Windows 7 Clean Install Questions

Hey guys, I did some searching but wasn't able to answer my questions.

I have a Lenovo Y650 and I was wondering if I could format the HDD and do a clean install, or if this would be a bad idea. The computer came with quite a bit of bloat ware, as well as a separate partition of 30 GB that has around 2 gigs of lenovo drivers that is for the recovery system i guess? it also has about 20 gigs hidden, not quite sure what that all has on it.

I'm still learning with computers and everything.. so would it be okay to wipe EVERYTHING and start fresh with one single partition (320GB) for windows 7?

Will everything still work properly on the computer or will i need to get drivers from Lenovo? If everything will still work properly, that would be great, but I don't know what happens when you do a clean sweep on something that comes so loaded up from the factory.

Thanks guys

You could format the whole HDD and do a clean install. Or you could just format the partition where your Vista is and leave the remaining partitions. If Lenovo has a recovery partition, you might want to keep it just in case you need to start over from the way the factory shipped it.... especially since you spoke of "learning with computers and everything." Existence of a recovery partition will not affect how your clean install of Windows 7 performs. If, later, you want the extra HDD space, you can always delete the other partitions.

Your partition layout is a little unclear. How do you know the 30GB partition has about 2GB of drivers? Are they in a folder labelled as-such? Are you saying there is a 20GB hidden partition from looking under "Disk Management" or because the visible partitions in windows explorer only add up to around 300GB? What does the Manual say about restoring the factory image? Most of the time it is by tapping F8 when booting to go to a customized Recovery Environment. Installing W7 over the Vista partition will probably mess up the custom recovery enviroment but if Lenovo uses a windows image (.wim) file for recovery, the factory image can probably be restored using imagex.

Although Windows 7 comes with more drivers than Vista does out of the box, you will probably need some drivers from Lenovo, if you start fresh with Windows 7.

Hope this helps a little.
Tom

I'll probably just format the part that Vista is on like you said. Yes, the other partition is labeled with 2GB for "Lenovo Drivers." I have read that there is between 12-20 GB hidden by Lenovo for who knows what.. I also realize that this does not add up to 320 which is partially why I was considering completely reformatting the HDD.

Mjcanton said:

I'll probably just format the part that Vista is on like you said. Yes, the other partition is labeled with 2GB for "Lenovo Drivers." I have read that there is between 12-20 GB hidden by Lenovo for who knows what.. I also realize that this does not add up to 320 which is partially why I was considering completely reformatting the HDD.

Just for your information:

320gb drive is 298gb in reality.

Why that is, you can read here.
HDD's - the Advertized size vs the Actual size.

zrtom gave some solid advice. Better not wipe the Lenovo partitions.

But if you chose to do complete wipe of the disk, always make two partitions.
One for the OS. and one for data.
60gb for OS is sufficient.

greetz

Why is 60gb recommended for the OS? And I figured it was actually smaller than advertised, I've noticed that with most HDDs.

So if I do just a clean sweep of the Vista section and leave the 30gb Lenovo partition that should be fine? and is 60gb the minimum for the OS? that seems like quite a bit

Mjcanton said:

Why is 60gb recommended for the OS? And I figured it was actually smaller than advertised, I've noticed that with most HDDs.

So if I do just a clean sweep of the Vista section and leave the 30gb Lenovo partition that should be fine? and is 60gb the minimum for the OS? that seems like quite a bit

30gb is fine.

60gb was just an example, and it would be kind of a maximum, since it will be quite hard to fill that with apps.
And you would still have plenty left for the data partition.

greetz

OK so i am trying to install windows 7 on a system that had previous been running linux i formatted the drive using dban so it has no OS on it yet every time my computer loads to the starting windows set up screen it shuts off. The disk is not bad as i used it to install windows 7 on the system i am currently using. I was wondering if anyone had an idea why and how i might be able to get it to do a fresh install of windows 7.
ps i really want to see what 7 can do on my new system but if i can't figure out how soon i may be forced to reinstall linux.

morphiotic said:

OK so i am trying to install windows 7 on a system that had previous been running linux i formatted the drive using dban so it has no OS on it yet every time my computer loads to the starting windows set up screen it shuts off. The disk is not bad as i used it to install windows 7 on the system i am currently using. I was wondering if anyone had an idea why and how i might be able to get it to do a fresh install of windows 7.
ps i really want to see what 7 can do on my new system but if i can't figure out how soon i may be forced to reinstall linux.

Please start your own thread.

First, your issue is entirely different.

Second, it is not done here to hijack someone else's thread.

Greetz.

squonksc said:

morphiotic said:

OK so i am trying to install windows 7 on a system that had previous been running linux i formatted the drive using dban so it has no OS on it yet every time my computer loads to the starting windows set up screen it shuts off. The disk is not bad as i used it to install windows 7 on the system i am currently using. I was wondering if anyone had an idea why and how i might be able to get it to do a fresh install of windows 7.
ps i really want to see what 7 can do on my new system but if i can't figure out how soon i may be forced to reinstall linux.

Please start your own thread.

First, your issue is entirely different.

Second, it is not done here to hijack someone else's thread.

Greetz.

Thank you

Anyway, I'll Probably make about a 40gb partition for Win 7, either that or i will just make one big partition - I believe that is how it is now. I'll Make sure I leave the 30gb Lenovo partition alone, I should have plenty of hard drive space until solid states drop

I'm in the same position as the OP and I'll probably format my c drive, install W7 and keep my D drive for all the old files.