how not to initialize HD

[Darr]

On Sunday, 01 August, 2010 @15:04 zulu, JD scribed:

> Does mediaDirect need 1308MB (i.e. 1.3 GB)
> be unallocated or was that a typo?

Not a typo...  some people recommended leaving 2GB
unallocated, but instructions I found elsewhere were
specific about 1308MB (that's 1.27GiB, btw). Dell
doesn't give a figure to leave unallocated... their site
insists the only way to install it is before the OS:
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?cs=04&docid=3082DAC1D7384CD5E040A68F5B2814A2

But other sites, not affiliated with Dell, say it's possible
as long as that space is left unallocated at the end.
That assumes you've already called Dell and requested
the CD, since they stopped including it with new laptops
about 5 or 6 years ago. There is no other way to get it
onto a new hard drive, since it's a hidden partition that
no cloning program even sees (not the Dell Utility nor
Dell System Restore partitions). but if you buy a new
larger hard drive, Dell will send it to you if you call,
tell them you need the CD, and they confirm you bought
a computer from them with MediaDirect installed on it originally.

It usually takes tools supplied by the disk manufacturer
to restore the HDD to its original capacity after MediaDirect
has been installed. e.g. SeaTools for DOS for Seagate drives
http://seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=SeaTools