is I think you are correct. Sometimes tho it might get confusing as Dell puts 2 or 3 special partitions on a new hd (ie: diagnostics, backup, recovery and who knows what else?? ). Actually I just wipe them all off as I don't trust any corporation wrt to spyware, etc... . Then I just make my own special partition so I know what I actually have or don't have as well as the size of the partition . > On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:43:58 -0400, Barry Watzman > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > know what I actually have or don't have as well as the size of the > partition . Yep. Tom's correct, Barry's correct, and Ben's correct. I've been thoroughly corrected, and correctly so. My bad. In my haste to be helpful, that's what I get for having too many forum/newsgroup windows open at once and transposing OPs. Thank you to the pros for correcting this rookie. As Tom said, the OP had wiped the restore partition, but still had the diagnostics partition available. Thus, Sudohnim's question to me. What's a little confusing to me is the content of this article: http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/vista.htm It states that Microsoft has provided it's own imaging function, ImageX, which is accessed from the Vista Recovery Environment via F8 at boot up. The article goes on to state that Dell has taken advantage of this, and provides a factory image in ImageX, which is accessible through the Vista Recovery Enivronment (also). So, are there two ImageXs? One from Microsoft which restores only Vista, and another one from Dell which restores Vista and all other apps/drivers, as shipped from the factory? I don't have a Vista machine (yet), so I can't check it out myself. Anyone? >> On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:43:58 -0400, Barry Watzman >> [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > > Anyone? My Vista laptop only has one restore partition and one diagnostic partition. The restore is D: and is called recovery and is NTFS format. > As Tom said, the OP had wiped the restore partition, but still had the > diagnostics partition available. Thus, Sudohnim's question to me. I actually asked two. The first one is no longer important for things have been cleared up. The second one relates to people wanting to clean their system and/or hard drive of sensitive data before they get rid of it. Which is something you apparently wanted to do. It's important, so I'll try again one last time... Do you or does anyone believe that using Dell restore wipes (as in overwrites) ALL of the files/data in the OS partition? I've never used Dell restore let alone used it and then examined disk sectors afterwards. So I don't know, but would have to assume it doesn't until that is proven wrong. IF it doesn't, an explicit wipe before the restore would be in order. > > As Tom said, the OP had wiped the restore partition, but still had the > > diagnostics partition available. Thus, Sudohnim's question to me. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > until that is proven wrong. IF it doesn't, an explicit wipe before > the restore would be in order. Yes, you did ask two questions. Sorry, I can't answer your second question. After I used Dell (Symantec) restore, I rebooted the machine to see what would come up. The Microsoft Windows EULA came up, and at that point, I shut the machine down with the power button, and that was the last time I touched the machine. I didn't not wipe C: before I did the Dell restore, and I didn't check the hard drive after I did the restore. I assumed that all user data was gone, because restore is supposed to set C: back to factory shipping condition. To go one level deeper in detail, if the Dell/Symantec Ghost restore does a quick format, then the data that has not been overwritten by the restore can still be found using relatively advanced forensic software. If Ghost does a full format along the way, then even more advanced forensic software would be needed to find some of the old data. For the truly parenoid, like the US DoD, use DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) to overwrite the entire drive or selected partitions enough times with enough write patterns that the wiped drive meets DoD standards for wiping... Ben Myers >> > As Tom said, the OP had wiped the restore partition, but still had the >> > diagnostics partition available. Thus, Sudohnim's question to me. [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] >restore. I assumed that all user data was gone, because restore is >supposed to set C: back to factory shipping condition. > To go one level deeper in detail, if the Dell/Symantec Ghost restore does a > quick format, then the data that has not been overwritten by the restore can > still be found using relatively advanced forensic software. I think you would agree that manually examining and conducting some searches on the sectors would require but a very basic sector inspector/editor. I would agree that more sophisticated tools would be necessary to extract data from encoded files and perform elaborate searches for interesting data. I think given that simple approaches using widely available, often free, and easily developed software might be all it takes to burn you, we could save some time and agree that users should make sure that the sectors are overwritten at least once. Yes? Well, yes. I run DBAN and have it do three DoD type passes on a drive. That's what I do with used hard drives that show up here, either to re-use the drives or to give a client the assurance that the data on his used drive will not be compromised. Using a basic sector inspector is really going about it the hard way. More sophisticated tools are readily available. Just poke and prod around the open source community... Ben Myers >> To go one level deeper in detail, if the Dell/Symantec Ghost restore does a >> quick format, then the data that has not been overwritten by the restore can [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >software might be all it takes to burn you, we could save some time and agree >that users should make sure that the sectors are overwritten at least once. Yes? |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2010 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.