I messed up the partitions

HA

I asked gregrocker to look at this - he's the installation/setup guru and author of the Clean reinstall tutorial I linked.

Oh boy! Another issue has surfaced. Well, two, actually. I seem to be unable to resize the E: partition up too 24 GB from its current roughly 22GB. AND, (there is always and AND) when I went to look at the windows 7 backup tool I found this:

Arrrrgh!

I am using EaseUS as a partition tool.

DavidW7ncus said:

HA

I asked gregrocker to look at this - he's the installation/setup guru and author of the Clean reinstall tutorial I linked.

Cheers David. Hi Greg.

Yea, don't try things without expert advice.
I don't use Windows Backup, I use Acronis and Macrium - much more reliable.
I never try to "rearrange" partitions on the HD that is running...
I always create a backup, and a "new disk" to make changes there.
I have the luxury of being able to pop HDs in and out like DVDs, I use a removable tray system for SATA HDs...
If I only had one HD, I would boot with bootable Partition Wizard to make changes ... and hope all goes well ...

DavidW7ncus said:

Yea, don't try things without expert advice.
I don't use Windows Backup, I use Acronis and Macrium - much more reliable.
I never try to "rearrange" partitions on the HD that is running...
I always create a backup, and a "new disk" to make changes there.
I have the luxury of being able to pop HDs in and out like DVDs, I use a removable tray system for SATA HDs...
If I only had one HD, I would boot with bootable Partition Wizard to make changes ... and hope all goes well ...

Most of that I did not understand. (Takes ego out of the hurt locker and strokes it). I did try bootable Partition Wizard. It took forever to go through the disk (I left it over night) and then presented a series of options I could not work out how to use. (Strokes ego again but it spits at me and says "I hate you!")

I just D/Led the Macrium software for later. They wanted £40 !! for the other one. Macrium was free. A much more reasonable price.

What's in the backup? Files, image? It's safest to store your image on external. So I'd move the files off of the logical data partition, delete its volume and then Logical partition in Disk Mgmt.

Next download and burn to CD with Windows Image Burner free Partition wizard, boot disk to Resize C, drag the left border of C to the left against SysReserved partition, then resize the right border to make fully adequate space for your onboard storage needs. I use mine to house the User folders so that the C image is smaller and absent files outdated after image is taken. How to Move/Resize Partition with partition manager? Partition Wizard Move/Resize Partition Video Help.

As David was saying the factory install of Win7 is not desirable and most tech enthusiasts won't run it. Better to follow his link to do a perfect install then preserve it externally with a Win7 or Macrium image so you never need to reinstall again. Everything we've learned about what works best for Win7 is also in included so you can go from the worst install to the very best possible in a few hours of attentive work.

Hi Greg. Thanks for helping out.

There is nothing in the backup. This is a brand new (Second hand) computer. I just wanted to make a back up partition but it all went tits up somehow. Doh!

When I try and delete the volume I am left with unallocated space I seem to be able to do next to nothing with. Um, what's a "logical partition"?

When I first tried to backup the drive before anything else was written on it I ran out of space over and over again with all the CD's CD-RWs and DVD-RWs I have. So I tried to make a backup space on the drive and made it too small. I then found that I could not resize it and it was on the wrong side of C: (See uploaded image on page 1). I tried again after renaming the partition from Bkup1 to Backup. Win 7 refuses to accept the new name and tells me it is "disconnected" and changing it back does not work either. The hole got deeper. Stopped digging and came here.

Now, if I can try your patience and get you to walk me thorough this nightmare and back to sanity, though I promise not to fall in love with you and/or stalk you, I would be grateful. Just assume you are talking to a complete idiot with ADHD.

OK I THINK I CROSSED POSTED LET ME READ WHAT ELSE YOU SAID.....

Catfish:

Have you confirmed that you have a legible 25 character "Product Key" on a sticker somewhere on this PC? The characters would be in the form of xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx. Five groups of five characters, both numbers and letters. If that is confirmed, you can easily reinstall Windows from a disk you burn at home after downloading the appropriate "ISO" file. Totally legitimate.

Details in David's post #2.

The larger problem you have is that you want to backup to another partition on your one and only hard drive. Better than nothing, but if the drive drops dead, your backup will be lost.

freemycatfish said:

Did I use the wrong software? I searched Google and it sent me here: Partition Wizard Bootable CD allows user to manage partition directly with partition manager bootable CD. Which seems to be the page you also listed. Trust me, there was no "dragging" option available in whatever it was I downloaded and burned to CD. (I feel another Homer moment coming on)

I am downloading a copy of the Win 7 ISO at the moment. 1h 28 mins to go.


Oh, I am reading up on logical partitions as we speak (TYPE)

Free download Magic Partition Manager Software, partition magic alternative, free partition magic, partition magic Windows 7 and server partition software - Partition Wizard Online

You should download Partition Wizard from the above link. If you used that link, which of the several listed did you choose? "Home" from the top of that page? "Home" from the bottom of that page? Or?

Logical partitions are OK in your case. As are non-logical.

Are you downloading the Win 7 ISO that matches the version shown on your sticker? Which I assume you have located?