Windows 7: Formatting of HDD

Hi guys,

I haven an 80GB HDD running Windows XP at the moment.

Tomorrow I intend to upgrade to Windows 7 64-bit.

I have an external HD for all my data, so the 80GB isn't really a matter to me at the moment.

What I am wondering is about formatting the drive, since I am going from Windows XP 32-bit to Windows 7 64-bit.

Will I have to format the Hard Drive BEFORE I insert the installation DVD, or does the Windows 7 Installer AUTOMATICALLY format my HDD before copying the Windows 7 files?

Sorry if this has been posted before, I did do a search.

Thank you very much!

~ Jack

When you first start the setup it will ask you if you want to do an upgrade or a custom install... choose custom install and follow the prompts...

Jack

Win 7 will take care of it. One word of adice get your 64bit drivers before you do the install just in case. Might save you some time

Ken

You can format it before as well, but the setup will also have a format option. Either way, you're safe.

There is a consideration.

Windows 7 would like to create a 100MB recovery partition - allowing for recovery operations wthout inserting the DVD.

If you delete the existing partition(s), rather than formatting existing one(s), Win 7 will reserve the 100MB partition. Opinion varies if this is a good thing - I say it is. You can create a RAMdisk Options selection on the OS boot menu - like XP's Recovery Console.

Hey guys, thank you so much for the prompt reply and helpful help! I have given you all good rep

I have downloaded all my necessary 64-bit drivers and put them on my USB stick ready for installation once Windows 7 is up and running. I'm trusting Windows 7 will recognise my memory stick without any extra drivers? Ta!

Antman,
Any chance of posting exactly which files and folders (w/contents) are on that 100MB partition? (I ain't got one)
With visible 'hidden/system' files, etc...
Sounds like \boot\* from DVD.

Create a RAMdisk ? XP Recovery ?
Am I missing something from Windows 7 and XP?

Thanks!

I don't have the recovery partition on this (current) install, so I cannot list the contents, but they are available via Google.

My PC is dual boot. The XP install has the Recovery Console installed. By playing with BCedit, EasyBCD et al, you can get the Windows 7 equivelant of Recovery Console to appear in the Boot Menu. Windows 7 calls it RAMdisk Options (or something very close to that). It is my belief that the recovery process will create an X drive, just like the install process does. I am aiting patiently for a generic or MS release of a Windows 7 compatible ramdisk.sys-type app. RAMdisk Options is not visible to me within VistaBoot Pro - my current BCDeditor. EasyBCD zapped my XP install once - but I got it back.

Oddly, I have the RAMdisk O0tion on my boot menu with the recovery partition installed. Therefore, Windows 7 must still be able to create a RAM drive from either C:\Windows or the DVD.

It seems to me.

I don't have the 100mb partition , and don't get an option in the visible boot menu for Ramdisk.

He's there allright - just hiding.

If you check out bcdedit - you can find him - there is an entry that should trigger the recovery options by autofailover.

D:\Windows\system32>bcdedit /enum all /v


<SNIP>

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {587e9dad-8402-11de-b60c-9ed3ec668626}
device ramdisk=[D:]\Recovery\9bd6ff3c-4cfe-11de-aa8d-ab30a7c73d
2e\Winre.wim,{587e9dae-8402-11de-b60c-9ed3ec668626}
path \windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows Recovery Environment (recovered)
locale
osdevice ramdisk=[D:]\Recovery\9bd6ff3c-4cfe-11de-aa8d-ab30a7c73d
2e\Winre.wim,{587e9dae-8402-11de-b60c-9ed3ec668626}
systemroot \windows
winpe Yes
custom:46000010 Yes


<SNIP>



Device options
--------------
identifier {587e9dae-8402-11de-b60c-9ed3ec668626}
ramdisksdidevice partition=D:
ramdisksdipath \Recovery\9bd6ff3c-4cfe-11de-aa8d-ab30a7c73d2e\boot.sdi

D:\Windows\system32>


The difficulty with that is it will only work if bootmgr is working - any problems earlier in the chain and WinRe won't start up.

That's why there is also an option to run off a recovery cd.

The recovery cd is created from the Recovery folder referred to above.

It is a hidden folder on the root of the drive pretending to be empty.



If you copy and paste it somewhere else - you will be able to access the copy ( easier if you remove the H and S attributes from the copy)





If you like, you can copy that e.g. to the root of the drive of another machine running Vista ( 7 WinRe works perfectly on Vista - needs to be the same bit version of course).

Then create a boot menu entry for it on your Vista machine.

You could do it manually, or use Easybcd ( It will ask for an install dvd as it thinks you only have WinRe and wants to copy boot.sdi off the dvd).



Browse to WinRe.wim that you copied onto the drive ( I copied the Recovery folder with WinRe inside) - put the dvd in when it asks and add the entry.

For a "clean install" make sure you select the Drive Options link first to format the HDD. I missed this the first time around and ended up getting a Windows.old folder added to my system because of a previous install. Last night when I installed x64, I noticed the link and selected it and seen I could format the HDD.