Partitioning Medion Akoya Hard Drive, Lost Gadgets.

[Ian Chattan]

So I finally bought a new MEDION AKOYA 2.70GHz PC to replace my 10 year old XP.

Brilliant so far except when it comes to partitioning the hard drive.

The OEM has a 50 GB Recovery partition D which I want to leave but when I go to Computer Management and shrink the C: by an equal 50GB for my own drive images I am left with a 50GB unallocated space which I am told...

"There is insufficient space on the drive to create a new drive." Or some such.

I see from the colors that there is no 'standard' extended partition just the C: and D: drives.

Any pointers on this one? I get the same problem using BootIT NG, a 50GB space with no possibility of making a drive in it or formatting it.

On the Gadgets problem, (I see that MS in its infinite 'wisdom' is not hosting the gadgets anymore, btw) well, I deleted the gadgets thinking that I could get them back by right-clicking the desktop and then 'gadgets' but no. Gadgets doesn't appear at all and I really wanted the alarm clock gadget. Drat!

Any way of getting them back?

Nice to be here.

Thanks for your help.

Ian

 

[gregrocker]

Please post back a screenshot of your maximized Disk Management drive map and listings:

1. Type Disk Management in Start Search box.
2. Open Disk Mgmt. window and maximize it.
3. Type Snipping Tool in Start Search box.
4. Open Snipping Tool, choose Rectangular Snip, draw a box around full map and all listings.
5, Save Snip, attach using paper clip in Reply Box.

Tell us what is on each partition and what you'd like to do so we can give you the steps.

To get Win7 gadgets rightclick an empty area of desktop to choose Gadgets, or type Gadgets into Start Search box.

You may have interference from the factory bloatware so I would consider Clean Up Factory Bloatware, or what most tech enthusiasts do Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

 

[Ian Chattan]

Thanks

Thanks for your reply, I will get onto it and post back ASAP

As for the gadgets right-clicking the desktop does nothing as Gadgets do not show up in the context menu.

Using the MS route opening Control Panel and typing 'Restore Gadgets' in the search panel does ... nothing.

I'll try your way this afternoon.

I can find the gagets in their folder but there seems to be no way of activiating them. Is there a command line option?

Using WRC World Championship Rally produces a warning that WRC requires more free memory space or the program may malfunction.

I don't seem to be able to find the details of the Video card and its memory, where should I look?

I used Boot IT NG to shrink the C: drive and took the original drive sizes in case I need to revert it all for a factory recovery. I then slid the D: drive 'forwards' and doubled its size to 100GB to give me space for my compressed Image For Windows drive images.

The C: (Boot) drive is preceded by a 100Mb space. The D: (Recovery) drive has a 1GB partition after it labeled Compaq Config.

Screen shot to follow as the computer is off-line until we get WiFi Free installed.

Ian

 

[gregrocker]

You've repartitioned correctly to preserved the 100mb System Reserved partition which holds the System boot files and the OEM partition which holds onboard tools and diagnostics.

To add any more partitions you need to convert C to Logical to shrink it and add as many adjacent Logicals as you want: How to set partition as Primary or Logical. Use only the Partition Wizard bootable CD which is the only partitioning program besides Disk Mgmt which will not fail with data loss.

I gave you the correct steps to access Gadgets by typing it into Start Search box, not Control Panel search.

If they won't open then run SFC -SCANNOW Command next.

 

[Ian Chattan]

You've repartitioned correctly to preserved the 100mb System Reserved partition which holds the System boot files and the OEM partition which holds onboard tools and diagnostics.

To add any more partitions you need to convert C to Logical to shrink it and add as many adjacent Logicals as you want: How to set partition as Primary or Logical. Use only the Partition Wizard bootable CD which is the only partitioning program besides Disk Mgmt which will not fail with data loss.

I gave you the correct steps to access Gadgets by typing it into Start Search box, not Control Panel search.

If they won't open then run SFC -SCANNOW Command next.

Have tried SFC SCANNOW to no avail.

I missed the Search Box as you suggested. Not paying attention!

Have downloaded a gadget pack as an altyernative but need to get on-line to install.

They have a .gadget.exe double extension.

I will let you know how it all works out.

This is all in preparation for the Windows 8 €14.95 upgrade for purchasers of Windows 7.

There is a docking station on the top of this machine for a 2 TB hard drive and what I am hoping to do is to produce a:

Crimary,
D: Documents,
E: Music,
(F: OEM Recovery re-sized back to 50 GB)
G: Games,
H: Drive images of the primary (system) (Terabyte Unlimited Image for Windows .TBI files)
I: Video

... and, hopefully, move the respective folders to their new destinations.

Have downloaded Partition Wizard and hopefully it will burn to a 60mm Sony Mini-CD to add to my toolkit.

Windows 7 is a bit new to me after only 8 days of use but it is certainly a huge advance on XP SP3.

I tried the MS offer of Vista for a year but my old machine was not really up to it.

Many thanks for your invaluable assistance.

Ian

 

[Ian Chattan]

Thanks.

"To get Windows 7 gadgets rightclick an empty area of desktop to choose Gadgets, or type Gadgets into Start Search box."

Hello again,

Typing "Gadgets" didn't do the trick - but - when I typed "Gadget" (singular) sure enough one Cyberdrive gadget appeared.

(At least it matches the desktop!)

I will try SFC SCANNOW/SCANBOOT again and see what transpires.

The gadget picker I downloaded needs an internet connection so I will just have to wait a couple of weeks and be patient.

Many thanks.

 

[gregrocker]

If you have Win7 then you should have gadgets available. I don't know what CYberdrive gadgets are unless the preinstalled OEM crapware has interfered again with Win7 by now replacing the stable built-in gadgets.

This is the reason most tech enthusiasts will not run the corrupt factory preinstall but instead choose to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 to experience Win7 in its native state unhindered by a ton of crapware.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

 

[Ian Chattan]

If you have Win7 then you should have gadgets available. I don't know what CYberdrive gadgets are unless the preinstalled OEM crapware has interfered again with Win7 by now replacing the stable built-in gadgets.

This is the reason most tech enthusiasts will not run the corrupt factory preinstall but instead choose to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 to experience Win7 in its native state unhindered by a ton of crapware.

I stripped out all of the crap/bloat ware first off along with the trialware and shareware. In all it wasn't too bad but I have better programs available anyway.

Any way here is the cure. (On prescription.)

1. Programs and Features > Add and remove Windows Features > Check Windows Gadget Platform.

2. Go to> Start and type - gadget - (singular) in the Search window.

3 Voila!

4. No I can get Gadgets on the right click context menu again.

Cure for all this? Changed my password to stop the kids from fooling with their old man!

All of the gadgets have been restored.

Many thanks for giving me the right pointers which led me to the culprits.

They are both much smarter than me anyhow.

Ian

 

[Ian Chattan]

I will be doing a clean install dual boot of 7 on the 2TB drive when it arrives and add Windows 8 when I finally get it for the advertised €14.95.

I will be doing a clean install dual boot of 7 on the 2TB drive when it arrives and add Windows 8 when I finally get it for the advertised €14.95.

I have been working with computers, radar and telecommunications, in various forms for some 46 years now but still get caught out from time to time.

Old age is unacceptable in reality! \Ö/

 

[gregrocker]

Ian, do you know how gadgets had been turned off in Programs and Features?

Is it possible this was some OEM crapware gadgets program that had overridden it, one which you maybe since removed.

There are other steps here to follow up when you Clean Up Factory Bloatware

 

[Ian Chattan]

Greg, my older children were playing a little joke on me and removed Windows Gadget Platform from Add Remove Windows features. In fact the gadgets interfere with some WRC Rally games I have so it is off permanently now.

Gadgets are just that cheap and nasty and quite unnecessary just cluttering the desktop with gimmicks.

As for Puran it stayed on the computer for a full 10 minutes of evaluation as Tune UP Utilities 2012 does all of that, and far better in my opinion with a far better GUI. You should try evaluating it even if it does cost $$$

I use CCleaner regularly on the other hand.

All of the bloat ware has been removed as I don't go for cheap programs.

BUT ... I have a serious problem leading to litigation as the Windows 7 product ID installed on the hard drive does not tally with the one on the back of the machine.

I do hope that MEDION are not cheating the system.

I'll let you know how that turns out in a new thread.

 

[gregrocker]

I do not recommend Tune Up utilties as we see problems here caused by it. If you only recently installed the crapware I'd uninstall it and roll back via System Restore to a point before, otherwise I would Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

Puran Defragger free version gives you a free boot scan which gets at System files, and bundles in a full disk check if asked.

I've not heard any complaints about Win7 gadget stability. Was there an effort using Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7 to determine with certainty what caused the game's problems?

 

[Ian Chattan]

Everything is working perfectly now thanks. I just need to increase the video RAM to play WRC 3