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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: jr2 on May 28, 2011, 05:25:02 pm

Title: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: jr2 on May 28, 2011, 05:25:02 pm
Here (http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/24902-Windows-Loader-Support-and-chat?p=439126&viewfull=1#post439126) is the post, quoted:

Quote from: jayaretoo;439126
@Daz,

Just found the most interesting information EVAR!1


Well, at least it makes it less of a pain to get rid of OEM partitions:

http://jaredheinrichs.com/how-to-delete-oem-partition.html (http://jaredheinrichs.com/how-to-delete-oem-partition.html)

Basically,

Start > Run

type

Code: [Select]
diskpart
You will see:

Code: [Select]
DISKPART>
type

Code: [Select]
list disk
You will get a list:

Code: [Select]
Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7600
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: %COMPUTERNAME%

DISKPART> list disk

 Disk ###  Status                Size     Free         Dyn  Gpt
 Disk 0       Online                931 GB      0   B
 Disk 1       Online                596 GB  1024 KB
 Disk 2       Online                698 GB   698 GB

Whichever disk is the one containing the OEM partition, in this case, "Disk 2":

Code: [Select]
DISKPART select disk 2

Disk 2 is now the selected disk.

Code: [Select]
DISKPART> list partition

  Partition ###  Type                       Size            Offset
  Partition 1       OEM                          62 MB          31 KB

Whichever partition is the OEM partition, in this case "Partition 1":

Code: [Select]
DISKPART> select partition 1

Partition 1 is now the selected partition.

Then delete it:

Code: [Select]
DISKPART> delete partition override

DiskPart successfully deleted the selected partition.

Then:

Code: [Select]
DISKPART> exit

IDK, but I imagine at this point you could expand the Windows partition to the now-vacated OEM partition space.

:) Hope that helps someone, thanks to Jared Heinrichs for his awesome post!

Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Herra Tohtori on May 28, 2011, 05:57:57 pm
get linux livecd

shove disk in PC, boot from it

run gparted

???

PROFIT BENEFIT
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: jr2 on May 28, 2011, 05:59:49 pm
I know that method.  Still, if you have 7 running, (not sure, diskpart might run on xp too if it does, sweet), then it's easier to use USB to SATA converter and do it this way.  The Linux way was how I was doing it in the past.  Now I don't have to re-boot from a CD.  :D
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Mongoose on May 28, 2011, 06:37:07 pm
I've used Gparted in the past myself, and there was a free utility I used to remove a virus-infested recovery partition from my uncle's PC a while back, though I can't recall the name.  This seems like a handy way to ditch that last little bit.
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: S-99 on May 28, 2011, 08:24:00 pm
I know that method.  Still, if you have 7 running, (not sure, diskpart might run on xp too if it does, sweet), then it's easier to use USB to SATA converter and do it this way.  The Linux way was how I was doing it in the past.  Now I don't have to re-boot from a CD.  :D
In the end i don't call it a fix unless i backup everything, and repartition the drive to get rid of those pesky OEM partitions. Of course i follow up with a reinstall.

2 reasons for why.
I don't trust data after a partition resize. And just simply deleting a partition is wasted hard drive capacity (i like all the space i can get in a hard drive for myself), and blech to big gaps in between partitions..
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: jr2 on May 28, 2011, 08:27:53 pm
2 reasons for why.
I don't trust data after a partition resize. And just simply deleting a partition is wasted hard drive capacity (i like all the space i can get in a hard drive for myself), and blech to big gaps in between partitions..

Hmm, this isn't DOS 6.22 any more...

I've never seen a problem with a re-sized partition since the *nix-based resize utils finally got a handle on NTFS (they will tell you now if there's a problem and it's been years since I've seen one have a problem).

And, huge gaps between partitions?  What, half a Meg?  :lol:  Yeah, I know.  I don't like it either.  But it's little fiddly bits.  :)
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Bobboau on May 28, 2011, 11:05:36 pm
right click on 'my computer'
select 'manage'
go to disk management
delete offending partition
???
profit?
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: jr2 on May 29, 2011, 12:18:26 am
Doesn't work with certain types of OEM partitions - e.g., Dell Diagnostic partitions.  WinDOw$ will decide that it knows best and not let your delete it.
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Nuke on May 29, 2011, 12:59:36 am
removing partitions has been a non-issue for me for quite some time. i use a hodgepodge of different methods. most of the time i use a flash card with freedos, and i use xfdisk, which can kill most partitions. anything that wont kill il either use gparted from a linux livecd, or various windows tools. i can network boot and use diskpart from a remote winpe distro. since i mostly use ntfs partitions i usually just use disk management.
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Goober5000 on May 29, 2011, 02:08:09 am
1) Use Windows 98
2) ???
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Mongoose on May 29, 2011, 03:51:10 am
Yeah, I'm not sure "Profit!" comes afterwards. :p

(Though to be fair, I'm still running XP on this, and I expect I will until the day comes when it's no longer actively supported, if not even longer.)
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Nuke on May 29, 2011, 07:19:00 am
i run 7 on anything that can, xp on anything that cant. but i haven't needed to use 98 in a very long time.
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Kopachris on May 29, 2011, 07:35:38 am
1. Build your own computer
2. Save money
3. ???
4. Profit
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: S-99 on May 29, 2011, 08:43:37 am
Hmm, this isn't DOS 6.22 any more...

I've never seen a problem with a re-sized partition since the *nix-based resize utils finally got a handle on NTFS (they will tell you now if there's a problem and it's been years since I've seen one have a problem).

And, huge gaps between partitions?  What, half a Meg?  :lol:  Yeah, I know.  I don't like it either.  But it's little fiddly bits.  :)
I know what you mean. I've had to pull a partition resize every now and again (what a breeze with gparted livecd). I don't care that partition resizing takes forever. It usually works fine, but i think of it as one hell of delicate disk operation to be going on that is something you do not want to interrupt. I don't have much trust in the integrity of the data after the mass exodus of gigabytes from one end of the partition to the other. I mainly feel this way toward it because i don't consider magnetic and flash storage to be dependable, let alone current file systems. So, i just don't do it, unless absolutely necessary :)

When i meant gaps, i mean actual noticeable gaps. Stuff like 10gb and 100mb gaps. A 1mb ass crack is no problem of course , but forgetting about something like a 10gb gap or maybe bigger of unformatted hard drive space is pretty significant. 10gb's of reclaimed hard drive is pretty useful when it can be used. That, and leaving behind such big portions of unformatted hard drive space around is sloppy because it's a half done job.

In my mind, getting rid of the oem recovery partitions fixes one problem, and then presents you with one more problem to take care of :p
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: jr2 on May 30, 2011, 03:49:52 pm
Yeah, stuff like that usually you need the Linux Live CD for (like GParted) - it can move / resize those.  And hard disks have ECC built into their read/write routines and cache, so that's not usually an issue.

http://www.datarecoverytools.co.uk/2009/06/08/learn-more-about-hard-disk-ecc-error/

Quote
All modern hard disk drives are ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) compliant.  Part of this compliancy means that drives must have the cbility to detect errors while reading data from individual sectors on the drive.  This is to prevent corrupted data from being propagated through to the operating system which would lead to system crashes.

In order to accomplish this, every sector has a built in checksum and error correction code that is written at the time data is written to the sector.  Upon reading the sector, the drive recalculates the checksum and compares it to the one previously written.  If it does not match, the error correction code will attempt to correct the data.  Every sector has a standard 512 bytes of user data.  A typical ECC is capable of correcting between 10 and 12 bytes.  If repairing the corruption is beyond the capability of the ECC, the data will not be returned to the operating system.  The drive will then return an error.  This is typically a UNC (uncorrectable) error.

These types of errors occur when data is written to the sector improperly or inadvertently.  Additionally, these errorscan be due to read instability in the drive where the data itself is not actually corrupted but the drive is incapable of reading it correctly.  This can be due to factors such as minute mechanical wear of the parts inside the head disk assembly.

Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: AtomicClucker on May 30, 2011, 04:38:23 pm
I recommend Parted Magic, like the UBCD, but a live super-distro that handles everything from partitioning to wiping disks (they even include a forked version of dban!)

For advanced users, I'd recommend firing up the internal secure erase command from hdparm and not only scrubbing the system, essentially smacking a hard-wired reset switch that resets almost everything.
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Nuke on May 30, 2011, 06:21:37 pm
1. Build your own computer
2. Save money
3. ???
4. Profit

this kinda thing is easy if you want a desktop. but if you want something a little more portable, the proprietary route is the only way to go, and of course that means oem partitions. of course the first thing i do when i get such a machine, is repartition and format the drives. in a perfect world there would be standardized notebook form factors and interfaces. you could take a mobo out of notebook a and stick it in notebook b, you could change screens with relative ease, you could upgrade the video chipset. now there have been attempts to do some of these things, but none of them have caught on.
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: S-99 on May 31, 2011, 01:18:18 am
I recommend Parted Magic, like the UBCD, but a live super-distro that handles everything from partitioning to wiping disks (they even include a forked version of dban!)
I highly recommend making your own livecd like i did. The program remastersys (http://geekconnection.org/remastersys/) lets you do this easily with debian and ubuntu (remastersys is pretty darn easy to use). Of course, there's usually an equivalent program for non debian/ubuntu distributions. Just make your own livecd out of your favorite distribution with all the programs you need.
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Klaustrophobia on May 31, 2011, 07:11:49 pm
this kinda thing is easy if you want a desktop. but if you want something a little more portable, the proprietary route is the only way to go, and of course that means oem partitions. of course the first thing i do when i get such a machine, is repartition and format the drives. in a perfect world there would be standardized notebook form factors and interfaces. you could take a mobo out of notebook a and stick it in notebook b, you could change screens with relative ease, you could upgrade the video chipset. now there have been attempts to do some of these things, but none of them have caught on.

i imagine laptop manufacturers' profits would take a substantial hit if they became user-buildable like desktops.  i don't think they're gonna try very hard to make it so.  hell, mine requires so many proprietary drivers and software to run the damn thing i don't even feel safe reformatting and installing a fresh XP on it.
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: jr2 on May 31, 2011, 09:27:17 pm
www.driverpacks.net  ;)
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Klaustrophobia on May 31, 2011, 10:25:02 pm
i don't get it.  that seems like even worse bloat than the pre-loaded stuff.  why would i want every driver for every graphics card/chipset/whatever, when i only need one of them? 
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Nuke on June 01, 2011, 06:27:41 am
this kinda thing is easy if you want a desktop. but if you want something a little more portable, the proprietary route is the only way to go, and of course that means oem partitions. of course the first thing i do when i get such a machine, is repartition and format the drives. in a perfect world there would be standardized notebook form factors and interfaces. you could take a mobo out of notebook a and stick it in notebook b, you could change screens with relative ease, you could upgrade the video chipset. now there have been attempts to do some of these things, but none of them have caught on.

i imagine laptop manufacturers' profits would take a substantial hit if they became user-buildable like desktops.  i don't think they're gonna try very hard to make it so.  hell, mine requires so many proprietary drivers and software to run the damn thing i don't even feel safe reformatting and installing a fresh XP on it.

indeed. manufacturers hate standards because that means letting other people reap the profits. instead of buying some 3rd party laptop mobo for $60, you have to buy the specific board for that case, for $160. none of the parts are user serviceable, except perhaps drives, cpu, ram. really i wouldn't mind being locked into a manufacturer if they kept a case standard, provided replacement parts, upgrades, and service manuals. half the time you cant even get a laptop open to work on it, not without breaking something. they would rather you throw the whole thing away and buy a new one, which contributes to e-waste. at least standardize a laptop size gpu module. last laptop had a pcix module for its wifi, which i assume is an interchangeable standard. if they had a 16x version that also had video connections for the monitor and video ports, what would be awesome. alienware had something like it but it was likely proprietary.

hardware aside laptop driver tend to be somewhat intrusive. gpu drivers tend to be reference drivers with stuff added to them by the manufacturer, and it is likely the manufacturer will never update them past the initial release. drivers for hotkeys tend to be required, yet completely unconfigurable. software re-installation on laptops is usually partial. you can never find them all. theres always something that is missing. or something that is the wrong version or whatever. yea i know im preaching to the choir on this one but this kinda thing pisses me off.
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: jr2 on June 01, 2011, 09:47:06 am
i don't get it.  that seems like even worse bloat than the pre-loaded stuff.  why would i want every driver for every graphics card/chipset/whatever, when i only need one of them? 

:lol: Not like that.  Driverpacks.net has every driver, which you then burn to a CD or slipstream with your windows install.  Then you run the DP Install tool (or it is run after the first restart during Windows Setup), it extracts all of the drivers to a temporary location, installs only those drivers which match the current hardware of your system, so make sure any removable wireless cards are plugged in and that your laptop wireless is on <some wireless cards in laptops "unplug" when shut off> and then cleans up. (DriverPacks Finisher)  You can choose which driver packs you want on your CD / Install disk.  (Such as, only Video, only LAN / WLAN, or all, etc)

EDIT:

alienware had something like it but it was likely proprietary.

Yeah, Alienware=now 0wned by De$$, so most likely correct.
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Nuke on June 01, 2011, 11:43:55 pm
alienware had something like it but it was likely proprietary.

Yeah, Alienware=now 0wned by De$$, so most likely correct.

yea i think they had a laptop videocard technology long before the dell takeover. not quite sure if its something they still used or cast away in favor of soldering the gpu to the mobo to save money.
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: jr2 on June 02, 2011, 04:39:42 am
1) Use Windows 98
2) ???

:lol: You know, I just thought.. if you did use a Win'98 boot CD, chose "Boot from CD-ROM", then chose not to start setup, you could actually use the old DOS-era FDISK command and it probably wouldn't mind nuking an OEM partition.   ;)  ... was that what you were referring to all along, or was it using Windows '98 as an OS?
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Nuke on June 03, 2011, 06:19:57 am
i prefer the freedos version, xfdisk better. its capable of working with partitions the stock fdisk couldn't even recognize.
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: jr2 on June 03, 2011, 02:56:38 pm
Cool.  :yes:  Been forever since I looked at FreeDOS... they have read/write NTFS support yet?
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Nuke on June 03, 2011, 05:47:55 pm
im not sure, most recent progress has been towards 32 and 64 bit implementations. but last time i used it i had to use a 3rd party program for ntfs support.
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Goober5000 on June 03, 2011, 08:42:03 pm
1) Use Windows 98
2) ???

:lol: You know, I just thought.. if you did use a Win'98 boot CD, chose "Boot from CD-ROM", then chose not to start setup, you could actually use the old DOS-era FDISK command and it probably wouldn't mind nuking an OEM partition.   ;)  ... was that what you were referring to all along, or was it using Windows '98 as an OS?

Just some self-deprecating humor. :)
Title: Re: Erasing OEM partitions: the easy way
Post by: Nuke on June 03, 2011, 09:22:57 pm
im not sure, most recent progress has been towards 32 and 64 bit implementations. but last time i used it i had to use a 3rd party program for ntfs support.

seems theyve added some cool new features, networking for example. heres a complete list of features

Quote
    Easy multiboot with Win95-2003 and NT/XP/ME
    FAT32 file system and large disk support (LBA)
    LFN support via DOSLFN driver
    XDMA & XDVD - UDMA driver for hard discs and DVD players
    LBACACHE - disk cache
    Memory Managers: JEMM386 (XMS, EMS,...)
        possibility of writing 32-bit protected mode drivers (JLMs=Jemm Loadable Module)
    SHSUCDX (MSCDEX replacement) and CD-ROM driver (XCDROM)
    CUTEMOUSE - Mouse driver with scroll wheel support
    FDAPM - APM info/control/suspend/poweroff, ACPI throttle, HLT energy saving...
    MPXPLAY - media player for mp3, ogg, wmv... with built-in AC97 and SB16 drivers; has a user interface
    7ZIP, INFO-ZIP zip & unzip... - modern archivers are available for DOS
    EDIT / SETEDIT - multi window text editors
    HTMLHELP - help viewer, can read help directly from a zip file
    PG - powerful text viewer (similar to V. D. Buerg's LIST)
    many text mode programs ported from Linux thanks to DJGPP
    FreeCOM - command line, supports file completation
    4DOS can be installed, which is an enhanced command line.
    GRAPHICS - greyscale hardcopy on ESC/P, HP PCL and PostScript printers
    Arachne - a graphical web browser and e-mail client
    Fdupdate - updates installed FreeDOS from internet server
    bit torrent client
    anti-virus / virus scanner

make it support 8gb of ram and i can replace windows. :D