HP hidden partition

[Dave]

I have an HP computer that came with the hidden partition on the original
drive that contains the System Recovery. I have added a new hard drive
and installed a new retail version of Windows XP Home. I have everything
running fine from the new drive. I have the old drive running as the
slave (D and thought I'd use it for storage or backup.

My question is..... Since the System Recovery partition seems hidden it
doesn't look like Win XP or Partition Magic will let me delete it. What
would be the best way to wipe out both partitions and reformat the whole
drive?

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

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--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| I have an HP computer that came with the hidden partition on the original
| drive that contains the System Recovery. I have added a new hard drive
| and installed a new retail version of Windows XP Home. I have everything
| running fine from the new drive. I have the old drive running as the
| slave (D and thought I'd use it for storage or backup.
|
| My question is..... Since the System Recovery partition seems hidden it
| doesn't look like Win XP or Partition Magic will let me delete it. What
| would be the best way to wipe out both partitions and reformat the whole
| drive?

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have an HP computer that came with the hidden partition on the original
drive that contains the System Recovery. I have added a new hard drive
and installed a new retail version of Windows XP Home. I have everything
running fine from the new drive. I have the old drive running as the
slave (D and thought I'd use it for storage or backup.

My question is..... Since the System Recovery partition seems hidden it
doesn't look like Win XP or Partition Magic will let me delete it. What
would be the best way to wipe out both partitions and reformat the whole
drive?

PM ought to be able to unhide it and delete. If not, it could be done
with BootIT NG, from http://www.BootitNG.com ($35 shareware - 30 day
full functional trial)

But unless you are really short on disk space I would leave it. If you
have trouble and get onto HP support you may very well need to restore
to exfactory state (with your new disk disconnected)

 

[Dave]

Thanks. It looks like PartitionMagic will do it afterall.

No, I want to get rid of the whole HP System Recovery scheme. It's been
nothing but a pain in the butt. My PC is out of warranty and I bought a
full version of Windows XP. If I every wanted to put it back to the
original HP condition, I do have a set of the HP System Recovery CD's. But
I sure don't plan on it.

 

[I'm Dan]

...(snipped)...
No, I want to get rid of the whole HP System Recovery scheme.
It's been nothing but a pain in the butt. My PC is out of warranty
and I bought a full version of Windows XP. If I every wanted
to put it back to the original HP condition, I do have a set of the
HP System Recovery CD's. But I sure don't plan on it.

The one time you might want to do that is when you eventually get rid of the
HP. Then you can reclaim your full version for use on a future machine and
restore the oem XP on the HP.

 

[Dave]

That's a good point. I'm very pleased with the non-HP version of Win XP.
I was a little worried about finding the drivers. But I actually found
that there were newer and better drivers from Nvidia than what HP had
provided.

 

[DL]

You should take care with drivers as often major 'name' manu often have
hardware specifically ammended for their sys, and as such the drivers may be
very specific to their sys.
Particularly with hardware integrated into the mb
David