Windows 7: Fresh install advice

Hi all,

I am thinking of doing a fresh install of 7, jsut wanted some advice on a few things.

I understand that windows will make a 100mb partition for the MBR etc, the thing is i really want to have 4 partitions, windows, applications, games, music & pics. I was wondering how i would go about setting up a logical drive and when i actually do it? do i save the unallocated space during the setup and create it in disk manager once i have installed windows?

Was thinking of creating maybe 1 more logical drive and just saving a fresh image of my install for easy access incase things were to go wrong in the future

hope you can help

Have a looky here pal

-clean-install-windows-7-

Hi,

When choosing the partition to install onto Windows allows you to

1. Delete the partition and create a new 1 giving you the option to set the size of the partition.
2. Set the size of the new partition. You'll notice the new 'Disk' and an unallocated space
3. Delete the 'Unallocated space' and follow step 2 again

Once happy you can then install Windows 7 on the partition of your choice.



OS

I have wiped my HD using diskpart in the command prompt, now i am trying to create partitions using diskpart before i actually install windows, i type the command "create partition primary size=1024" for example and this then says primary partition created, can i do this again for another 3 partitions or will diskpart only let me create 1 primary? I am testing on a usb flash drive at the mo just to be safe, i created 1 partiton at 1024mb and when i try creating another at 500mb its says insufficiant space, its a 2gb flash drive.

hope you can help

Hello!



You can use diskpart to create all four as Primary if you wish, have a look at Step Two #3 in this tutorial at the link below for an outline of the process.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Thanks for that matey im going blind lol i was following that guide but missed step 3 oops

EDIT

Still getting the same issue on my flash drive where once i have created a primary partiton of 1024mb, i try creating another 400mb partition and it tells me i dont have enough space. There is 800mb of unallocated space on the drive.

Is the reason this wont work because its a flash drive?

I would go the simple route.

1, Use this program's bootable CD (on the left side of the webpage) and clear the whole disk
2. Then define a partition large enough for the Windows7 installation. The size will depend on your requirements but for normal use (no games), 50GBs should suffice.
3. Then set this partition to primary, active (using the same CD program - in Partition tab > Modify)
4. Leave the rest of the disk free. It is easy to define your other partitions in that freespace with Disk Management once you have Windows 7 up and running. Data Partition
5. Install Windows 7 in that one partition you defined. This way you will get your MBR in the same partition and avoid the seperate 100MB boot partition.

PS: if you have other disks on the system (possibly with other operating systems) you should physically disconnect them during this operation.

Wolfgang's suggestion to use our favorite tool here, free Partition Wizard, is a good one to have a picture of what you're doing while you partition your drive. The installer can do this as well.

What I'd like to suggest is that you NOT install programs (if that's what you mean by applications) on a separate partition from Windows 7. Programs write themselves into registry keys so that they integrate with the OS and should be on the same partition.

Here's a tutorial on how to put your User folders on another data partition: User Folders - Change Default Location

This keeps your Windows 7 and programs partition backup image lean so if Windows 7 becomes irreparable, you can easily reimage it's partition in 20 minutes and your data is current and waiting in its own partition "vault" which should be backed up separately to another HD.

Thanks fot that mate, i see what your saying with regards to having all the applications installed on the same partition as windows makes sense. Whenever i re-imaged my machine i always restored the windows partition of course but i made sure i also restored the applications partition as well to go with it so i was kinda wasting my time really wern't i putting them seperate lol

As for the tut are moving the users folders, the only folders i move to a different drive is the My Music, My Pictures & My Videos as i always have them on my media partition and the way i do it is just right click the folder and change the location to D:\My Music for example.

I have just finished my fresh install (very quick now) i created the primary active partiton using diskpart before i installed windows and i made it 80GB in size would you say that a good size for 7 and all my applications? Just need to go into disk management now and create my other 3 partitons i would like

The preferred size is of course relative to how many programs on the OS partition and the size of your HD. If you have a lot of space on the HD then we recommend 100gb to start.

Remember Partition Wizard for any partitioning operations Disk Mgmt can't do. Free Download Magic Partition Manager Software - Partition Wizard Online