New netbook - recovery partition help/advice.

Rev

I got a HP DM1 netbook yesterday.

Set it up today and the drive is in three partitions.

C:Windows partition
D:Recovery partition
E: HP tools.

I assumed the recovery partition would be hidden and I'd have the option to decide how large the Windows partition would be on setup. I didn't.

Plus, it has 4gig of ram and a 32bit OS, Which seems quite daft.

So, how can I partition the C drive (I usually have windows on one partition and everything else on another partition, so if I have to reformat for any reason, I don't lose everything and have to start from scratch - I still back up in case of hard drive falure, but I like to have the two partitions) without having to reformat the thing.

And how can I hide the other two partitions?

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks.

esuhl

Rev wrote: »

Plus, it has 4gig of ram and a 32bit OS, Which seems quite daft.

I don't know how your netbook works, but if the onboard graphics use system RAM (rather than having their own memory) then 4GB is the optimum amount for a 32-bit operating system as that's exactly the maximum that the OS can address.

If the netbook's CPU utilises physical address extension (PAE) then a 32-bit OS can address up to 64GB RAM, although no application will be able to access more than 4GB at one time.

Rev wrote: »

So, how can I partition the C drive

I've never used recovery partitions myself. If the recovery/reinstallation process won't allow you to modify the partition table are you able to use something like a GParted Live CD to set up the partitions as you want (ensuring that you don't destroy the recovery partition), then use the recovery process to install to the partition you want?

The first thing I did when I got my netbook was to delete the existing partitions and install a new OS from scratch... Maybe that's the only way forward?

leseul

Hokay, here you go:

Click Start and type diskmgmt.msc into the search box and hit enter - This will open the Disk Management utility that will be able to deal with both your questions.

To hide your recovery drives right click em and click "Change drive letter and paths" highlight the drive letter and click remove.
To Repartition C: Right click it and select "shrink volume" and shrink it by the amount of space (in MB) you want for your documents partition then when its complete, right click the free space created and click "create partition" follow the instructions.

Note: do your partitioning before hiding the drives as losing the drive letter can get confusing. also, to unhide the drive, go back to Disk Management, right click the drive and click "Change drive letter and paths" again, then click add, choose an appropriate drive letter and away you go.

esuhl

Rev wrote: »

And how can I hide the other two partitions?

Can you not stop Windows from mounting them automatically via the Disk Management snap-in in the Microsoft Management Console?

Edit: You beat me to it, leseul!

leseul

Hehe sorry esuhl!

boatman

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-pavilion-notebooks/501683-hp-dm1z-255.html
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02638587&tmp_task=solveCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=4317234#N121

Might be of use..

closed

do disk image backups, and you won't lose anything

Rev

Thanks for the replies. Much appreciated.

I'm going to try a minimal restore, then hide the drives using the info above. I'll back the recovery up to a USB stick too.

If I can't get it how I want it I'll just download the drivers and do a clean install of Windows.

Another q, don;t want to start a new thread. What's best to do with the battery? Despite being a netbook it doesn't really leave the house, am I best just leaving it on charge, or charge, use, charge etc.

Thanks

Rev

Okay, not given the option to do a minimized recovery, which is annoying. So looks like I'll have to search for the drivers and do a clean install.