How can I delete Dell's OEM partition?

[dg1261]

You're welcome, satrow. I've been following Dell's implementation of their diagnostics (DellUtility) partition for over a decade. It was mildly useful back then, but has become essentially useless today.

A decade ago it was a useful feature to help a telephone support tech get technical details about a customer's system. Rather than hoping the customer hadn't misplaced his/her Utilities CD, the tech could walk even a complete noob through the process of booting the diagnostics partition and relaying useful information.

About 5-6 yrs ago Dell expanded their BIOSes to add a new, PSA ("Preboot System Assessment") routine, but IMHO it was a step backwards and counterproductive to the original purpose of the diagnostics partition. When you now use the F12 one-time boot menu to try and boot the diagnostics partition, the BIOS launches into this lengthy PSA routine before eventually getting around to booting the diagnostics partition. PSA can take upwards of 10-15 minutes to complete, and nobody wants to wait that long just to get to the diagnostics menu.

In contrast, if you launch Dell diagnostics from a CD, you don't have to wait for PSA and can get right to the diagnostics menu. So nowadays it's actually preferable to launch diagnostics from a CD instead of the DellUtility partition.

The DellUtility partition is a feature that has outlived its usefulness, so I don't recommend cgwaters (or anyone else in a similar situation) go through extra effort just to try and preserve it.


Dan

[Medico]

Just as an addition to the Fdisk, format question of Post #8. similarly to Win 7, when I installed Win 8 RP, I deleted the Win 8 CP partition using the Disk Manager, which left that space as unallocated. I then inserted the DVD I burned from the ISO file. I chose Custom Install and pointed the installer to the unallocated space (I did not format the space or use Fdisk) The installer took care of everything else, including formatting the space and preparing for the installation.

[jgstanley]

If you're really concerned about the 32Mb of the Dell Utility partition and the also relatively small restoration partition, you can delete them easily upon installing Windows; restoring them is difficult to almost impossible, and is required for some CMOS functions.

If you're really concerned upon harddrive space, you might consider purchasing a new multiple Tb harddrive to replace your current multple Gb harddrive. The new hard drive won't have the Dell partitions and will allow you the necessary space that you think you need.

There's no reason to make this hard. There are many solutions to your problem, and your bound to get many bad and good ones from this forum. (I have received so many bad recommendations from this forum that I don't even consider it as a reliable source anymore...)

This is where other forum members call me CENSORED.

[Just Plain Fred]

There are many solutions to your problem, and your bound to get many bad and good ones from this forum. (I have received so many bad recommendations from this forum that I don't even consider it as a reliable source anymore...)

This is where other forum members call me CENSORED.

jgstanley,
Hello... Those of us who volunteer our time and effort to try and help fellow loungers with their PC \ software problems do get it wrong at times ...We do manage to help probably more than not providing answers .. Or at the very least try to help.. Instead of bringing disparaging remarks to those of us who do volunteer their time effort and energy ...why don't you help out ? (seeing by your 30 or so posts that you must have a vast amount of knowledge to share)... Bottom line is if you want ...take it somewhere else..Don't let us stand in the way of your success and happiness...Get after it. Regards Fred

PS: You could always demand your money back.

[Medico]

Go Fred! I totally agree. If a poster has nothing positive to say to help solve a problem then just don't say anything.