W7 Pro multiple existing partitions

I have a 6 month old Samsung ultraportable that has developed Windows problems and I am trying to re-install Windows 7 Pro. The history is that Windows 7 Home Premium came pre-installed, and I upgraded to 7 Pro right after I bought it, with no problems. Everything has been great until the last 2 weeks when the laptop would not start. After trying multiple times to recover, including the Windows recovery disc and Samsung's internal recovery options, I have given up and am now attempting a clean, fresh re-install. I have already done this once (yesterday) and I am having the same non-start problems.

In an attempt to do this in a truly clean way, I want to wipe out everything that might be leftover. My question is how to do this, particularly regarding the partitions that are already setup on the laptop. Here are the partitions that setup is finding:

Disk 0 Partition 1, 10.6 GB/0.0 MB free; "Primary"
Disk 0 Partition 1, 4.3 GB/4.3 GB free; "OEM (Reserved)"
Disk 1 Partition 1, 100 MB/70 MB free; "System"
Disk 1 Partition 2, 446 GB/393 GB free; "Primary"
Disk 1 Partition 3, 19.7 GB/959 MB free; "OEM (Reserved)" - this one is also named "SAMSUNG_REC"

Questions:
1. Should I leave all these partitions intact, or delete them and start over?
2. If I should leave them intact, into which partition should I install the fresh version of W7 Pro?
3. What is your advice on whether other partitions should be set up for A) programs, and B) data (documents, photos, music, etc)?

Thanks in advance. I would really appreciate specific help on this so I can get back to work!
Waiting in Oklahoma

You say you want to "wipe out everything". The only way to do that is to delete ALL partitions. That's what the phrase would mean in that context.

I'm not advising that.

You need to post a screen shot of Windows Disk Management so we can see more detail.

Most would advise you not to delete the 2 OEM partitions. The 10.6 GB partition may well be a recovery partition.

But if you want to "wipe out everything", they all have to go. You'd end up with 2 partitions: a new System Reserved and a new C.

Have you made a set of "recovery disks"?

Many here would advise you to use C for Windows and applications and another partition for data. But because of the number of partitions you already have, you might have to resort to "logical" partitions if you wanted to do that--unless you got rid of some of the existing partitions.

Do not do not do not use dynamic partitions.

Hi ignatzatsonic - thanks for the quick reply. Some clarification and answers.

When I say that I want to "wipe out everything", what I really mean is that I am assuming that at least part of my recurring non-start problem may have something to do with the old OS, and I want to make sure that the re-install is clean in the sense of no possibility of the problems associated with the old install carrying over to the new. That's what I am really after.

I cannot post a screen shot because the information regarding the partitions is from the installation menu, so the OS is not running yet. However, there is no additional information on the screen beyond what I posted originally.

Yes, I have recovery disks, and I have the Windows 7 Pro disc in the DVD drive. That's what I am booting from now.

OK, now if I understand your advice, it would be to leave the OEM partitions, but delete the remainder. Then from the one large partition that results from the deletions, create 2 smaller ones: one for the OS, and one for data.
1. Is this correct?
2. Can this be done from the installation window?

Dennis

We can help you Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 but there can be problems with Samsung laptops getting the factory software to work correctly after reinstall.

For this reason make your Recovery disks first or save a Win7 backup image of the entire HD.

Users determined to obtain and maintain a Clean Reinstall may already know you don't want to retain the OEM partitions. Or you can save Recovery partition and if it won't boot afterwards then you can delete and reclaim it's space. The other OEM tools partition isn't needed after Clean Reinstall. As long as you make your Recovery disks or save an image then you have a path back to the bloated Factory pre-install.

If you used Anytime Upgrade to Pro then you'll need to reinstall the licensed OS on the COA sticker then Anytime Upgrade again afterwards to Pro. If you have a full, upgrade, or retail OEM Product Key then you can directly install it from it's latest official ISO download link in tutorial.

You can also attempt to repair the current installation, even Clean Up Factory Bloatware which may help mitigate the corrupting bloatware.

Finally you can shrink C and do a booted test Clean Reinstall in the space you created to see how it works out and performs, then once you're certain we can help you delete it or remove the old installation and partitions if you want.

For all we know now, your installation is fine and your start problems are hardware related or??

Provide more details on the start issue. Error messages? At what point does it fail?

You say you have an ultra-portable. I have little idea what that is. Your disk info from your earlier post implies that you have 2 hard drives: Disk 0 and Disk 1. Do you think you have 2 hard drives in an ultraportable?

To which of those 5 partitions shown did you direct the new installation you did a day or 2 ago?

I would guess disk 1 partition 2 is your C drive, but??

Fill out your system specs so we can investigate the "ultraportable", whatever it might be---at least to the level of a model number and preferably more.

Ultraportable model

This is a Samsung NP530U4B. I hope that gives enough information to help.

Thanks.
Dennis

Like this:

Samsung Series 5 Ultra (NP530U4B-A01US) Review & Rating | PCMag.com

Newegg.com - Samsung NP530U4B 14" LED Ultrabook - Intel Core i5 i5-2467M 1.60 GHz - Silver

Apparently, it has a single 500 GH hybrid hard drive that shows as 2 hard drives.

Can you answer any of the questions in post 5?

I assume you installed a day or 2 ago to Disk 1 partition 2, but I don't see any reason to assume it didn't go well. The start failure may be unrelated.

Did you make your Recovery Disks? If not then it may be too late since you've already clean reinstalled. But since you saved your recovery partition try to run it now to see if it works. If Recovery will run Then make your Recovery disks. If it won't you can abandon the OEM partitions which will not work after Clean Reinstall.

If the initial problem persists then wipe the HD with Diskpart Clean Command which gives the cleanest slate for reinstall and clears the boot sector which can cause problems. Then follow these steps to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 .