dell inspiron 1525 partitions - can I remove the restore partition? + mediadirect?

[anubhav2k]

I want to completely format my dell 1525 and install dual os VISTA + KUBUNTU ???? Please help me in detail...........

[FSHero]

@everyone: I apologise for not replying earlier! Fast-forward to the future, and I have got my laptop working. I'll describe it below.

@billstei: I am glad that you managed to get your system working! Especially your MediaDirect button: whenever I created my own partitioning scheme, pressing the MD button destroyed it!!!

@anubhav2k: I'll tell you what I did to get my Inspiron 1525 working. (I made notes using pen and paper; I'll just summarise what I did below.)

At the very beginning, I used the Dell MediaDirect CD to "prepare" the hard disk. I chose the option to allocate 20GB to the C:\ drive, and the remainder as free space.

I installed Vista using the appropriate Windows Vista CD., to the 20GB partition created by the MediaDirect CD. I noted that at the partitioning stage in the Vista installer, everything after the first 20GB appeared "free".

I then messed about with the partitions. I think I used Knoppix 5.x (a Linux that can boot off a CD). I set up the partitions as follows on my 250 GB hard disk ('additions' are in bold):

47.03 MB - fat16
20.00 GB - NTFS partition (my C: drive in Windows)

12.00 GB - to be the root folder in Kubuntu
200.83 GB - EXTENDED
__ 191.33 GB - to be a data partition, for accessing files in Windows and Linux
__ 8.00 GB - to be /home in Kubuntu
__ 1.50 GB - to be a Linux swap partition


After this had finished, I exit Knoppix and booted the Kubuntu 8.04.1 desktop amd64 CD. However, I did not start installation yet:

The 191 GB ext3 partition is to be used to store files to be accessible from both Windows and Linux; in Windows I use ext2 IFS to access the ext3 file system (http://www.fs-driver.org/). However, this requires the ext3 partition to have an inode size of 128. I don't know what that means, but the following command must be run to make the files accessible in Windows:

sudo mkfs.ext3 -I 128 /dev/sda7

You may choose not to do this and instead use a FAT32 or NTFS partition. (In fact, there's a nasty limitation in the ext2 IFS driver for Win Vista: you cannot run programs as an administrator if they are stored on this ext3 partition!!)

I started the installation, and used a custom partitioning scheme, as described above. The following assigments were made:

/dev/sda1 - 49 MB fat16 partition
/dev/sda2 - 21476 MB ntfs (drive c: in Windows)
/dev/sda3 - 12889MB ext3 partition (mount point: /)
/dev/sda7 - 205434 MB ext3 partition (mount point: /media/data)
/dev/sda5 - 8587 MB ext3 (mount point: /home)
/dev/sda6 - 1612 MB swap partition.

On the last screen before the files are copied, I changed the device for bootloader installation as (hd0,2) for the 3rd primary partition on my first (and only) hard disk. This is /dev/sda3, the partition that Linux is installed to.

This odd scheme may seem long-winded and unnecessary... but it is in fact extremely important to do. It will make sense in the next step.

Finally, upon restarting Kubuntu after installation, I got booted into Windows Vista (no GRUB boot menu). I inserted my MediaDirect CD when running Windows, and found a program caled rmbr.exe. In an administrator command prompt, I ran:

rmbr.exe DELL 2 3

This sets up the buttons so that from a power off state, pressing the MediaDirect button (looks like a home) will boot from the 2nd partition, i.e. Windows. Pressing the power button (looks like a 1 on top of an O) will boot from the 3rd partition, i.e. Kubuntu Linux.

Limitations:
* You don't get to keep MediaDirect (the quick-boot Windows that is like a media centre)
* To boot Windows, I MUST shut down the computer then press the MD button. If I try to selected it from the GRUB menu after pressing the power button, I can get into Windows but nothing works properly. It seems as though the drive letters are messed up: there's no C: drive, and what should be C: is now E: (weird!!)

I hope this helps you. I'm afraid that my typing has been a bit rushed; I haven't had time to explain certain parts. Also: sorry for the extreme length! Use my instructions as a guideline; search the internet for explanations. Ask back here if you aren't sure about anything.

GLHF!
- FSHero