help with my m1530

I want to install xp alongside with vista so i need a partition to install xp on. however all 4 are used up:
1)Dell diagnostics
2)Vista
3)Vista Backup
4)Media Direct

I am ok with getting rid of the the media direct partition and installing xp on it but i have a few questions.

Will the re-arranging of partitions make my recovery partition useless?
and
Can i backup the media direct partition to a dvd so i can later re-install it if i need?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

It's quite possible that Dell shipped a Media Direct recovery CD already - they did last year. Check your recovery CD's. I'm not sure if you'd be able to simply back the partition up to DVD to reinstall, but one thing to note is that Media Direct can only be reinstalled as the first partition - that is, it essentially deletes the other partitions and puts itself first (excepting the diagnostics), forcing you to reinstall everything. If you plan to use MediaDirect, and have a Vista Recovery DVD (and those for Dell-installed software you want), it probably would be best to delete the Vista Backup partition rather than Media Direct.

 

Yeah, as Apollo13 said...

If you want both VISTA and XP installed as a dual boot, you need to just go ahead and reformat the main VISTA partition. Once you do that, split that partition into two equal size partition so that Windows XP can be installed into the oher half of the partition.

There is no need to touch the Dell diagnostic partition (which does not have enough space for an OS installation) nor do you need to touch Media Direct. I would recommend keeping both Dell diagnostic partition and Media Direct as they use an insignificant amount of space compared to what you have available from the VISTA OS partition.

You should have the Media Direct CD that came with the system, so you can reinstall Media Direct anytime ... you just have to follow its instruction on installing (I believe it is installed before you install the OS, I forget about the exact details though).

You can run the VISTA backup again after you install both versions of the OS into your system.

 

Probably. Even if you don't actually delete the recovery partition, you likely won't be able to boot to it for recovery purposes after restructuring the existing partitions. At least that's always been my experience with Dell notebooks.

 

Correct. Once you alter any partitions on a Dell, the recovery partition becomes useless. The OP might as well delete the recovery partition, the Vista partition, merge the two, then split them into two equal partitions.

Personally, I would buy another hard drive and leave the original alone.

 

That's actually a really good idea for somone who wants to retain their factory original install. New hard drives are pretty cheap. Take the original out and stick it in a drawer.

 

well now im gonna get rid of the recovery partiton. Im burning it to a dvd just in case i need to go back to factory settings. i dont know why i wanted to wipe the mediadirect partition, but whatever.

 

Ok, so i go to format my recovery partition and it says it is in use, but i can still format it. What program is using it? is it ok to delete it? I dont want to mess up my computer.

 

Back up there dog. Why are you trying to format that partition from within Windows anyway? It's not really big enough on it's own to install XP on, is it? (That's what you wanted to do right? Dual boot XP and Vista?)

Here's what you really need to do, IMO. Start over and blow away the whole drive. Partiton the drive to your liking, using either the media direct CD or your OS DVD. Install XP first in one partition, and then install Vista in another partition. (Set aside a third partition for shared data.) While it's possible to install XP after Vista, it's much better to install it first. The Vista install process will recognize the XP installation and automatically create a boot menu for you. (By contrast, XP will NOT recognize an existing Vista installation since it has no knowledge of Vista. You'll have to jump through a few hoops to get a working boot menu this way.)

Now, whether Media Direct will still be functional following the Vista install, I dunno. Since Vista will alter the MBR setting up a dual-boot situation, Media Direct may get broken. Perhaps someone who has set up a dual boot along side Media Direct can share.

 

well i dont think wiping my whole drive is nessasary - i just want to install xp on a partition and dual boot the two o/s's. And i know 10gb wont be enough for a resonable xp install thats why i would shrink the vista partition about 30gb resulting in a 40gb xp partition. This is my reasoning, however if you see anything wrong with it i might just have to do what your saying and wipe my drive.

 

Yeah, you can do it that way if you want. Personally I'd wipe the drive and install XP first, but you can keep the existing Vista install intact if you prefer.

Regarding the question above about not being able to format it...were you trying to do it from Windows Explorer, or from Disk Management? My suggestion would be to completely delete the recovery partition using Disk Management to convert it to free space. Then shrink the Vista partition. Create a new partition using the total free space like you wanted and then install XP. You'll need to research how to create a boot menu for dual booting XP and Vista, since installing XP after Vista won't create one automatically.

If you were already using disk management and it wouldn't allow you to delete or format the recovery partition, then i don't know. Unless you had the drive open in Windows Explorer or something.

 

yeah it said it was being used in both disk management and explorer

 

Just an update if anyone cares lol
I just said screw disk management and made the partition in Gparted (great program). Now the xp disk it 40GB and the Vista one is about 190GB.
However when i booted up the computer was just hung up on the dell screen. So, i poped in the vista reinstall disk and repaired it (the dvd wouldn't boot the first two times for some reason) and now its back up and running. Now to install xp