Yep, using Diskpart early in the installation; make sure all other drives are disconnected. This creates a single partition covering the entire drive, formats it, and marks it active. No system reserved.
1. Once Windows 7 Setup is loaded, press Shift + F10 keys at the first setup screen (which allows selection of language, keyboard and locale). A Command Prompt window will be opened.
2. Run Diskpart, the built-in disk partitioning tool of Windows 7, with the following command:
diskpart
3. Type in the following commands one by one, followed by the Enter key to create a partition (text in brackets are comments only):
list disk (to show the ID number of the hard disk to partition, normally Disk 0)
select disk 0 (change 0 to another number if applicable)
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs=ntfs quick
exit
4. Type exit at command prompt to close Command Prompt window.
5. Continue Windows 7 installation as usual. Remember to highlight and select the partition just created when you come to the partition screen.