2 partitions, what?

[colecifer]

i have a dell pc, running xp and it has two partitions, i first noticed it when i was modifying the boot.ini a little and saw xp was on partition 2, even though its really only one. So i found out using aida there is a dell utility, 31 mb partition that is the frist one. what is this for? i'm geussing all the crap dell loads on your pc when it first comes(Wish i would have repartitioned when i got it.) i need to do a clean install but don't have a very effective way to back up. on a side not does anyone know where the boot.ini is located by default? I edited it to get rid of the green bars screen cause i don't like it, now it shows the drivers its loading. And i saved it somewhere else before modifying just in case. I made a bootdisk with my new boot.ini, so i know it works. i just need to know where the boot.ini windows looks at is saved defaultly.

[bigandy]

It is probably the recovery partition that Dell and the other companies use so that you can use the recovery discs.

[colecifer]

so ridding my computer of it would be bad then, good to know if i ever get around to reformating.

[bigandy]

Well, I'm not 100% certain, but it makes sense that it is the recovery partition.

[EzyStvy]

It’s a diagnostic partition. Same thing that's on one of the cd's.

Comes in real handy when you can’t get in the Main drive. 31megs is nothing…Besides, you’d have to zap the whole install to get rid of it. (or purchase partition magic- 75 bugs for 31 megs?)

[colecifer]

yea i just meant if i get around to doing a reinstall, its not a big deal. Just wondering what the heck it was. i got my boot file saved right to, so i don't really need any help anymore.