New Laptop question

Hi all, Im new to this forum. I am reciving my new HP 9000t laptop with xp media center on it. of course you know they load it up with bloatware and such. I just bought True Image 10. Here is what I want to do, I just want to know if this this is the right way to go about it. It has a 100 gig hd on the machine, but it has a stupid recovery partition. My qusetion is, Can I use true image to backup the c drive partition, then go back and blast out the drive, fdisk it and use TI, to restore? or is ther another or better way. I dont need that D restore partition at all. Thanks to all that reply

 

In theory, yes, that's what the TI program does. But remember to make the bootable rescue CD. Where are you going to store the backup image?

 

wow, that was a fast reply, its being stored on a network drive, I just dont want to have a boot problem since im not restoring the D partition..

 

So what should I do? should I wipe out the hd first, then just reload everything, or should I be ok with just backing up the C partition then formatting?

 

I take the easy approach. I uninstall the Dell bloatware from the C: drive. I really don't understand why people go to all the trouble of reinstalling the OS as the final result is no better than just uninstalling the bloatware. Then I delete the Restore partition, resize the C: drive and create my other partitions.

After any partition manipulation the Dell Media Direct function will stop working but this can be easily fixed.

 

thanks, I have a HP, how do I blow out the partition and resize the c partition? I have never done that yet, I have 3 computers and dont have any drives with extra partitions.. thanks again.. Tryton

 

Sorry, I thought you had a Dell. HP is not Dell.

For the partitioning you will need Partition magic or Disk Director Suite. There are other apps but I haven't used them. Partition Magic is what most people use.

Make sure you run the apps from their boot disc and not from Windows. Also make sure you have backups before you start because it's easy to make a mistake if you are a beginner. If you get the software I can talk you through it.

http://partition.radified.com/

This is a good overview of partitioning.

 

This is a good discussion on backups and the use of partitions. I've read it several times. Very helpful.

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/notes.htm#13

 

Thank you for all the help Brian.. I will read those links today at work.. And thanks for all the help.. Tryton