Here is the current setup: Dell inspiron 600M purchased a 1.5 yrs ago the 80 gb hhd is partitioned into three drives: 1) a 47MB FAT EISA configuration, 2) a ~4gb FAT32 unknown partition (that is what it says right next to that partition in disk management; it is not visible from the OS), 3) the main OS/data drive in NTFS file structure. Here is what i am trying to do: i want to take my notebook back to the factory clone then load all of my basic stuff that i would want immediately, including my pocket pc software, other custom apps, etc in the event of a catastrophic crash in the field with no access to my home clone server. from there i have access to the appropriate version of Norton Ghost to match the factory made clone in the restore partition (which is the ~4gb hidden FAT32 partition). i want to replace the factory clone with this one i will make up, but the ghost is going to be substantially larger than the partition is, so i need to know how to create or extend this hidden unknown partition of type FAT32. Thanks in advance.

It's all there in your owners manual - (Pages 77-79)

The manual does explain how to use the System Restore feature but unfortunately, says nothing about changing the size of the hidden partition or how to replace the image stored there. I do not know the answer to the poster's question but I too would be interested in learning the answer if anybody knows it. Bryan

Hopefully the links below helps with your quest. Dell Restore and other dell fixes http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore... http://www.goodells.net/dellutility... http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore... http://www.notebookforums.com/post2... http://radified.com/cgi-bin/YaBB/Ya... http://www.abxzone.com/forums/drive...

Very good! I read them all and found the answer in http://www.notebookforums.com/post2... All 55 steps of it. I think I like the alternative as prescribed in http://radified.com/cgi-bin/YaBB/Ya... Quote The proper way is to boot into the Dell/Symantec Recovery Environment (press Ctrl+F11 at boot time). There is a menu selection specifically to delete the 'Backup' partition and merge its disk space into the preceding partition. End of quote Sabertooth, Thank you. Best regards, Bryan