Wiping Hard Drive Clean To Install Windows 7
Mar 9, 2011
I bought an HP desktop about 2 years ago with vista 64 bit on it and it has been crappy ever since. I've had problems with programs not being recognized, things not installing at all when they should, and it freezing up for no good reason. Anyway, I went out and bought Windows 7 ultimate the full version. I saved the few files I have on a jump drive and I want to completely wipe out the hard drive and install windows 7 and start from scratch.
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Aug 27, 2011
and i signed up because Microsoft support rips you off (says they don't know the answer, so they charge you to open a case, which is 1 fee until solved, then 10 seconds later they're like "okay, so this is what you do"). Recently because my computer was getting extremely slow, i bought a new 2 TB 7200 RPM seagate hard drive. I installed it, put windows on it, and for some time it was booting fine, but then i decided i was satisfied and ready to wipe the old OS hard drive to reclaim the space on it, so i did so, then when i rebooted the computer i got an error saying something like "unable to find system files, reboot and select correct device". I then decided i'd try to reinstall or repair windows, but i get this error code when it tries to expand files: 0x80070017. Now when trying to boot from any of my 3 hard drives it says "bootmgr missing" I'm quite sure there were no viruses on the machine, though it had been a couple days since i last scanned.
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Jan 4, 2013
Recently did a clean install of windows 7 on my laptop but when I finished the install, I noticed that there still 158 gb used space on my hardddrive. Is this normal? I thought I had reformatted the entire system as i don't have aceess to any of my pre-existing files...
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Oct 16, 2011
How I could partition my internal hdd without wiping all data from it, and then sharing the partitioned drive within my home network. Also, I was wondering how I could tell what drive letters are already assigned to my laptop's usb ports.
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Apr 6, 2012
I purchased an Inspiron 15R today and wanted to do a clean install of Windows 7 right out of the box. I'm using a Windows 7 disk from another machine.I formatted the drive and all of it's partitions (recovery etc.) and installed the OS. After booting though I get sent to an error screen that tells me Windows had an error starting up and that I should choose a way to startup with the usual safe mode etc. No matter what I choose it sends me to this screen. So I booted from the disk again to attempt to format and reinstall, but now I have no disk drives to install to.
I have run a diagnostics check and nothing seems to be wrong, the HDD is still being recognized in the BIOS. What can I do to get my HDD back and showing up in the install destination options?
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Dec 17, 2011
What do I do now? I decided to replace my existing hard drive as I thought it was damaged due to viruses. I installed a new hard and then used my Windows 7 Ultimate DVD to install. I got as far as the above. If this question has been answered somewhere else on this site
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Dec 22, 2010
I'm doing a clean install on my computer, and it's going alright until it asks me to choose which hard drive I want to install Windows 7 on. Apparently I have 2: a C drive and a D(Recovery) drive.What should I do in this situation? Should I just install on the C drive, or should I do what it says here: Partition the Hard Drive in a Windows 7 Install and delete the partitions and create a new one.
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Oct 27, 2009
I have download windows 7, backed up all my drivers and copied all my important info onto my external Hard drive and am about to try and clean install windows 7.
But do i have to partition the hard drive? My Dell laptop has a 110GB hard drive which came already partitioned. 10GB is called 'Recovery', do i need to do the same and make a larger partition and install Windows 7 or just leave it as it is?
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Dec 19, 2011
I decided to replace my hard drive because it seemed to have viruses that were making it run incredibly slow. I put in a brand new hard drive and proceded to run the Windows 7 Ultimate disk. I got as far as the beginning of the actual installation (after telling it what partition to put it on) and it ran for a few minutes and then I got the errror message 0x80070057.
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Apr 6, 2012
I have a PC on which the hard drive died. I had previously done the Advisor and it said everything is OK for new install of Win 7 Home Premium.
I removed old hard drive and 2 gigs of memory (now 2 gigs installed) installed new hard drive, set appropriate ( i think) BIOS parms. When I start the DVD I get the 'loading files' message and the colorful logo then a blank screen with a large arrrow cursor -- and nothing. Wait 5, 10 15 minutes and the only hint of activity is the hard drive light is flickering about once every 2 seconds. I've now waited for over an hour and still nothing else.
I've tried to do all the things that have been suggested for others who have had problems but it hasn't helped. Machine is a Dell 4700C with 3.4 GHz processor , 2 gigs of memory, only keyboard, mouse, and monitor attached in addition to the hard drive.
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Oct 13, 2012
How to run through a quick clean install of windows 7 and my hard drive as I believe I have some nasty root-kits. All I need to know is where I can download windows 7 again - I have product key). And some basic steps doing the clean wipe. Also could you take me through partitions and how to do one? I want my hard drive completely clean restoring my system.
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Sep 11, 2012
I installed two new 120GB SSD drives into my system. Previously, I had two 1TB drives in a RAID 0. After doing a performance test to see if there was a speed increase, I also bound the two new 120Gb SSDs into a NEW RAID 0.The idea was to use the new, faster array for windows, and whatever programs I am currently using, and then use the old array for storage. I could install windows on the new drives with So, I proceeded to install Windows 7 on the new array, leaving the old array alone. Installation went without a hitch. I looked at my new drive under My Computer- 1.98 TB. NOT the 240GB partition I just made, and NOT the 1.74 TB partition I used before the new drives.It, for some reason I cant fathom, combined all 4 drives, encompassing BOTH arrays, new and old HDD and SSD into one partition, and had installed windows OVER TOP OF ALL MY DATA.I dont know WHY this happened, but what do I do now to get my data back? I tried starting the computer without the new array, but it wont boot. I need my data back, and I need to get windows installed on the new array, the way I wanted.
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Apr 19, 2012
i was wondering if anyone has any programs they could recommend to use to wipe a hard drive clean before reinstalling windows 7, I noticed you have this CCleaner 3 link on here CCleaner - Download.com If i put that on a disk and started it up as i would to reinstall can that wipe the disk clean?
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Nov 16, 2009
I've installed Windows 7 Full version 3 times now but all of my old files are still on the computer. I used 'custom install' as I read that this would wipe everything...but it didn't. ???
My pc is choc-a-block full of rubbish and I want it all gone without having to go through deleting it all manually..I've been able to wipe everything with previous windows installs so I can't understand why it doesn't work with Windows7.
Also, I have 2 partitions on my hard drive (the other has Linux on it)...I'd like to go back to just having the one & installing windows7 over everything...does anyone know how I can do this.
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Aug 23, 2012
I'm trying to do a clean reinstall, but I can't reformat the drive. I don't get very far, menu 'where do you want to install window', which is supposed to have a Format option, it doesn't!
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Aug 15, 2012
Hard drive is full but not really. I think it is a virus because I removed a bunch of programs and there is very little in computer and it said I had 9GB available the next day went to 180KB free out of 296GB. I can't even take pictures off to wipe out and start over.
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May 13, 2009
I am very lost, I have a IBM ThinkPad T42 with an older 20Gig hard drive that is blank, no OS on it, nothing at all. I tried to perform a custom clean install of Windows 7 and get to the part where you can format the drive or install drivers. When I select to install the drivers it can never find any.
What am I doing wrong? I know a little but I guess not enough, do I need to install fro somewhere else? and what drivers is it looking for?
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Mar 1, 2011
I recently did a clean install of Windows 7 pro (64 bit) over an XP pro (32 bit) with 2 HD. The install proceeded without any major "hiccups". After the install, I noticed that when I try to access files on the "D" drive --- my second, I get error messages stating "user does not have access". I have tried troubleshooting but to no avail. Really would like to access those files. Both drives "show" NTFS where they were both FAT32 prior to the new OS. I don't understand how I can access the files on the "C" drive but not on the "D" drive. The files that I would most like to access are *.doc and *.pdf.
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Jun 22, 2012
when i open a command prompt with admin priv and type in sfc/scannow it comes back with the mess windows resource found errors and cant fix them, WTF even on a clean install with no apps installed just the windows update the computer goes thru when doing a clean install. Go to check if i still get errors and what do you know im still getting errors on a clean install.
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Oct 26, 2011
I currently have a 500GB SATA drive with 2 partitions, C: has Vista Ultimate in it and most of my (Really Important) data is in D:- I do not have an external drive with enough space to back up both partitions, only C: -- If I install Windows 7 on C:, will I also lose all the data in D: (Partition 2)?I want to be 100% sure I won't end up with data loss on D: if I do a clean install on C:
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Nov 20, 2009
I have Windows 7 rc running on one of my 2 ide drives, with XP on an SATA drive - dual booting.
I purchased a 500gb SATA drive to replace the the 2 ide drives
The plan is to:
- connect the new drive while shutdown
- boot into XP
- Partition new drive, with the first partition active(with partition Magic).
- Transfer non-OS partition data to the new ones
- shut down and disconnect the ide drives
- insert Windows 7 disc and perform install on first partion of new drive.
I understand that the MBR is on the Windows 7 partition.
Will I have any problems with the XP install, or will the new Windows 7 install create a new MBR to allow dual boot?
I know I'll have issues with drive letters. But other than the XP, and Windows 7 partitions it's just data - no programs.
Or, are there any other problems you see with my procedure?
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Sep 3, 2010
I bought a Toshiba Satellite L500-20Z, and it does not tell me which version I am running, ( 32or64 ) though I know it IS x64. The in-store shpeil said it was equipped with Win 7 Home premium 64bit, with 32bit recovery partition.
Question 1 - is there any way to tell between 32 or 64 (apart from a "Program Files (x64)" folder on my C: drive), and
Question 2 - how do I tell what build I have? (the above link says nothing)
Question 3 - how to tell if the recovery is 64 and not just 32 without wiping my existing install?
(I suppose I could take an image of my current C: drive and use that instead of the recovery partition if disaster strikes.... only trouble is with OEM theres so much bloat and crap that's incluided...)
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Jun 28, 2012
Is Windows 7
- x64 ?
- the original installed OS on the system
- full retail version
- What is the age of system (hardware)? approx. 1 year, ssd drive new
- What is the age of OS installation (have you re-installed the OS?) clean install
I have recently (4 days ago)aquired a new Crucial 128Gb ssd drive and performed a clean installation of windows 7 64bit, since then i have been experiencing random BSODs (3 times so far)All software is genuine. Have performed full malware and antivirus check. Results are clean.
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Oct 18, 2009
I own Windows Vista 64bit, and have ordered Windows 7 Professional 64bit upgrade. How do I do a clean installation of Windows 7 on a new hard drive?
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Nov 11, 2009
I want to do a clean install of my purchased Windows 7 from Windows 7 RC. The problem is I have a lot of data that I want to keep and since it is about 500GB in size, i have no cheap way of backing it up (obviously considering buying another HDD, but i'd rather not for now). I was thinking that maybe I should partition my 1TB main HDD into 2, and transfer all my data over to new partition, format/clean install the old one and lastly merge the partitions. Is this possible?
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Sep 28, 2009
I have a Core 2 Duo PC with 2 SATA internal drives:
Seagate 320 gig, with C and D partitions. C contains a legit retail upgrade version of Vista Home. D is for data.
Western Digital 640 gig, with a single E partition, currently used as backup.
I ordered a Windows 7 Home Premium retail upgrade at the discounted price a few months ago and expect it in a month.
My Seagate drive is running low on space and I want to retire it. I would like to boot to the Win 7 DVD, have my Vista install on the Seagate recognized, and then do a clean install of Windows 7 on the Western Digital drive, currently E.
I hope to buy another considerably larger backup drive shortly to replace the Western Digital as a backup drive.
Will the WD drive be available as a location for the installation in these circumstances?
Any previous time I have installed MS operating systems, I always chose to install to the same drive as the existing OS. This time things are different due to little space on the Seagate drive. Windows 7 would certainly fit on my current C, but I want to retire that drive.
Or will this remain a complete unknown until some time after October 22?
Or will I be forced to install to the Seagate and then somehow migrate the install to the WD?
I have not played with the RC, so I don't know what options are normally presented during the install.
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Feb 5, 2010
I have a dead computer, it was a p4 winXP box 6+ years old. I will be assembling a new computer with 64 bit processor and SSD boot drive. I have a full XP license. I would prefer to buy an 'upgrade' version of Windows 7, but will I be able to install an upgrade version of windows 7 on a clean, blank drive? I would strongly prefer not to have to install XP and activate it just to reinstall windows 7. The additional factor is that some people have posted in forums that an 'upgrade' from a 32 bit os to 64 bit windows 7 does not work.
I would prefer to hear from someone who has actually done it and succeeded or failed, not 'it should work' or 'it should not work', because I can find people posting both ways theorizing that it should or should not.
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Oct 8, 2010
I have tried numerous times on my PC to install Windows 7 onto my Sata Drive to no avail. Yet as soon as I plug in my IDE HD it installs fine.I have unplugged all external peripherals USB and internal Card Reader. Set my Bios ok as it sees both the Hard Drive and DVD fine (Both in the bios and during selection of hard drive during windows 7 installation). Yet when I come to install it, it craps out at a random percentage saying cannot read from source or worse yet it crawls so slow through the percentages (I really don't think Windows 7 should take 6 hours to get to 15%!!) Yet both the hard drive and dvd are fine and the disc works great on my other PC without the sata drive in.
My motherboard is a Biostar G31-M7 TE with latest bios now what is odd is that I recently updated the BIOS to the latest one so does my problem come from here or was it always going to be a problem on this board? Also when I do have Windows 7 installed on the IDE drive when I plug in ther sata drive inside the whole system goes belly up (from freezes when transferring large files to just not seeing the drive)
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Oct 8, 2011
make a dualboot comp by adding windows XP to a new partition. I created the new partition with 20gb. (From the 500 of my actual harddrive)But before I actually installed on that, I got distracted with a second harddrive that my dad got(for no reason). It had a full copy of Windows XP backed up on it from another computer, so I figured I would just use that for the dualboot. I plugged it in (wired the same way as my old harddrive, but different data slot), restarted, checked the harddrive in explorer - all the data was there / reading correctly / etc, and I used 'easyBCD' to add the new harddrive to the boot list.(Which, of course, crashes if I try to start it. I just wanted to see what it would do). For a reason I can't remember, I unplugged the second harddrive for a bit, started the computer on accident (I don't know if anything loaded before I shut it off), and then when I plugged it back in.Windows 7 would not launch. It goes to a DOS-like window, except it's just a flashing _ and it never does anything even after a few minutes. XP didn't work still.. so I decided to reinstall XP (as I couldn't tell which harddrive was which on the list, I unplugged the main harddrive while installing onto the new).. and when I did this.. it formatted and installed fully... then restarted.. then restarted.. and restarted.. and just kept restarting, never showing any thing past the manufacturer logo/BIOS load-button-message-thing. So, I then try to use my 3-disk Windows7Recovery disk(burned myself with a program apparently included by the manufacturer.) It installed fully, appearing to work.. but when I launched it, it said "Invalid Partition Table" and wouldn't boot past that. When I insert my driver installer disk, it gives me a basic DOS window thing. dir A: shows the files in the disk. dir B: for some reason shows the same. C: says "Error reading from drive C: DOS area: general failure". All other letter:'s just say "invalid drive". (I'm doing this with both harddrives in.) I attempted connecting the harddrives to an old computer, but it gave an error for both. (It detected the harddrives, but said it had an error reading from it. Windows Explorer asked me to format it... {i'm willing to format one of the drives if anybody thinks it will help, but the old harddrive has data I'd prefer not to lose.} ) Looking on google, I saw several problems that all have similar problems (less overdescripptive than I am though) but none of the fixes suggested worked for me. Also - as I have two different with different errors, I only need to make one of them work.)Also - my other available computer has a CD burner / floppy drive if either are required. I also have several USB's. The computer can boot from USB's and CD's (tested), and I could easily take the floppy thingy and connect it to the computer.also - this computer is probably still under warranty unless unscrewing the hard drive voids it. .. does that count as modification of the computer?
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Mar 30, 2012
I just put in a new hard drive and installed my Windows 7. Under properties / General there is an option to "Compress this drive to save space." By checking this does it compromise performance at all?
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Nov 16, 2009
I have Vista installed on my Hard Drive, 250 GB.
But i recently purchased a 2nd Hard Drive, 500 GB, and i want to install Windows 7 on it.
Is that possible, to have both separately?
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