Change system partition?

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  1. Posts : 2
    windows 7 professional 32bit
       #51

    sorry to pick up on a thread so old but I need help. Due to a number of power cuts (and maybe some viruses) my computer stopped booting and asked to boot from cd/dvd rom. so I got the Win 7 disc, since Win 7 was the OS it had before it stopped booting. My intention is to make a clean installation of Win 7. Everything runs smoothly up until I get to the point where im supposed to choose the partition in which im to install the OS. These are the drives I have, the 1st one is " Disk 0 Partition 1 (size: 232.9 GB) (type: System) " and the 2nd one is " Disk 0 Unallocated Space (size: 8.0 MB) (type: not stated) ". Okay, I read on the net that if I delete the system partition drive, my computer wont boot properly. I tried to install the OS directly into the System partition drive (since its the biggest) but that resulted in an error. Is it possible for me to reduce the System partition drive from 232.9 GB to about 100 MB so that I can have enough space to extend the 2nd partition drive in order for me to install the OS in it?
      My Computer

  2.    #52

    Back up your files, power down to unplug all other hard drives except the target drive. During the Clean Install Windows 7
    use the Drive Options pictured to delete all partitions shown, then create and format your install partition of the size you want. Ignore the small boot partition it creates. Highlight the install partition and click Next.

    Study these same steps for Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 which assure a perfect install.

    If problems persist work through these steps for Overcoming Windows 7 Installation Failures - Windows 7 Help Forums
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 2
    windows 7 professional 32bit
       #53

    Greg, thanks man. But I just want to be sure cause I guess I have been terrified by posts I saw on the internet about how deleting the System partition will cause problems during the booting stage. So, just to be clear, I should delete all my partitions?? including the system one??
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #54

    If you begin the installation and delete all partitions when you come to the partitioning screen and then continue the installation, the necessary system partitions will be re-created.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 13,576
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #55

    Yes if you want, delete all the partitions down to un allocated space, unless a partition has something on it you wish to keep, data, software, movies, pictures etc. Do not delete or format that partition.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 4
    Win7 Ultimate x64
       #56

    I'm having a very similar issue that I think is related to this. My computer had a 128gb SSD that I'm trying to upgrade to a 240gb SSD. I've used Windows Home Server for backup and restore for years and never had an issue with it. Attempting to restore from WHS, I'm able to restore my primary C partition and the 100mb reserved system partition.

    All of the data is there but when I boot with the new drive in the computer, I get "loading operating system... a disk read error occurred press ctrl+alt+del to restart" And that happens over and over again. I've restored 3-4 times now. I've plugged in the old SSD to the same cables, it works great. I plugged the new SSD into other cables, still works great. I think it's a problem with the boot configuration or a driver issue with the drive or something. I'm hoping someone a little more knowledgeable than me can push me in the right direction to resolve this.

    With both drives plugged in, I can boot from my old drive and see the new drive just fine. It shows the reserved system partition and the OS partition on the new drive. The OS partition is not flagged as boot, though. And the reserved system partition is not flagged as system. These are two differences I see between the new drive and the old one. The problem is, I don't know how to change that. When I run through the automated repair steps (with just the new drive connected) it can see the OS partition. When I repair it, it tells me the repair was successful and it adds a second partition called recovery or something like that. When I reboot, I just continue to get the same error. I tried doing a repair on the second recovery partition that it created and it says that failed. The message is "boot configuration is corrupt."

    And I've tried running bootrec with the 4 different switches. The middle 2 tell me they're successful. The first and last tell me no OS was found. But when booting to a command prompt, I can browse to both partitions, I can see all of the files there. I've run chkdsk /s /x /f (I think I remembered the switches correctly) as many have recommending. 0 bad sectors found, everything seems to be correct. But I can't get the darn thing to boot. And I've tried updating the BIOS as many have suggested. I even tried using the new drive to do a clean install of Windows but unfortunately I get the same behavior then too. It says it installs fine but when it reboots, I get the same error.

    One thing of note is that when I do put in the old drive and the new one at the same time and boot from the old drive, it tells me it's detected a new drive and it says it is installing drivers. Both drives are SATA drives. I've plugged them into the same cable at different times. So I'm not sure why the OS thinks there's new hardware there that it needs to install drivers for. And I'm not sure if that's causing problems or what but given the comments on this thread, I thought it was worth calling out.

    Any ideas from this group? I'd really appreciate any help or insight you can provide. Thanks!
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 13,576
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #57

    Could you please post a shot of Disk Management with both drives hooked up.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 4
    Win7 Ultimate x64
       #58

    I'll take a picture of the screen when I get home again. I was able to confirm again that doing a clean install of Win7 exhibits the exact same behavior. As best I can remember, the system reserved partition is not marked "system" and the primary OS partition is not marked "bootable." Everything else seems to align, though. It's marked primary and active and all that good stuff. But I'll post the picture later today. Thanks for your help.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 4
    Win7 Ultimate x64
       #59

    For some reason, the upload of my screenshot if failing. Repeatedly. Here's what I'm seeing:

    Disk 0 (the new disk):
    "New Volume" 99MB NTFS Healthy/Active/Primary Partition
    "E:" 223.47GB NTFS Healthy/File Page/Primary Partition

    Disk 1 (the old disk):
    "System Reserved" 100MB NTFS Healthy/System/Active/Primary Partition
    "C:" 119.14GB NTFS Healthy/Boot/Crash Dump/Primary Partition
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 25,847
    Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
       #60

    Use this tutorial by Golden to post the requested screen shot.

    Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image
      My Computer


 
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