Newbie here looking to format my PC's hard drive.

[avargas28]

Hello all,

Getting straight to the point:

I purchased an Acer Aspire 5551 a few months ago because I needed an upgrade that wasn't too expensive. It ran fine for a few months until one day it started having boot-up issues. Soon, start-up repair became the norm. It became very frustrating. Start up repair would be scanning and it would tell me it could NOT fix the problem but the computer would boot up fine right after. Then one day, I was faced with the black screen moving cursor (before log-in) problem which really frustrated me. I was finally fed up so I reinstalled windows 7 via dvd. Not long after the reinstall (2 days), black screen moving cursor reared its ugly head again. I noticed my PC didn't have any restore points and I had no way of fixing this problem. I searched but didn't find a definite solution. So I figured a format and clean install might do away with my problems. I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing so I need some of your help. So what I need:

-your opinion on this issue

-I noticed 3 partions on my hard drive. Do I need all 3?

-How do I go about fixing this? Might this be a faulty hard drive? Are there any programs to check this?

-I noticed my black screen issue happened after the Windows update. Seems Windows update had some issues updating or installing.

I've moved all of my music, videos, pictures, files, etc., to my sister's computer.




-----------------------------------
OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
CPU 2.3 GHz AMD Turion II dual-core processor
Memory 4 GB of installed DDR3 RAM
Graphics Card ATI Radeon HD 4250



Hard Drives 320 GB SATA hard drive

 

[theog]

I would Check the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.
Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.
HD Diagnostic

   Information

We always assume you have made your Recovery Disks using the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Media Creator app the first day you had your new PC.
& made the Startup Repair CD.
startup repair disc-create
​

Did you make the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disks?

Acer Empowering Technology > Acer eRecovery Management.
Acer Support - Answers, E-Mail, Chat - How can I restore my computer with the backup discs I created?

Manual how to use Acer eRecovery Management here:
ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/notebook/empowering_technology/NB%20ET2%20user's%20guide/Acer%20eRecovery%20Management%20English.pdf

Have you tried pressing <Alt+F10> at boot up, to goto the Acer eRecovery Management.
Acer Support: Frequently Asked Questions list for How to use Acer eRecovery

You can Order Acer recovery disks from here:
https://secure.tx.acer.com/RCDB/Main.aspx?brand=acer

 

[avargas28]

I would Check the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.
Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.
HD Diagnostic

   Information

We always assume you have made your Recovery Disks using the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Media Creator app the first day you had your new PC.
& made the Startup Repair CD.
startup repair disc-create
​

Did you make the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disks?

Acer Empowering Technology > Acer eRecovery Management.
Acer Support - Answers, E-Mail, Chat - How can I restore my computer with the backup discs I created?

Manual how to use Acer eRecovery Management here:
ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/notebook/empowering_technology/NB%20ET2%20user's%20guide/Acer%20eRecovery%20Management%20English.pdf

Have you tried pressing <Alt+F10> at boot up, to goto the Acer eRecovery Management.
Acer Support: Frequently Asked Questions list for How to use Acer eRecovery

You can Order Acer recovery disks from here:
https://secure.tx.acer.com/RCDB/Main.aspx?brand=acer

I believe I am independent to any of Acer's software, I'd have to double check. What happened was during my first reinstall, I tried using Acer's built in reinstall software but I received an error message stating it was unable to complete the installation. It was continuous loop so I downloaded a legal Windows 7 disc and burnt it to a DVD. So I had to complete the installation with the OEM windows 7 disc using my product code stamped on my laptop.

So currently I can only boot to safe but I have removed all of my files and I am compelled to do a clean install. Just looking for advice and tips.

 

[seavixen32]

Where did you download your Windows ISO from?

 

[avargas28]

I believe it was from this website or another windows 7 forum. They had links to download the ISOs and all I needed was my product code to use.

 

[theog]

WE get alot of Acer with bad Hd Drives, so check the drive.

 

[avargas28]

Can I use a HD diagnostic tool while in safe mode? Therefore it will save me time reinstalling Windows 7 if that's the case.

edit:

I just did a quick search and found this:

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

Is that a good tool to use?

 

[theog]

You can download a ISO, & run from CD.

 

[avargas28]

Well, my hard drive was the issue. It has some bad sectors. I'm going to have to low level format it and try a fresh install. If that doesn't take care of the issue, I'm going to send it back to the manufacturer.

Anyone know a good program to LLF my hard drive? I tried the manufacturer's program (Western Digital) but they don't have a boot CD and the .exe won't allow me because Windows currently resides on my HD.

 

[Golden]

Hi,

By low level format, do you mean a QUICK format? If you have bad sectors, you are better off doing a FULL format.

If you do use a QUICK format, you will need to run a CHKDSK /R at a later stage anyway to address bad sectors:

FULL FORMAT = QUICK FORMAT+CHKDSK/R

Regards,
Golden

 

[avargas28]

Hi,

By low level format, do you mean a QUICK format? If you have bad sectors, you are better off doing a FULL format.

If you do use a QUICK format, you will need to run a CHKDSK /R at a later stage anyway to address bad sectors:

FULL FORMAT = QUICK FORMAT+CHKDSK/R

Regards,
Golden

I thought Low Level format was a full wipe of your HD? I briefly read it zeros out your hard drive.

But anywho, I'm looking to fully wipe my HD. I removed all of my files already.

 

[theog]

Try clean all in command prompt.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html

 

[Golden]

Hi,

All formatting is a wipe of your hard disk, but only a FULL format will mark bad sectors not to be used - this is why it takes so long.

Seeing as you have identified bad sectors as being an issue on your hard disk, I recommend a FULL format to take care of them.

Regards,
Golden

 

[avargas28]

Hi,

All formatting is a wipe of your hard disk, but only a FULL format will mark bad sectors not to be used - this is why it takes so long.

Seeing as you have identified bad sectors as being an issue on your hard disk, I recommend a FULL format to take care of them.

Regards,
Golden

So how do I go about that? Keep in mind that I may not be able to get back as I might be in a start up loop. Is there a program?

 

[Golden]

Hi,

theog posted a link to a turial using CLEAN ALL - give that a go.

Regards,
Golden

 

[avargas28]

So I was able to get to the command prompt and eventually CLEAR ALL my HD. It's working as we speak. I have a few questions that hopefully I can get answered before its done:

-Prior to the CLEAR ALL, I had 3 partitions - is it just now 1?

-If so, how many partitions do ya'll recommend? The sticker states 320 gb. Should I create a separate partition for Windows 7?

-How should I go about the installation?

 

[theog]

IMO, I would make two partitions.
one for Windows 7 size 100gb
Two for for DATA.

 

[avargas28]

what about "system reserved"? Is that necessary?

 

[theog]

The F8 options work with or without system reserved, up to you.

 

[avargas28]

So the clean all was a success, and now a i created a primary partition labeled "Windows 7" and is now formatting.

Once its done formatting, do I assign a size?

And how do I create a "Data" partion? Can I do that after I install Windows 7?


BTW, thanks for everyone's help. You all have been a great help!