Partition and reinstalling XP question

[shadyfist]

I am runing on a HP Pavilion a1610n computer which has a seperate partition with a windows xp setup on it, I tryed using a couple of the f1 through f12 keys at startup to access the windows xp setup but doesn't come up, so my first question would be does anyone know a way I could access the windows XP setup? (the files are hidden if i access the partition on windows)

And, my second question would be if anyone knows the command line for accessing the windows vista built in partitioning program so that I can back up some files...

thanks alot

[BertImmenschuh]

Second question, the partitioning applet is in Disk Management. Try diskmgmt.msc in the Start, Search box or in the Command Prompt window. Don't screw with the backup partition [it is not intended for user storage] or you may lose something and will have to order disks from HP.

First question, usually there is a prompt on the screen as to which key to use to start the System Recovery, on some computers that have the feature it is F10 or F12. The message is not on the screen very long.