windows reformating windows recovery (D:)

[WaRnInJa]

im usng windows vista on a HP laptop. my thing is that i have under my computer 2 hard disk drives C: and D: , my D: drive is 11.9 GB and i only have 1.29 free so im trying to free some more space if not free the whole thing... so my question is " how i do this?

 

when i right click the D: drive and then xplore it wil only show me one file in there so i guess thats not how i delete the 11.9 GB used in there, there also one more option i think it might be and is when i right click it says format... but i dont know what that does to my D: drive so i dont wanna click on in case that messes up my PC.

 

the reason why i i wana delete this 11.9 GB space is because i belive it would help me improve my laptop performance a bit if i have more space free......... i dont even know freeing space from this drive is gonna hel me. soooo please help meeeeeee!!!!

[Blackguard]

From what you said there are a couple possibilities I think.

 

1. This is just the windows vista recovery disc slapped on a partition that is 10 times its actual size.

 

2. This is a full image of Vista installation as shipped by the manufacturer

 

3. This is one of actually HP's frequently obnoxious recovery suites.

 

Generally, when I've seen these types of partitions included in, using the right-click context menu won't actually format them. Then again, sometimes you're not even able to see them without using a partition manager.

 

If you do not have a full installation or recovery disc that came with your laptop. Removing this partition is going to result in none of your recovery context menus functioning. So you're pretty much not going to be able to perform a full reinstall of vista. Nor replace any corrupted system files, fix your MBR, etc.

 

If you're comfortable with losing all of your installation files, or you have other installation media like a dvd, removing this partition shouldn't really interfere with the current condition of your laptop. Aside from none of the re-installation/recovery context menus, ( including those included in bios and as start-up options ) working anymore.

 

The best way to go about this would be to try the right-click format context menu. If that were to fail, you'd probably need a partition manager live CD, such as "Parted Magic". You would then delete the partition entirely, and recreate it with a file system vista is able to perform its format operation on. This would effectively recover the full 11GB to a usable storage drive. However, unless you are constantly running out of page file, this is unlikely to effect the performance of your laptop in any positive way.

 

 

If you need additional storage space, I'd recommend some type of external drive. Depending on your interfaces, these could be much much slower than your internal drives, which renders them pretty useless for software, but backing media up to them can save a lot of space.

 

You could also try using a properly spec'd USB Flash Drive, with vista ready boost. This ( I believe ) will keep a mirrored copy of the page file, and make accessing it much faster, but it is unlikely to provide any benefit to games as they shouldn't really ever go to paging.

 

Third, you could ( provided you have a copy somewhere ) revert the laptop to an earlier operating system with a smaller memory/file size footprint. Such as XP or Windows 2k. Drawbacks there being, if you're using any 64bit hardware its not going to work ( aside from XP 64-bit, which is discontinued and sucks hard anyway ). You could also run with linux, which is what I use on my laptop. However this isn't an option for 98% of the population, and if you use your laptop as your primary computer, is likely to piss you off way more than a slow Vista installation. You would also lose all of your current installation files, and assuming you didn't back it up, any additional media.

 

 

I hope I have been comprehensive. Whatever option you decide to run with I'd be happy to help you through the process.

[WaRnInJa]

thank you blackguard after reviewing you suggestion i came to a conclusion of buying an external hard drive and tranfer all my pictures and audio/vidio files there and dedicate more space for ET/BF2... i will anyway get back you to if by any chance the HD RECOVERY (D:) drive gets full and i have any issu or problem.

 

I do not have the cds u talked about so im gonna look into that so ill be ready when time comes...... thank you againg

[Blackguard]

Cheers mate, you're very welcome.

 

With external drives

 

Firewire 400+ is faster than usb in practice, but not in theoretical numbers. Meaning its preferable for speed.

 

USB on the other hand, is much more widely compatible, as I'm sure is obvious.

 

 

Just a heads up, available ports my dictate what you can and can't use.