Windows 7: New Install - no problem

Hi guys,

Thought I'd post and not ask for answers / help / advice!...

Following on from my thread about Win7 Home Premium OEM - changing Spanish to English, I would like to say I took the plunge and format-freshinstalled.

Just a few things of note (I had nervously investigated this a lot beforehand).

Not wanting to waste hours doing the "clean all" in diskpart, I booted USB (thanks Brink), setup menu > selected C > delete. Select system partition > delete. Then got a "Windows could not instal to the selected partition/drive. Check log for details" when I tried to instal.

Tried a Macrium Reflect image restore - it reimaged but couldn't get past a flashing cursor/black screen.

Thankfully my Windows 7 image restored everything . After debating continuing, I decided yes because Windows 7 image restore wiped my data partition and my factory OEM restore partition - nothing to lose now!. I booted from Hirens Boot CD, wiped and merged all partitions, then tried USB 7 instal again. Success!

After much tweaking / customising / installing, I now have my perfect setup imaged (Windows 7, Macrium Reflect AND Paragon).




OK, so the things of note mentioned above:

• Space saved = 15Gigs of OEM bloat: 33Gigs down to a trim 18Gb. (Toshiba)
• Boot time 85 seconds down to 70 seconds.
• No problem installing with 4Gb (2+2) of RAM - no need to remove one stick.
• Windows 7 image restore wiped all partitions (system, B<OEM restore> C, + D<my data>, not just the replaced C and system partition.
• Macrium Reflect, whilst being a heck of a lot faster than Windows 7 image backup didn't seem to have a system partition restore.
• Online activation after all setup & customisation = painless. (Retail Windows 7 Home Premium English ISO + Spanish OEM key)

Hope this helps anyone wanting to cleanup an OEM rig. I'm happy now - it just works, no problems whatsoever.

D

Hello allend66.


Good to see you got it running; for future use.

   Note

Contrary to popular belief, formatting does not remove any data at all, it just checks for sector errors and marks the space to be over-written as needed, all the data is still there including all the code from previous/failed installation attempts.

You don't need a third party program to do a wipe "secure erase" to the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) the Windows installer will do it natively, if that's what you choose to do though it would be advisable to clean the HDD before you install Windows 7 so you don't have any conflicts, have a look at the info below.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

All interested people kindly note- spanish key worked with english dvd.

This is the first report I've seen that another language key will activate OEM or retail.

The only thing I would have done differently is wipe the HD after testing the HD and RAM - which I do at all reinstalls.

You say
"Macrium Reflect, whilst being a heck of a lot faster than Windows 7 image backup didn't seem to have a system partition restore."

I use both for imaging ~50GB and find their imaging speed comparable when Macrium default compression is used (+- 10%). I have timed them.

Macrium will image any partition you select including of course the system reserved partion. Unlike Windows imaging you must select it (Windows forces it to be selected). Macrium (free) restores each partition in turn including the system reserved partition if selected. That is, restoring is done manually on a per partition basis.
Macrium will also image and restore your factory recovery (hidden) partition if you desire.

@ mjf - Factory partition isn't needed now as it has all the OEM bloat included. But I'm lost as to Macrium Reflect - nowhere does it say to image the hidden system partition, and I've looked plenty. Are you sure? Have you restored from it, and not just the C: partition?

@ gregrocker - My system is working great - is a full wipe really necessary or is this your personal preference? I have no problems...

My comment was for the future and for others who will read this thread.

Many do not know that formatting doesn't erase anything, or overwrite corrupt or infected code.

Let's not confuse two partitions:
(1) Factory Recovery (often hidden). Generally takes up 10-20GB and returns your computer to the factory state.
(2) System reserved, active. Most times 100MB. This contains the bootmanager and the BCD and is critical to the booting of your computer.
When C: (boot,.....) contains Windows, programs etc this is often all you need to image with Macrium because the MBR and the 100MB system reserved partition are often fine. I recommend you always select it as well just in case - it's only 100MB! When it comes time to restore it is quite separate from the C: part of the image and you don't have to restore it. And YES I have selected it in a Macrium restore.

And it doesn't hurt to keep a Macrium image of the factory recovery partition in case you ever want to sell the computer in the same condition you bought it in.
,