New Vostro 1700 laptop! Why are there four partitions, and can I get rid of them?!

I've just got a Vostro 1700 laptop with Vista installed. I'm really hating Vista (ugly busy interface, clunky, constant handholding and restricting, etc) so am thinking I'd rather install XP instead. I've got a Dell XP SP1 installation disk, but before I do the installation I need to know more about the Vostro....

.... maily why does it have FOUR partitions on install!

The partitions are:
Hidden - 118mb (EISA configuration)
Hidden - 2.5Gb (Primary partition)
D - Recovery - 10Gb (Primary Partition)
C - OS - 220gb (System boot, page file, active, crash dump, primary partition)

What are each of these, and do I really need them? I don't want to use Dell or Microsoft's backup software, and have the Windows, Office, webcam installation disks I need, but do I still need any of them for Dell's own diagnostics, and/or the Media Direct software (not sure what that actually is yet!)

Ideally I want to boot to an XP cd, (effectively) delete all partitions and create one, then put XP on it, then I can create my own partitions as I usually would in XP. Is it as doable as it sounds?

Thanks!

 

Just to add, I've read up a little on Media Direct; I'm not bothered about having that option at all (I never need to access files on it without a full OS install) so can do without that, but I would like to keep use of the media keys at the front of the case.

Thanks.

 

The 118MB, 2.5GB, 10GB, and 220GB partitions are diagnostics, Media Direct, recovery (aka disk image) and everything else, respectively. If you don't want to use any of Dell's utilities/"features", you don't need to keep the partitions.

You can certainly drop an XP disk in there and the wipe the partitions as you would with a normal install, but I think you might need to jump through some hoops to remove the hidden partitions (aka low-level formats, etc; not totally sure on that, it's been a while since I removed a hidden partition).

The media keys at the front of the machine should work outside of Media Direct and if not, there should be a driver to make 'em work outside of Media Direct.

 

Media direct is a crap boots same time as normal vista does
I had to do the jumpin on 2 dell notebook to get rid of all the crap.
Boot linux live cd low level re partition hdd (most partition utill will fail to do so)
Then installed vista and used dell oem key to activate back.
Since then the media key is just an other power button.

 

Before you give Vista the boot, know this:
Your reaction is the typical reaction that all people have when faced with something new. Of course you prefer XP right now because you have been using it for 7 years. Vista is new and different, and it will take you a few weeks at least to get used to it. Once you do, you will find that it works very well.

Understand the part of yourself that this comes from, and you'll be better off. Humans typically hate change, but excel in adapting to it.

 

Good one Orev. I'm still using XP though I have a Vista upgrade cd. One thing I did upgrade to is Office 2007 which comes with a completely new user interface. I really disliked it at first because I had to learn how to use it. But now, I think it's great.

 

Since it sounds like your XP disc came with another computer, it's an OEM license and you're not allowed to transfer the license to the new machine. (You'll probably be flagged by WGA or whatever.) If your new computer came with Vista Business or Ultimate, it should have downgrade rights, so in that case you can use your XP disc with your new computer's key (I think that's how it works). But if you got Basic or Premium, you'll be out of luck with that.

 

I hadn't seen the replies on here guys, but am needing more help.

I managed to install XP but when I 'tested' the Media Direct button (like a red rag to a bull....!) it borked the installation. Too risky to have that, so I'm giving Vista another try, but I do need help with it.

The main thing that's really pissing me off with Vista is that it just wont let me create more than one partition in addition to the main one. That's just not good enough, to have two partitions of over 100gb, one being the OS one.

Ideally I need four seperate partitions - I've got it easily enough on my old Dell Latitude laptop, so why can't I do it on Vista?

My version of Vista is Home Premium, btw. I chose that instead of Business.

As questioned above, I'm not bothered about the Media Direct crap, so is there a way of installing Vista cleanly without Media Direct and without having to waste a partition on it? Is it possible to start it up, boot directly to the Vista installation and install it without Media Direct, and without the button acting like a permanent doomsday button?

If I can do that I can cope with Vista. I really dislike the fact that an image of the OS on a clean install took up 7gb compared to the 1.5 of XP on my desktop, and the look of Explorer is really clumsy and awkward to manoeuvre around, but I guess I can cope.

I think the main thing that annoys me with Vista is that I don't see why you need a powerful processer and ****loads of memory just to run the OS. I'd rather have a smaller, simpler OS that does what I want when I want, and isn't second guessing and trying to do everything I may possibly need to do at some point... but that's another discussion....!

If someone could help me out on this reinstall I'd appreciate it!

Cheers!