I just wondered why Dell would put a recovery partition on the computer as well
Medion also supply PCs with a Recovery disc, a Windows Vista/XP disc "and a Partition called recovery".
However the recovery disc (DVD or CD) actually contains things such as tools, drivers and installed software along with (in Medion's case) Norton Ghost which when used as a recovery boot disc will then automatically access the "Image Files" in the recovery partition to reinstall the PC to the manufacturers state.
If you are short of space and want to use this partition, then the best thing to do is to copy all of the files onto a DVD first, before removing them.
(But please make a note of the drive letter and whether it's FAT32 or NTSF) use notepad or something similar and save that to the partition also, then should you need to replace them at a later date you have all the relevant info.
If space is not a problem (yet) then either just ignore or hide the drive from view.
Because Dell do not supply the OS disc (Vista/XP) I "think" there is the option in Start Menu > All Programs, to create your own recovery disc which usually asks if you want to do this when the PC is new and first switched on, but the facility should also still be there even if not so new.
Hope this also sheds a little more light on the subject for you.
Warning - while you were typing a new reply has been posted. You may wish to review your post.(Unfortunatly I can't speak for Dell, but this is the way that Medion supply their PCs)