I would like to repartition my hard drive in such a way that Windows and my applications are on one partition and all my data is on another. I could then make a disk image of this new Windows partition. This would provide me with a quick and fully updated Windows recovery solution in the event of a system catastrophe. I currently have an NTFS 75-GB C-drive (free space=50%) with a hidden partition that has no volume name. The hidden partition is listed in the Disk Management console as a basic FAT (EISA configuration), Capacity=31-MB, Free Space=30-MB. I assume from my research that this is a Dell Recovery partition of some sort. I have the Original Dell XP Home Reinstallation CD, and I intend to slipstream a new XP/SP3 setup disk. However, I have been advised that adding further partitions or deleting the hidden partition might have unknown consequences??? How would you suggest I proceed? Vital Statics: Dell Dimension 8200 P4 (2Ghz), 512-GB RAM, XP-HOME w/ SP-3. Other: 75-GB External HDD.

That won't help you in the event the drive dies. Better to use an imaging program to create an image on an external or IMO DVDR disks. Use Acronis true image or Ghost to do that. When applying the image to DVDR or CDR the image can span multiple disks and the first disk will be bootable. No need to mess around repartitioning the current partitions.

As above. You should fully understand what all is on your hidden partition. Many dell systems use the CD to access the hidden partition. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10

Jefro, Didn't realize this. Thanks for the heads-up. How can I determine what's on the Hidden partition?

You don't need to determine what is one there. We KNOW what is one there. The files to restore your computer to the factory state. You shouldn't wipe them off.