Recovery (D) drive

[unclecrash]

Hi all,

I am using a dell inspiron 1501 laptop with vista home basic, 60GB HD, AMD processor 3500+ 1.80GHz, 894MB RAM, 32 bit OS.

My problem is the 60GB hard drive i was sold turns out to be a 50GB C drive and another drive of 10GB labelled recovery (D).
Does anyone know why this is and can i reclaim the D drive as my system runs well and i have all the restore discs. If i can recliam the d drive how do i go about it?

[CrazyMonkey]

The D: drive is a partition installed for system recovery processes by Dell...

Basically you can re-install the Operating System from there, its a pain to lose space. But thats what Dell have been doing for a long time.

[threepe]

As long as you have your disks then you don't need that recovery area. Its just a special recovery environment used by Dell to assist users when their pc's go down. Basically it provides a fast means for a reinstall.

You can reclaim the space using some partition management software, such as Acronis Disk Director or Partition Magic. You will want to delete the extra partition, and expand the original one.

Please, please backup your date before you do this. Modern partition management software is pretty reliable. But if it goes wrong, you will lose the use of everything on your machine

[unclecrash]

Many thanks guys. More disk space here i come!
Thanks again

[unclecrash]

I checked the internet for the software reccomended. I was going to go with the norton product but also spotted several free partition managers for download. Has anyone used any of these. I wont use them unless they are recommended

Ranish partition manager
Cute partition manager

[Lourdes]

Ranish won't do NTFS to me knowledge. I can only recommend Acrnois Disk Director but even that isn't flawless as I've had problems, it's just not overly wise to mess with partitions that have data on.

[unclecrash]

Hi all,

I am in two minds now.
Of the 50GB available i still have 24 so if i am definitely going to do it would it be better to do it now or when i NEED to or does it make no difference.

Many thanks all.

[IAmATeaf]

It only really makes a diff if you need that 10gb that is currently tied up. I'd do it sooner rather then later as at the mo you'll have less data to backup. I've always used Partition Magic for this type of stuff.

[peterb]

I'd second partition magic for NTFS file systems. Haowever, you might want to look at Gparted. Gparted is an open source disk bootable partition editor that boots from a CD into its own (linux based) operating system environment. That said, it is a fully fraphical front end and very easy to use.

GParted -- Welcome

Whatever one you eventually use - back up critical data first! (or just clone the disk to a USB hard drive)

[unclecrash]

Showing my ignorance truly now, how do i find out if my file system is NTFS or not?

[vinnyT]

Showing my ignorance truly now, how do i find out if my file system is NTFS or not?

Open 'my computer', right-click the drive you want to check, select properties and the info is on the open page (general tab) eg Type = Local Disk, File system = NTFS (or fat, etc).

Hope this helps.

[peterb]

The main partition will almost certainly be NTFS, but the recovery partition could be FAT32

[Lucio]

One thing to bear in mind, is that for the cost of proper disc management software, you could get an external HDD that connects via USB and it'd give you a lot more space for your money.

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

[unclecrash]

Lucio, sometimes i spend so much time thinking about a problem the most obvious solutions elude me. Why on earth am i considering anyhting else?

I had a hitachi that buggered up my desktop a short while ago so i intend to avoid hitachi but maybe there is something i am unaware of regarding size of drive or type of drive.
Are the any limits to the size,type or anything else i should consider when buying?

[peterb]

No - pretty much any drive should do the job - I think there was some discussion about it when you had the snag last time.

2.5" enclosures will run off the USB port alone - but there is a little 'Gotcha' in that sometimes a single USB port wonb't supply sufficient power to run the drive, so you need a double headed USB connector - one just provides addiotional power if you need it (I think most 2.5" enclosures come with one ). A 3.5" enclosure usually comes with an external power supply, so it isn't an issue - but you lose portability. Or just buy one ready to go - enclosure and hard drive ready assembled. Loads on Scan (Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK)

[unclecrash]

New hard drive it is then.

Mnay thanks to all who replied