New laptop setup, SSD questions

But again, the setup in these systems is sometimes very different. So only the Disk Management screenshot will tell us how to proceed..

Well, that's as I suspected. The SSD is not even identified as a seperate unit. They put this hiberfile on it (probably for fast boot) and the rest is hidden and probably used as buffer for the HDD.

The setup of the HDD is knid of strange too. I wonder what the idea of this seperate 12GB primary partition is.

I would not change anything until you scope it out fully to understand exactly what you're dealing with. There are a number of approaches to do this which I'll outline here based on seeing several of these over the past year:

The full 32 gb SSD is not shown. Type CMD in Start Search box, right click to Run as Admin, type Diskpart, then List Disk to see the actual size of all disks onboard. The 32gb may show up there. If so select it using Sel Disk # then Detail part. Grab a screenshot with Snipping Tool.

You may also be able to see more in a map format using free Partition Wizard bootable CD which shows hidden OEM partitions. A camera snap posted back would be helpful.

It may in a be RAID so that it isnt' shown until unRAID'ed. Boot into BIOS setup to check the SATA controller setting. Is it RAID? In the past it had to be changed to AHCI so that 32 gb would show up independently to delete, partition and format with Partition Wizard CD. This makes it visible to the Win7 installer to choose for install.

First thing I would do is make your Recovery disks following the steps in your setup literature or online Manual, or accessing Toshiba Recovery in All Programs to find the app.

I would also call Toshiba Tech Support to ask them where the 32 gb partition is and if it can be used for Win7 install. They may not be forthcoming since they work from scripts that may withhold this information, even warn you that to change this will void your tech support warranty. Just say you're trying to understand your system better but never disclose what you intend to do with your property, even after you've clean reinstalled. If you ever need to ship it back under warranty first run the Recovery disks or a backup image you've made of the factory preinstall.

Yeah, Toshiba puts a lot of stuff on their PCs. Just get rid of all that stuff in the startups. You need to keep only the AV program and anything you put there yourself, e.g. Sidebar (gadgets).

Removing things from the startups does not mean that those programs will not run. They will be loaded when called. But if they are out of the startups, you will boot faster and have a smaller RAM footprint at idle.

In msconfig, you have to click on the startup tab. But best is to use WinPatrol to manage startups. And that program is also useful to protect your registry. Download WinPatrol 26.1.2013.0 - FileHippo.com