Note: This step only applies if you have the 100MB active System Partition - in case of a Dell system it may be the active Recovery Partition. If not, start with Step2.
Eliminating the 100MB active System Partition or the active Recovery Partition will make the job a lot easier and is prerequisite for the following steps to properly work. As first step we will move the bootmgr from the 100MB partition to the C: partition. This is extremely easy with EasyBCD. Follow the picture and the instructions below.
After "Perform Action" you will be prompted to select which letter you like to use as the new boot partition - C: will most likely already be selected as default. When you confirm the selection, EasyBCD will automatically:
v Install the bootmgr to the selected partition v Make the selected partition active v Install the bootmgr to both the bootsector and the MBR of the selected partition v Copy all entries from the old boot partition to the newly-selected one v Update partition references to work with the new boot partition
Step 2 - Image your system
This is the most important step because it will be your only lifeline. I recommend to use free Macrium or free Paragon for imaging. Make sure you have a good image - better even, make two identical images on two different disks.
Step 3 - Delete the volume
For this and the following steps we will use Command Prompt (cmd) from your installation or recovery disc. In fact, you can use an installation or recovery disks from any system - it need not necessarily be from the system you work on. We only need a cmd.
Once you have opened cmd, run these commands:
Diskpart (Do not exit from Diskpart until all steps are done) List disk Select disk n(where n is the number that was given for your SSD in List disk) List Partition Select Partition=0 Delete Partition (that will give you unallocated space for the first partition on the SSD)
Note: If you have the 100MB system partition, you just deleted that one. You now have to Select and Delete for Partition=1 to get rid of the OS partition.
Option: If you want to reset the SSD to factory state, you could run a Secure Erase before you start with the Diskpart steps. In that case you would skip Step 3 and start with Step 4 after the Secure Erase. The first command for Step 4 would then be Diskpart.
Step 4 - Define an aligned partition
Select disk n (same as above) Create partition primary align=1024 Active
Step 5 - Format the new partition
Select disk n (same as above) Select partition=0 Format /fs:NTFS Quick
Step 6 - Assign drive letter (optional)
List volume Select volume n (n is from the list and it is not necessarily 0 - the numbering follows the partitions within the Sata port sequence) Assign letter=M (or any other higher letter - once it is the OS partition, it will become C anyhow)
Step 7 - Double check the alignment
List disk Select disk n List partition
Now you should see a result like this.
Partition ### Type Size Offset ------------- ---------------- ------- ------- Partition 1 Primary 59 GB 1024 KB - but 64KB or any number divisible by 4 is also good
The offset (in KBs) has to be divisible by 4.
Exit (we now exit Diskpart because we are done with cmd)
Step 8 - Load the image and boot Windows 7
Now you boot from your imaging CD and reload the image to the newly created partition. After that you reboot and hopefully the OS will work.
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Computer type Laptop System Manufacturer/Model Number Sony Vaio VPCEB47GM Laptop OS Win 7 Pro 64-bit CPU Intel i5 2.4 Ghz Memory 8GB DDR3 Graphics Card Intel HD 3000 Sound Card IDT High Definition Monitor(s) Displays 15.6 WGXA Anti-Glare LED Screen Resolution 1280x800
Hard Drives 640Gb 7200rpm Antivirus MSE Browser Opera (primary) with IE9 backup
Computer type PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number Golden Mk. I.3 OS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (x64) CPU Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz Motherboard Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13 Memory 16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24) Graphics Card EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB Sound Card Realtek Integrated Monitor(s) Displays Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS Screen Resolution 1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Keyboard Logitech G110 Mouse Logitech MX518 PSU Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W Case Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z Cooling Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans Hard Drives 1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
3*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID5;
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0 Internet Speed Not fast enough!!! Antivirus MSE and Malwarebytes Pro Browser Chrome Version 25 Other Info Laptop: ASUS X54C, Intel Core i3-2330M @ 2.0Ghz, 4GB RAM, Intel HD on-board graphics, Windows 7 Professional SP1 (x64), LinuxMint 14 (x64), PepperMint 3 (x86)
System Manufacturer/Model Number HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops OS Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8 CPU from 1.6GHz Duo to i7 Monitor(s) Displays 2x HP w2207
Keyboard with trackball - no mices Mouse Trackball mice Hard Drives 5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals Internet Speed DSL 6000
Very nice and needed tutorial.
Since this is aimed at SSD's, I would suggest a secure erase as an option to replace Step 3. This could be particularly important for smaller SSD's since the delete and re-imaging process would create a fairly large amount of activity for the internal garbage collection process. A secure erase would bring the SSD to "fresh" speeds.
System Manufacturer/Model Number Homemade OS Win 7 64 bit professional CPU CPU: 3930K @ 4.8 MHz Stable as a rock Motherboard ASUS Rampage IV Extreme LGA 2011 Memory CORSAIR DOMINATOR GT 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 Graphics Card EVGA SuperClocked+ GeForce GTX 680 Monitor(s) Displays Dell 3007WFP Screen Resolution 2560 x 1600
Mouse ratZ-7 PSU CORSAIR AX1200i 1200W Digital ATX12V v2.31 and EPS 2.92 SLI Cooling Water cooling EK Supremacy ELITE Hard Drives Vector(256gb) x 2
RevoDrive 3 X2 space (240 GB)
Crucial C300 256 GB SSD Other Info WEI-7.8
Very nice and needed tutorial.
Since this is aimed at SSD's, I would suggest a secure erase as an option to replace Step 3. This could be particularly important for smaller SSD's since the delete and re-imaging process would create a fairly large amount of activity for the internal garbage collection process. A secure erase would bring the SSD to "fresh" speeds.
System Manufacturer/Model Number HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops OS Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8 CPU from 1.6GHz Duo to i7 Monitor(s) Displays 2x HP w2207
Keyboard with trackball - no mices Mouse Trackball mice Hard Drives 5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals Internet Speed DSL 6000
System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom OS Windows 7 Pro x64 -- PCLinuxOS KDE4 FullMonty 2011 CPU i7-875k @ Turbo - 7,6,5,5 - 3.6ghz Motherboard Asus P7P55D-E Deluxe Memory Corsair CMD8GX3M4A1600C8 8gb Graphics Card Asus EAH5850 DirectCU/2DIS/1GD5 Sound Card On Board Monitor(s) Displays Samsung SyncMaster T220 - Panasonic VT30a 50" Screen Resolution 1680x1050 -
Keyboard Logitech Wireless MK700 Mouse Logitech Wireless MX620 PSU Corsair HX-850 Power Supply Case Coolmaster HAF 932 Cooling Corsair H50 Hard Drives Corsair Force 3 SSD 120GB x 2 ::
WD VelociRaptor 150GB WD1500HLFS x 2 Internet Speed Good enough for now Other Info Voip. Insanely cheap phone calls.
Computer type PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number Golden Mk. I.3 OS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (x64) CPU Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz Motherboard Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13 Memory 16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24) Graphics Card EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB Sound Card Realtek Integrated Monitor(s) Displays Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS Screen Resolution 1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Keyboard Logitech G110 Mouse Logitech MX518 PSU Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W Case Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z Cooling Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans Hard Drives 1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
3*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID5;
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0 Internet Speed Not fast enough!!! Antivirus MSE and Malwarebytes Pro Browser Chrome Version 25 Other Info Laptop: ASUS X54C, Intel Core i3-2330M @ 2.0Ghz, 4GB RAM, Intel HD on-board graphics, Windows 7 Professional SP1 (x64), LinuxMint 14 (x64), PepperMint 3 (x86)
Quote: Originally Posted by Golden 
