dell hard drive [Archive] - Icrontic Forums

entropy

30 May 2004, 5:12pm

ok, so i have a dell hdd in here that i need to format. problem is - dell seems to have put a 31.3 meg FAT partition at the beginning of the disc. it's called DELLUTILITY. what is it and should i keep it there or can i delete it?

Thrax

30 May 2004, 5:14pm

That's probably their hidden utility partition used to recover the system in case of a crash.

If you just feel like using the drive on a non-Dell PC, using it like any other old drive from the store, go ahead and delete it.

entropy

30 May 2004, 5:16pm

it's going back in the dell, seeing as how that's the only hdd it has lol.

Thrax

30 May 2004, 5:18pm

Then if you're fully capable of repairing your own systems in the event of an emergency (OS crash or whatnot), you may delete it.

If the system is for someone else, leave it.

entropy

30 May 2004, 5:20pm

it's going in my parents' computer, so i should be able to get at it if something goes wrong, which it shouldn't because they're wise enough not to mess with things they don't understand. will the oem dell XP home cd complain if that partition isn't there?

Thrax

30 May 2004, 5:32pm

I will say doubtful, but it might.

It's best to leave the partition alone, then.

celcho

30 May 2004, 6:47pm

i'd leave it.

entropy

30 May 2004, 6:49pm

well, it's formatted and i just left it on there. who knows? if they ever decide to call dell one day, they might have a heart attack and get all pissed / not be able to fix it. besides, if it were MY computer, i'd use the extra 40 megabytes, but they never will lol.