Windows 7: Questions about initial setup

Hi everyone...I have some probably dumb questions...but I have to try to ask anyway...

1. Do you think there is a period of kind of 'run in' that is natural for a newly installed system? I'm talking about after you have all your bios, services, OS, software, programs tweaks out of the way...is there a period for a new PC build where it kind of settles in like a house? Is a fresh PC build prone to some glitches? The reason I ask is because my Windows 7 build (about 2 weeks old) tonight failed to start and got a repair/ or start Windows normally message...just kind of out of the blue it was...I powered off, disconnected the HD cables, reconnected, and it booted up the next time

2. Is it a myth that installing the OS and software on an unpartitioned HD of around 1TB is foolish? I mean, would you be crazy to do that? Use a 1TB HD, unpartitioned for the OS...

3. SSD's...are they reliable right now? How glitchy are they? What are some respected work horses in the SSD field?

4. Can you partition a hard drive after you have installed the OS and all your software? I want to maybe try to partition this 1TB hard drive that has my OS and programs etc

Well...I thought I had more questions but I can't think of any more right now. I'm a bit rattled about my new build. Thinking about a reinstall onto an SSD and using my 2 1TB drives as backup



thanks

1) Its not the PC that needs to settle, its the user. After all that installation and tweaking, it wouldnt be surprising to come across a bad/incomplete/incompatible install here or there or a driver conflict or a tweak gone wrong or a user error. When you start using the machine all these show up, then you iron them out one by one till everything's working harmoniously.

2) Having at least 2 partitions, one for the OS and programs and one for data makes sense. It lets you preserve your data if you need to reinstall the OS and keep the OS and programs on the fastest part of the hard drive. I'm talking about platter drives here. In any case you'll be wasting that one TB if only the OS and programs reside on it, most of us would be using just a 50gb-100gb partition for that.

3) Well SSDs are expensive, thats the only problem. Otherwise they are awesome, they're fast and boot quick. You want to improve your WEI score, get an SSD. Thats the single most worthwhile investment you can make apart from additional RAM, in terms of performance.

4) Ya, you can partition the hdd after installing the OS and programs, only thing is windows wont let you shrink the existing partition below a limit, so you'll still end up with a ridiculously large system drive. Solution is to use Partition Wizard (freeware utility) to shrink to size of your choice.

1 - the only run-in period is a couple of boots, then everything should be settled in. if your install is showing glitches, then you have a problem - it's not normal.

2 - i'm not sure if foolish is the right word, but it is certainly advisable to keep your data and os on seperate partitions. 1 tb is an awful waste of space for windows 7 - unless you plan on installing lots of huge apps.

3 - modern ssd's are reliable and glitch-free. i haven't got one myself yet, but plan to, so cannot recommend a particular model, you just have to read some reviews.

4 - yes - you can do this from within windows 7 with no extra software needed - here's a tutorial.

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*edit* oops Bill2 there first, with better answers

I understand your point about the user settling in with the PC...addressing the issues as they come up.

Do you know what the limit is for partition making in Windows? I think I would try to make a 100gig partition for the OS

Edit...thanks very much people

Theres no standard limit. Just go into disk management and run the initial steps for shrinking C: drive (you can abort the process), windows will calculate and show you the space available.

100gig is 102400

PS...that partition guide seems to be explaining how to do it for an empty hard drive...my hd already has the OS and software installed on it.

Is it the same process? Will I wipe my HD if I try to shrink it now?


I have another question I just thought of:

When I installed my PC...all I did was plug the 2 sata Seagate 7200 1TB drives into the sata sockets...I let bios or whatever auto detect what I had...should I do anything extra? Should I configure some sort of Raid array or anything?

Sorry...I'm not the best at computers. I'm not the worst...but I'm not the best...not even the average



Ok...edit again...I did partition them...I split each 1TB drive in half basically. So at least that's something.