Clean Install On Multiple Partition/physical Drives
Oct 21, 2009
On my home computer, I have 2 physical drives. One hard drive has a single partition (D:) and the other (newer) drive has two partitions (C: and E:). Unfortunately when I first purchased this computer, the technician mistakenly installed Windows XP onto my older hard drive (D:) rather than installing the OS onto the desired C: drive.
The main problem that I am having is: Can I perform a clean install of Windows 7 onto C: drive even though my current OS (Windows XP) is installed onto D: drive? P.S. I have already backed up all files that exist in all of my partitions and would like to format all of the drives (C, D, and E)
I have had my system up and running with Windows 7 for at least four or five months. I have four drives in an mATX case. Yesterday, while it was idle, I saw it flash a BSOD and then rebooted. when it restated it displayed the following Error: "No active partition found. Reboot your computer." Which I did several times to no avail. Next, I used the install disk to try to "repair" the partition...seven or ten times, no luck. Also, no drives were listed in the window at repair prompt. So, I pulled all the cables on all the drives but the one containing the system and voilas! here I am writing to you without issue and without three of my drives. I have two other sata drives in addition to my system sata drive. one IDE drive on the system.
Presently running XP home, want to install Win 7 Home Premium. I have two internal drives , one [c drive has all the programs] the second drive [d has all the documents, pics data]. Can I safely do a clean install on c-drive without backing up the data on d-drive.
I am building a budgetpc. I bought new in box an AMD X3 450 and a asus m4a78lt-mle mobo, and 4gb of DDR3 1333mhz memory Kingston. First off out of the box the processor posts as a amd x4 b50. Not sure if they packaged the wrong one or the mobo is reading wrong. I don't want to pull the cpu fan back off tok read the cpu. I did a clean install of Windows 7 ultimate. After install finished I went to install drivers, well the mobo drivers cd was not in the mobobox so I planned on installing usb wireless nic and downloading drivers. This is where the problem starts.
When I click on the exe install file I get, a cmd box popup that says program to big to fit into memory. So I cant install any drivers, I downloaded alla the mobo drivers from asus on a thumb drive and copied over to the hard drive. Tried to run those files and i get the same error message. So I reinstalled Windows 7 this time the 64bit version and this time i still get the same error but on other exe files I get a message saying that they are not 64 bit files. Even though I downloaded the 64bit version. So I am not sure what is up. All parts were new in box.
I have a pretty basic desktop computer (CQ5600Y) that broke down on me recently. I haven't owned it for more than a year. All I know is that I left my computer on for a few hours and when I come back to use it, it was responding very, very slowly. It took 5 minutes just for an icon on my desktop to highlight after I clicked it just once. As a result, I shut my computer off by holding the power button and then turned it back on.
When I turned it back on, it will show the Compaq start-up screen with the option for Setup, Boot Menu or System Recovery. I can get to Setup and Boot Menu, but not System Recovery. If I press nothing during this time, the computer will just turn into a black screen with a blinking cursor and the statement, "Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk and Press Enter". I have a Windows 7 installation disk and the system recovery disks, but neither seem to work.
When I use the Windows 7 installation disk, I choose the Windows Setup mode. It then goes to a "Windows is loading files..." screen and I assume it is loading files from the disc. It then asks me which language, time and currency format and keyboard or input method I would prefer. I choose accordingly and press "Next. I then choose "Install Now.." It states that "Setup is starting...". I then get through the licensing information and press "Next" and then I choose Custom so that I can install a new copy of windows.
This next step is where I am stuck. A window pops up with the title "Where do you want to install Windows?" It also states that "No drives were found. Click Load Driver to provide a mass storage driver for installation." I don't know where to go from here. I assume I need to load a driver, but what driver am I supposed to load? When I click "Load Driver" it asks me to "insert the installation media containing the driver files."
I have inserted the recovery disks (there are 4 of them + one supplemental disc) and searched through them, but I couldn't find anything. What exactly am I looking for? All these file names are foreign to me. Am I looking in the wrong discs? Are there drivers I am supposed to download from some website? If so, what should I type into google in order to find the right drivers?
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.
I'm currently running the 7100 build and I'm wanting to install 7127 using a new partition.
Basically my idea was to create a new partition and install 7127 on that and then uninstall 7100 but keeping my files so I can move then across to the new partition. Thus having a clean install but without losing any files.
Is this possible? Will I be able to uninstall the 7100 without deleting my files?
Also can I change the size of the new partition after I have made it - in order to resemble the set up I have now (ie: 2x 250GB).
before this i have post about my problem on installing Windows 7 on HP notebook. The error is 0x800057(partition Problem), i already got solve with the problem but after few month the problem came back and now i try t o clean format the notebook , using diskpart but still got same erro
I did a new build in Dec last year with Vista Ultimate on a WD 300 GB rapture drive. I partitioned the HD to 60 GB for the "C" drive thinking that I would not install "any" applications on the "C" drive. I would put the apps on the other partitions or another drive altogether. Games on the rapture drive, office productivity apps on another drive.
Apparently, some apps don't give the option to install anywhere else but the C drive. I can accept that but wish I had known that before partitioning.
I also created a "shared" folder on the desktop for moving large files from one networked PC to another. Well it didn't take long before the "C" drive was full. Raw Digital audio files are rather large and attempting to transfer files from one PC to the Vista Ult. PC choked the C drive.
In my next build I'm thinking it may be better to not partition the "C" drive at all. Give the operating system all 300 GB - room to breath for updates, etc.
Does anyone have any words of wisdom, thoughts, comments?
Once you get to the Custom (Advanced) tab of Windows 7 clean install there are options to delete the partition, format, etc. Assuming I want to delete all of my partitions so that I have one large volume C: is it best to delete the partitions first and then format? Why would someone do one over the other (or both?) Right now I have a C: partition and a D:RECOVERY partition. I want to delete the D: partition and combine it to the C: partition.Don't they do the same thing? Why do you need to format after you delete a partition ? Do I also delete the C: partition and "re-create" it? What about the term "Unallocated Space"
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?
I'm using a Asus G60VX-RBBX05, and I'm trying to perform a clean install with its recovery partition, but F9 just takes me to the startup repair without the option of reinstalling. My dvd is corrupted due to moisture. A previous image and backup doesn't exist btw.
I have leptop first I want to recovery but I press format hard drive partition to result in full unlocation not left a single partition 465gb partition unlocation there are leptopku 500GB hard drive and I try to enter recovery dvd lg dvd but do not want the road containing the message dvd / cd rom # 1 not complete, and I also had to replace the windows wishful dream but apparently there is an error code: 0x80070057
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:
I always thought that RAID 0 configuration is possible using two identical physical drives. I bought this Sony Laptop. If you go down to the Hard Drive Storage section you see you can customize it with four different options. I chose the 1st one (750GB mechanical drive). However you can see that the last two options involve RAID 0 (128x2 or 256x2). I was wondering where to install the 2nd drive as there is only a single drive compartment with a single SATA ribbon connector when you remove the back cover. I called Sony Tech Support and this is what they said: "You can only physically install a single SSD. The RAID 0 options involve a single physical SSD that inside has two chipsets in RAID 0, in other words, it's a single physical SSD that acts as two drives". Of course I never heard of this, does this exist?
I had 32 bit Windows 7 home premium provided by OEM. Recently I purchased Windows 7 professional 64 bit in order to increase my memory.(My system is 64 bit capable) I followed [1]. I am using USB for installation. I booted the system with USB. Then at disk manager I deleted all the partitions(including recovery ) Then I refreshed and click next and I got an error saying setup unable to create system partition.
I have 3 Hdds in my PC. On 2 i have installed WinXP, and they are installed separately, so i can boot without the other drive present. My motherboard has a boot manager so i can choose the boot drive.
Now i installed Windows 7 on the third drive, when the other 2 were disconnected.
It works fine by itself, but when i connect the other 2 drives, and choose the drive to boot from, the Windows 7 one says it has no OS installed. Other XPs boot correctly.
i want to have my normal backup, which is a backup of the user files on the d drive to my backup drive (drive X), now i also want to add another backup schedule, so i can backup my pictures specifically to a 4th hard drive, in this case drive drive H.
how would i add this 2nd backup on windows? is this possible? should i be looking for task manager? so far i have tried but cant find any options as access through Action Center Backup.
I'm gonna be moving from a 32-bit XP OS to the Windows 7 64-bit version. Before installing the OS, I'm gonna unplug my 2nd Hard drive where there's no OS installed, just storage.
Will I have to do anything special on the 2nd HD when I replug it in Windows 7? No reformatting is needed right? Because I backed up my files on that HD.
I just rebuilt my desktop and installed Windows 7. I had thought to put My Pictures and My Music on separate Hard Drives from the Operating System and everything else; OR would performance be better with all on one hard drive and backing up the My Music and My Pictures to separate Hard Drives? I'm using i7 processor with 8G RAM and 500GB hard drives (3); with a 1 Tetrabit External MyBook.
I use a backup software called Macrium Reflect and they have an option for splitting your backup archive. I have a split archive that I have stored over multiple hard drives (because it is a very large file), but I cannot open the archive unless the archives are all in one folder. Is there some way to make a "virtual directory" or network drive so that I can use these files as if they are in the same folder, even though they are on different drives?
I've made the move (fresh install on new HDD) from XP to Win7RC x64 (I never gave Vista a look) and I want to scan my old HDD partitions for *.xls;*.doc;*.dwg;*.jpg etc to make sure I haven't missed any old files which were not saved in the right place.
The two partitions are mounted as F: and G:
In XP once you'd turned off the animated dog and chosen the advanced option, you could set "all of part of the filename" to "*.xls;*.doc;*.dwg;*.jpg" and "look in" to "f:;g:". It was a so easy
I can't seem to get Windows 7 to search for more than one file extension, let alone multiple drives as well. Is there an advanced search option which I've missed?
I want to save a file to multiple drives, simultaneously. RAID can join multiple drives, as far as I know, you can't have a temporary RAID setup, whereas, you have an external drive that is attached temporarily, how ever long temporarily is, save the file which is saved to the RAID, when you don't want the drive to be attached to a RAID you can stop the RAID, whenever, and it acts like a regular drive.
I have a C: drive and an E: drive on a Windows 7 X64 Media Center PC. Both have a directory called "Movies" ... when I start Windows Media Center and go to "Videos" I have a C:Movies AND an E:Movies.
Is it possible to merge both these directories into a single directory in Windows Media Center?
The C drive is 95% full so I can't copy the movies from the E: drive onto C: and the E: drive is 95% empty... so over time I'll add more movies to my collection (on the E: drive) and would really like to have ALL the movies from both C:Movies and E:Movie listed in a single directory and arranged alphabetically....
Ps. I've already tried adding both directories to the windows library 'Movies' directory but you can't access the 'Movie' library from within the Media Center!
I installed my Windows 7 OS on a 200GB HDD. Recently, I installed a 500GB HDD in my PC. I used to be able to stream media files to my Xbox 360 with no problem with the media files being on the 200GB HDD. However, I've transferred all my Media Files to my 500 GB (secondary) HDD. The Windows Media Centre on the Xbox 360 isn't giving me any sort of option to stream files from the 500 GB HDD. So, what exactly do I do?
I have discovered an issue with Windows 7 that has become quite annoying. I have tested it with many scenarios and the issue continues to exist.
If you try to delete a file off an additional hard drive (meaning not the primary drive) the system will delete it permanently. It will not ask you to move it to the Recycle Bin, it will just ask if you want to permanently delete the file. Any file on the drive will move to the Recycle Bin with no problem.
Also, files within archives (zip files) will permanently delete even if the archive is on the primary drive.
I clean installed Windows 7 on my HP Pavilion DV6-6C35DX laptop using these 2 guides: SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation Clean Install Windows 7
I noticed when I was installing Windows 7, I never had a screen pop up (step 17) asking about my network location type. After Windows was installed, my laptop couldn't find any networks regardless if I tried plugging an ethernet cord from my modem into my laptop. When I click troubleshoot it says, "Install a driver for your network adapter". I click next it says, "Windows could not find a driver for your network adapter". I look in my Device Manager, I see under Other Devices it lists: Ethernet Controller, Network Controller, PCI Device, SM Bus Controller, Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller, Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller, Unknown Device, and Unknown Device all with yellow exclamation marks next to them.
My Googlefu skills told me that when clean installing windows it only installs generic drivers, and I need to install the drivers on my motherboard disk. The problem is my laptop didn't come with any such disk. I tried going on HP's website on another computer, and burning all the network drivers onto a blank DVD ( can't use a USB since those drivers are not working). When I installed them nothing really happened.
ack when I first set up my system I used a tutorial on this forum that showed how to install the OS on one drive and everything else on the other. The setup required changing the registry settings in audit mode during the initial OS install. I am looking for this tutorial but now can't find it. I even posted in this post, but even those are missing so I can't just trace my posts. I'm confused as to why it is missing and am hoping anybody could lead me back to it.
i'm working with a new pc build that uses a 60 gb ssd for its boot drive, and which is also reusing some "old" sata hdds for storage.
at the time i installed windows 7 ult 64, i had only a new ssd plugged in, and the bios was set to ahci mode. the installation went fine and i was able to boot into windows afterwards without issue.
then, i connected a wd caviar black sata hdd to use as storage, with the ssd being the boot drive. with both of them connected, windows will not get past the starting windows screen.
i made this video of the program before i understood that it was a drive controller issue: startup problem - Internet in it, you can see that windows boots fine in ahci mode with just the ssd plugged in, but that when the backup sata drive is also connected it doesn't get past the starting windows screen.
for the record, this caviar black hdd was my previous boot os, and it also has a windows 7 install on it (which i've renamed the base folder of), but it is not booting from that hdd. also, i have tried the same thing with other "old" sata hdds that do not have any previous windows install on them, and the result is the same thing which is shown in the video.
