Full reinstallation ( Hidden Partition)

[fuligin]

Hi everyone, I just purchased an R51e, however it came with Win XP home, and all the usual stuff that just just dont need. I was intially planning to use partition format the hidden partition, and then merge it to my main HD so that i can reclaim the.
Then i was going to do a clean farmat and install my version of Win Xp pro which might ba corp eddition.
would i have any problems by doing so and if not then what are the essential tools that I need to have upon reinstalling so that i can access my full keyboard functions etc. .would i be able to set up another back up partition on there for my new system.
Additionally if i were to install a diferent verstion of home edditon on there again would i be able to just use the key that i got with think pad or would i have to buy the reovery disks.
and on a final note, has any one been able to increase the screen resloution i have the radeon xpress 200 m, and the screen just seems too big at 1024 x 768,
please assist me as i am not sure wut to do. becuaes i have read that the hidden hd a little strange.
thank u all

[Kyocera]

You can certainly format your hard drive and install your version of XP on the new partition and download the drivers you need from the ibm web site. Not sure if you mean you are wanting to back up your drive periodically to an additional partition on the drive or recreate the recovery partition. Why not just get the drive where you want it and create an image on CD for a restore. And why go back to XP home if you have XP pro installed?

Think you are stuck with that resolution.

[fuligin]

thanks, i will format now, and tell u if i have any further problems, thanks about telling me about the resolution, im sure it will do me good in the long run for the strain on my eyes, oh well
Thanks a million man

[Kyocera]

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitu ... tabook.pdf

Page 51 or 52 shows the education model specs for your machine.

You can visit the FAQ's from this web site to get the links to more helpfu information about your machine too.


click here for Frequently Asked Questions

[fuligin]

Thanks for the help, I finally managed to get it all done, and boy can i say that its a long process, but definetly thanks for the assistance. much apprichated.

[croooowe]

You would have been able to create your own Recovery Discs until you formatted your service partition. Ideally you should have created your set of Factory Recovery Discs before you wiped that out but as you're installing XP Pro anyway it's obviously not the end of the world. As for why to do it at all for the likes of XP Home, it's a good selling point when you go to upgrade laptops and want to sell the unit to the next person with a freshly installed clean preload.