Acer laptop - hidden partitions & DDS

JUst ordered a new Acer laptop. It is yet to arrive but has a 160GB HD with XP Windows Media Centre (C Drive partition I guess) and the Acer tools on a hidden partition.
From the other Acer laptops I have seen I will want to create partitions for my music, videos etc. Is Acronis DD10 likely to be the answer to what I need. I'm a little curious about the hidden partiton and how this will affect my attempts to create any partiton on unused free space.
Also, with the C Drive being the only visible drive will DD10 create extra partitions safely without corrupting the XP OS?

 

The first step is to Burn the content of the hidden partition to a DVD as raw data. After wards, use the ACER utility to create and burn a restore DVD. Then go ahead and convert C drive to NTFS (unless ACER got smarter about this issue, mine camewith FAT32). After this, using DD to delete the hidden partition (if you want to recover space) and creating aditional partitions would be a breeze.

 

The laptop has arrived today. It has a 160GB HD with the following layout as displayed in the XP Admin/Disk Management tools.

PQService C: Acer D: Acerdata
FAT 32 FAT 32 FAT32
(EISA Config) 71.84GB 72.33GB
4.88GB 83% free 99% free (3.12mb used)

What I would like to do is keep the hidden partition (PQService - where I believe the Acer recovery tools are and which I have read on this forum is integral to the Acer laptop use), resize the C Drive that has the XP Operating System to about 10GB. Even though the D drive is labelled Acer data it does not appear to hold any data (I guess the 3.12mb must represent the FAT 32 formatting?)

I plan to do the following in the order stated and would invite your comments (I have already made bootable back-up recovery DVDs using the Acer e-recovery system tools as a fall back):

1. Delete the D Acerdata partition
2. Then use DD10 to resize the C drive with the XP operating system
3. Divide the remaining space into numerous partitions

Thank you

 

Eniqmah -

I notice you on a couple of forums, and need your insight.

I too have the 8204, purchased July last year. So most of the early on issues for this machine have already been resolved by Acer. I have not had any problems with my unit.

I want my C drive to be NTFS with optimal cluster sizes, and, eliminate the D drive. I purchased Partition Magic 8.0 for this purpose, but I am anxious about using it. The only files on the D are MSOCache (which I am told needs Office 2003 Local Installation Source Tool to relocate it to the C), Recycler (8.5kb) and System Volume Info. I do not have any system CDs - only the hidden PQService. It would probably be best to do a clean install of XP Pro SP2, but I do not have that CD. Additionally, I would lose the Acer tools. I am not sure which of those tools are really useful / needful. Your insight would be appreciated. If I purchase an XP CD, and if the Acer tools aren't deemed needful/useful, I believe it shouldn't be too difficult to go to the internet and download the necessary drivers for the laptop, right?

The main reason for changing C to NTFS is my frustration in synchronizing my laptop with my desktop via Synchromagic - long NTFS file names that I use aren't compatible with Fat32. I am already aware of the security issues, etc associated with Fat32. Syncing is my main issue.

Your insight would be appreciated. I am rather computer literate, but I am not a geek. So, careful explanation would be very helpful.

Regards -

 

Hi Guys

Don't wish to hijack this thread but in similar vein a couple of questions.

1/ I have an Acer laptop with a 30 Gig HD (1355XC). Does that have a hidden partition ?

2/ If so, if I wanted to reformat and convert the C drive to NTFS, would that present a problem with reformatting with the Acer recovery disks in future ?

Thanks

 

gr8fl & Old Monk - provided you do an image back up before you attempt to convert to NTFS you should be OK as as you have a recovery fallback to your original position. You can create an image of the partition/drive you intend to convert or an image of all drives using either the eRecovery software bundled with your ACer or third party software such as True Image. THe image can be saved to the D drive that Acer notebooks are delivered with or to a removable drive or disks. TrueImage Recovery should enable you to revert to the original point with the saved image.
Any hidden partition will show up labelled "PQService" or similar name under Admin Tools/Computer Management/Disk management in Control Panel but will not be visible in My Computer. I understand that the hidden partition must remain as a FAT32 partition in order for the eRecovery software to operate properly.
THe convert from FAT32 to NTFS is reportedly second nature to programs such as Acronis TI although I have not done this.
Whilst acknowleding the marginal benefits of NTFS over FAT32, I have decided to retain the eRecovery software and FAT32 partitions on my Acer laptop. I do not forsee or anticipate any problems swapping the odd file between my NTFS desktop and FAT32 laptop. I had toyed with the idea of converting all bar the hidden partiton to NTFS. gr8fl did mention some issues he had when synching two devices but it is not totally clear what issues he has had or what volume of files he was moving.