How To Install Windows 7 Without Formatting The Partition
Nov 15, 2012
I have a Sony Vaio with two partitions, a main one that 412 GB and another one that is 39GB. The operating system is on the main partition (412GB) but I have been having a lot of problems with it so I want to install a new Windows 7 Home Premium version.
The problem is that I do not have an external hard disk drive and cannot afford one right now. I have the Windows 7 DVD that came with the computer (Home Premium 64-bit) and I also created a USB drive off of it, and will probably be using the USB since it's much faster and smoother.
Anyway, my question is how do i install Windows 7 to the main partition (400GB one) without having to format it? I am aware that I can probably install a new version of Windows in the same partition and then the old Windows will be moved to a folder called Windows (old) but in the past I have struggled with deleting that folder and it created more problems than anything
I noticed when I went about doing a fresh install of Windows 7 on the HDD that shipped with my laptop, and using the partitioning and formatting options included in the installation routine, that when I'd do a format, the formatting would complete very rapidly. From this, I deduce that the installation routine does not perform a low-level format.Perhaps, from this I should conclude that a low-level format is completely unnecessary. Yet, I seem to remember reading somewhere online, at some point in time (note: this might have been back in the Win'95 days) that it's better to do a low-level format; to flip all the bits to zero.
I re-installed Windows 7 on a fresh partition this morning after I started experiencing some glitches. Got the new partition up and running with a fresh version of Win 7, but now I'm unable to delete / format the previous partition it was on. When I select format drive, after warning me all files will be lost, it says Windows is unable to complete the format. If I try and manually delete all the files, it tells me I need permission from "Trusted Installer" to make changes to certain folders.
I bought new hp laptop.. it came with 500 GB harddisk, windows 7 home basic, I didn't get any windows cd apart from recovery in hard disk. My windows is installed in c: and that is the only drive that it have... now the situation..
1) I want to partition my harddisk without losing windows means I don't want to format C: drive 2) I also want to install linux in dual mode with windows..
Second question is related to first one because I don't need any method that may lead to situation like I can't install any other operating system.
I have laptop with with following specs; Dell N5110core i74 Gb DDR3 ram500GB Hard isk2769mb GraphicsWhen I bought,it has only single disk drive "C" with registered Window 7 HomePremium,now I want to make partitions without format
Ive got a dell xps 8300 that came with a recovery partition on the hard drive. Its taking up about 19 gigs of space and is not needed as I use recovery software on my machine. I want to format this partition and merge it with the rest of the C: drive. How do I go about this. I have tried right clicking on the partition but the format choice is greyed out
So I installed XP, and can't log on to Windows 7 atm. I understand why now. However, if I just format the XP partition, will I be able to log onto Windows 7 again?
So basically, I decided that I would get windows 7 and get a new hard disk to install it on, as my original is getting a little on the old side.
Installing the new hard disk was smooth, as was formatting it and installing windows 7 on it. However, I foolishly forgot to unplug (C:) which is the disk with Vista on it (which is the only other OS). This of course is the system disk, and so my Windows 7 disk (M:) is now reliant upon it to boot. This means I cannot format (C:).... I tried repairing the windows 7 installation (without (C:) plugged in) using the windows 7 disk, however it just told me what I already knew, and didn't repair it.
Is there anyway I can make (M:) a system disk, and therefore format (C:)? (Preferably without having to reinstall Windows 7)
I'm in a bit of a pickle here. My CD drive won't allow me to boot from CDs anymore, for whatever reason. I have 2 partitions on my hard drive and I'm wondering if it's possible to format the main partition by copying the windows setup files to my secondary and then somehow running them from there, whilst wiping the main one. I really don't want to reinstall without formatting, but right now I have no other option.
Just yesterday Windows 7 got infected with some kind of bug that cause it to lag, crashed programs and was apparently capable of piggybacking off USB sticks- as my eeePC could tell you. I've reinstalled a new copy of Windows 7 on a different partition of the same HDD but now I can't seem to format the old partition in either Windows Disk Management or EASEUS Partition Master. I checked the status of the disk and I think it might be because that partition is classed as Primary or System or something.
Does anybody have any programs or advice that can help?
I have recently partitioned my c drive, to create a new drive g, i installed w7 on g and its fine and works...
c drive did have a version of vista on, i planned on downgrading it to xp...
i messesd something up trying to install xp over vista so booting up using w7, i manually deleted all the files from the c drive.... now its totally fubar, it wont let me install anything on it atall...
how can i format the c drive which is my primary partition... or so something with it? combine it back into the g partition or anything..???
i can only access my pc booting up using w7, which is running on the g partition..
Would anything happen to my other partition when i format win XP to win 7 in C: drive/partition?
Okay it goes like this, I have Win XP SP3 installed with two partitions, C: and E: (<----supposed to be D: ). I intend to install Win 7 Ultimate on my computer from XP SP3 and install it in C: where the current OS is at. My question is, will my E: partition prevail still? Will the reformatting touch E:? The reason is because there is where i want to put my backups and later migrate it.
I just puchased Windows 7 Home premium SP1 32 bit Full Version OEM to replace Vista Home Premium currently on my computer, which has given me all types of problems. I want to remove completly (format the disk), but cannot do it. Is there a way, or can I just install my new windows without formating? Will new drivers be installed doing it that way?
I had Genuine windows 7. But while trying to partition my C drive error occurred and i had to completely format my hard disk. Now how can I re install my windows 7 or regain it back as before??
I have a laptop which has been giving me a hard time lately, and I need to reinstall windows 7 (for the 4th time in 1.2 years). I have never reformatted it before and all I have is the windows 7 upgrade disk that came with it (I got it back in September when all of those free upgrade deals were going on, it originally had vista.) I read that you can have activation issues after formatting the hard drive while installing using the upgrade disc. I think Microsoft let you do it if your email them to activate it, but I'm not sure and I don't know where you would do this. Since I don't feel like formatting it, installing vista, and then reinstalling 7.
Linux was installed on a server; Client required Windows 7; I uses USB key (always works) to install Windows 7. Formatted it but on reboot PC hung on the word 'Grub".
I recently installed a fresh copy of Windows on my SSD. During setup I opted to delete all my old partitions on the drive, however I did not format the drive. Will this decision have an impact on the performance of the drive? Should I have reformatted the unallocated space on the drive to get better performance?
I have a valid Windows 7 upgrade CD. But I want to install Windows 7 in its own partition and keep Windows Vista. I have a boot manager which can boot multiple OSs.
I have recently bought Asus G75VW and tried to install W7 DVD as i usually use to but I could not install W7 because it was a gpt partition= Disk 0 containes 4 partitions: 1=System 200MB, 2= MSR 128MB, 3= gpt 95,4 GB and 4=Data 118,4 GB. Disk 0 is a SSD. Disk 1 is 750GB so thera are two seperate disks. How can I install W7 on my SSD? This must be the same problem for coming W8.
I have a OEM CD from my manufacturer. I have two separate partitions in which I am going to be installing Windows on, one that is going to be connected to my Domain at my work, and then the other section of Windows that would be for my own personal use. Using the OEM disc would be the easiest to install it and then use my Windows Anytime Upgrade on to get it running on Ultimate and connect to my domain at my work. Thing is, when I go to run the OEM CD, it gives me three options for installing the OS and all on my hard drive:
Recover Windows to first partition only Recover Windows to entire HD Recover Windows to entire HD with two partitions
I'm trying to find a way to install it without erasing all of my data. The first option seems like it would work perfectly, but how would I know which partition on my computer would be the technical "first partition"? I searched around a bit to see if I could find a step-by-step guide or possibly even a picture or maybe what even happens after you tell the process to start, but I couldn't find anything.
Anyone have some experience with using a OEM CD and could tell me what would happen or what I could possibly do? Trying to do this on a ASUS-G72GX
I have a new HP laptop with Windows 8 installed, I reformatted the primary drive with Windows 8 on it and when attempting to then install a copy of Windows 7 it states "windows cannot be installed on this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style"There is about 5 different partitions all labelled things like "system reserve" "backup partition" etc and every single one of them seem to give me the same issue.I gave up and went and got a copy of Windows 8 to just put it back to what it was, and now its giving me the same error even though its the same copy of Windows 8? I've been reading many forums regarding how to get this to work but no luck. I tried gpart live which gave me some error when booting so I'm really lost in what to do?
I've just built a new computer, and, because I can't afford a new HD as well right now, I'm trying to use a 600GB SATA drive from my old computer as the boot drive for the new one. Specifically, I have a 100GB empty partition at the beginning of the HD, and a 500GB partition with data on it that I want to keep. I set up the HD in this fashion in Windows XP with Partition Magic.The new build went perfectly fine, but, when I go to install Windows 7 on the 100GB partition of the HD I described, I get an error message saying that Windows can't locate a partition or create a new one. Both partitions show up just fine, and I am able to select the 100GB partition, but can't proceed any farther.
Initially, I had two HDs connected, and the other hard drive kept showing up as disk 0, even if I swapped the SATA connections, so I tried switching the order in BIOS, and then I just disconnected the other disk for now. So the 600GB drive, of course, is now showing as disk 0 with the 100GB partition as partition 1. But I still get the same error message.Also, I disconnected everything I could disconnect, including everything USB, even the mouse. Still the same problem.I'd really like to get this to work, but I'd also like to save the data I have on the 500GB partition. I don't have any space elsewhere to copy it to, so I'd like to avoid any options that would involve reformatting the entire drive. I realize, for example, that I could use DISKPART and CLEAN if all else fails, but I don't want to lose the data.
I have a 1TB hard disk and I want to install win 7 on it only. I do not want to store any other data on it or use it for other purpose.
Is it better to partition into 2 parts and install win 7 in a small partition and leave the other partition empty, or is it better to install win 7 without partition the disk?
Is there a way to install Windows 7 in a different folder than the default Windows and on a different partition than the boot. For example, I have XP installed on my Laptop that has 3 partitions C:, D:, E:. C: is my boot partition and D: is where I have XP install in directory D:OSWINXP and E: where applications are installed and data is store.
I like to install Windows 7 and have C: as the boot drive and install it on D: in the sub directory D:OSWindows or D:OSWindows 7.
I'm using a 500GB hard drive that is split in to 2 partitions. The primary partition is 50GB, primarily for the OS. The second is the rest of the usable space on the drive, and has all the photos, documents, etc stored on the computer. Today I decided to finally install the Windows 7 RC that I've had sitting around. I moved over any important information on the C drive, the primary partition, over to the D drive, the larger partition, popped the disk in, and in setup, formatted the C drive. I finished the install without incident, but upon getting in to Windows 7, found my second, larger partition, had vanished.
Ok I have an Eee Pc 1005hab netbook given to me. When booted it had the error message Grub error: no such partition. I searched the internet and managed to get into bios and somehow delete the partitions. Now my problem is I can't install windows onto any partitions I create. I've searched and searched for answers. there is not disc drive, only usb ports. I managed to create a windows 7 bootable USB which will not install.
When I try to install Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit onto my Hard Drive it says that it can't create a partition on it, so Installation cannot continue.The hard drive was formatted and cleared and ready to go..I'm in the BIOS right now, but keep in mind that this is a Dell Dimension 4600 so the BIOS isn't all that advanced like nowaday computers.
