Removing partitions

[TS Mathews]

Having an HP system, my version of XP is installed via their recovery disks
without input from me as to what and how it's done, so I'm always stuck with
my hard drive being partitioned with their D drive as a recovery and I'd
like to remove it. As I know--at least I think I know--fdisk has a 64 gig
limit, I bought Acronis Disk Doctor to remove the partition but can't seem
to get it done. I initially just tried deleting it but then I don't get an
option to increase the C drive by taking the unallocated space. So, I
activated the partition again and tried increasing the C drive and taking
the space from the D. This works but only reduces the D drive down to a few
megabytes and while that solves the problem in terms of having all of my
hard drive useable--for all practical purposes--it still leaves that drive
in place. Again, I can delete it but I have unallocated space.

Surely there must be some way to tell my operating system that I want one
hard dive...period.

Any help, anyone?

Oh, in case someone thinks I may be trying to run Disk Director from inside
XP, I made a boot disk and boot the program directly from a reset.

Thanks,
Tim

 

[Guest]

Telling the OS to rework its own hd as its operating wont work...1st,make
sure you can retrieve the xp data on D: As in "its all on a cd or dvd",2nd,to
change the current hd,one would boot to xp cd,recovery,in recovery,type:
DiskPart In DiskPart,delete any or all partitions,create one,press ESC key,
type:EXIT Reboot to xp cd,install xp....Say you cant boot to xp cd as an
option,
how is xp to be reinstalled..XP install or recovery console need to both be
available,if its not,you might forget the format of D:

 

[TS Mathews]

You misunderstood. I don't have the option of re-installing XP after I
delete the unwanted partition. As my XP came with my HP system, there are
no options for installation...it installs and sets up a D drive for its
recovery. So, I want to remove the D drive AFTER installation. As I said,
with Acronis Disk Director, I can reduce it to being gone for all intenet
and purpose as it's down to something like 7 megs but, simply stated, it's
an irritant that I can't get rid of the darn thing. Using "delete partition"
changes it to unallocated space but it remains.

 

[DL]

Fdisk has no relevence since its a win9* utility
I have no specific knowledge of the HP setup/recovery process. Since you
have recovery disks I'm unsure as to why this sets up your sys with a
recovery partition. Does the process actually install anything in this
recovery partition? Is it actually labeled 'recovery'?
Does HP site give any insite as to the purpose of this partition?
In Disk Management (win) are you able to delete this partition?

 

[TS Mathews]

HP's installation routine partitions the hard disk, creating the D drive on
which it puts the recovery files even if I use their utility to make
copies on dvd. I have no idea why they would do such a thing other than to
be able to guarantee to the AOL's and other scum suckers who give them money
that there's no way in hell I won't be forced to see their crapware over and
over. Here's laugher for you...after a reformat and renstallation, the
process to get rid of all the crapware actually takes longer than the
installation!!

Go ahead, ask me if I'll ever buy another HP without a guarantee that I'll
get a "clean" copy of the operating system.

 

[JohnW]

HP's installation routine partitions the hard disk, creating the D drive
on which it puts the recovery files even if I use their utility to make
copies on dvd. I have no idea why they would do such a thing other than
to be able to guarantee to the AOL's and other scum suckers who give them
money that there's no way in hell I won't be forced to see their crapware
over and over. Here's laugher for you...after a reformat and
renstallation, the process to get rid of all the crapware actually takes
longer than the installation!!

Go ahead, ask me if I'll ever buy another HP without a guarantee that I'll
get a "clean" copy of the operating system.

As far as I understand, if you get rid of your D:/ drive you wont be able to
use the HP recovery disc. The HP disc accesses the partition that HP
installed to put your PC back to its original state.
I think your only way out is to purchase a copy of XP (OEM versions can
still be purchased cheaply) and reformat and reinstall XP from your new copy
of XP.