Windows 7: Fastest 7077 Clean Install Method?

Option A ISO on bootable USB and formatted hard disk.



Option B UNPACKED iso on second hard disk and overwrite older version by running setup.exe?


Option C thru Z methods I haven't heard of yet


(Tried search of tutorials without success - would be good to have tutorial on Fast Install Clean/Upgrade )

Only method ive tried is method D: burning iso to dvd and rebooting.

Installing from a usb enabled drive is so much quicker than cd. I have only installed 7068 and 7077 from usb but it cut the time to install by about half. I suppose it is because data has faster read write capabilities on usb than cd. It will always be the way I install form now on. It took about 8 mins to install 7077 x64 this morning. Good times

yes installing from USB if fast as hell, however all usb keys does nto achive same speeds. I used had 4gb kingston before, i was unpacking whole iso to that USB for like ~30min. However read speeds where decent (~20mb/s). But now i bought new a-data usb key only for Windows 7 instalations and whole iso gets unpacked on it in like 6min and even got increased read speed to like ~30mb/s. So you need to be carfule what are you buying, its worth to read some reviews before you buy usb key.

Yes some of the older usb sticks are terribly slow, i have a few and can not a serious difference with my oldest one, almost not worth using at all.

Like everything else in this world you get what you pay for. You are of course right but I think as long as you buy a ready boost enabled stick then you wont have any problems installing. And of course your computer has got to be able to boot from usb which some are not.

Thanks Swarfega RST101

I would have thought read speed from second hard disk would have been faster and less 'glitch prone' than USB and avoids the burning of dvd too.

First build (7000) I installed was from a dvd, everything besides that installed from my OCZ ATV usb stick and it made a huge difference

who said it had to be a usb stick? why not have the image unpacked and do it fdisk style... xcopy? /i386 run setup.exe (i know thats not right, old whistler memories).

Thanks Solor Windows 7 Smashy Digger

Digger - that's the idea! Being able to run from the hard disk saves the hassle of making a dvd - so speed would be equal to or better than usb. We' ll see if someone has tried it.