system reserved HDD

Alston518 · 23 Nov 2010

whs said:

Alston518 said:

i have been looking more and more into this issue. I just started using this computer, so i will not have really anything that i need to back up. Can i just wipe both hdds and start from scratch. Like just delete everything and then re insall windows? Would that be the smart thing to do?

Yes you can do that. I would call it the "brutal way". But why don't you first try to fix it with BFK's tutorials. The advantage is that you will learn something and if it does not work, you can still go the brutal way.

Btw: if you reinstall, you might want to first define an active partition on the disk where you want to install. You can use the bootable Partition Wizard CD for that (Option1, Step2 in the tutorial). Then you install Win7 into that partition and the installer will not define the 100MB partition. Your MBR will then be on this OS partition.

ok i will try that first, but just wondering, if i do decide to go the brutal way and just start from scratch, how would i go about wiping the hdd's?

whs · 23 Nov 2010

You could use the Partition Wizard I linked above to wipe the disk (you see it in the Disk tab of PW). But come to think of it, you can just install to the partition where the system is now. Then you need not define a new partition. But make sure (as BFK said) to physically disconnect the other disk so that you do not end up in the same shambles again.

Bare Foot Kid · 23 Nov 2010

Bare Foot Kid said:

Yes it would, power down the PC and disconnect all the HDD(s) except the one you want to install Windows 7 to and do the 'clean all' then use Step Two #2 to create a single 100GB partition to install Windows 7 to and after Windows is booting good reconnect the other HDD(s) to the motherboard.

If you want to add the "System Reserved" partition use Step Two #3 for the create.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Did you not see this post?

Alston518 · 23 Nov 2010

ok i figured it out, all i needed to do was shrink the volume of the system reserved partition, and then format the rest of the hdd. Very simple fix lol. Thanks for all the help though

Bare Foot Kid · 24 Nov 2010

In future if you want to work it out on your own, please don't get us to make 2 pages of suggestions to help you when have no intention of following, don't waste our time.

Alston518 · 24 Nov 2010

Bare Foot Kid said:

In future if you want to work it out on your own, please don't get us to make 2 pages of suggestions to help you when have no intention of following, don't waste our time.

well the one tutorial you sent me about making your own system reserve partition is what actually helped me figure it out. It showed that i needed to shrink the voulume to make room for another partition. So then i got the idea to shrink the original system reserved partition and it worked. So ya actually all these posts did help. So BFK, in the future, dont make useless posts like your last one and make me waste my time replying to it.