Dell hidden partition

[KRPGroup]

I have an unattended install of XP pro that works great on our Dell systems. The problem is if we have to replace a HD due to failure I am unalbe to recreate the 30MB Hidden utility partition.

I am no worried about getting the utilities on the partition, would just like to have all our computers to have the same partition setup for consistency purposes.

 

[KRPGroup]

Con't

We are using MS Diskpart to create the partitions and we are wondering if this or any other free utility could create a Hidden partition.


We create the partitions with Diskpart as shown below the

Disk 0
Partition 1 30MB
Partition 2 37GB C:

For some reason the unattend install of XP assigns D: to partition 1 and fails to install due to lack of space. If we could make partition 1 hidden I think it will work fine and install on the C: drive

 

[dbMark]

While I don't have an answer for you, my comment is... I guess Dell doesn't think their hard drives will ever fail.

I recently formatted a new Dell computer I got in January and then looked for the disks. Out of 5 identical new computers, none had Utility or driver disks! Seems Dell decided they'd put them on the drive only rather than send CDs with drivers like they used to and I should have known better than to format or replace the drive. I had to download the drivers from their website, but first had to call Dell since their automated website asked for my service tag but still listed too many driver possibilities.

 

[gpalmer711]

If you have a copy of Norton's Ghost then the Gdisk utility can do it for you

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost.nsf/docid/2000030715304425/

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk