[help] partitions and windows 7

dknight178 · 11 Jan 2010

Hello guys...

I want to install windows 7 into my Acer Aspire 4937G laptop (currently running in Windows Vista Home Premium; actually I want to be able to dual boot vista with win 7). I have made disk images and recovery disks (using Acer's Erecovery management) to back up my previous files.

However, my problem is that my laptop already has 4 primary partitions, as seen in the attached file. The first two partitions seem to be related to recover files (one is called PQSERVICE if I'm not mistaken) and the only one I could use is Drive D (DATA) where I put some of my files (although I can delete them if I wanted to). However, I've read somewhere that Windows 7 would install at least two primary partitions. Furthermore I intend to retain my Vista OS.

Is there a way for me to install Windows 7 using just my Drive D (even if Win 7 requires 2 primary partitions)? Or could I just shrink my Drive D and make logical partitions where I'd put Windows 7? Thanks in advance :)

Jonathan_King · 11 Jan 2010

Welcome!

Go ahead and install in the D partition. If you run into any problems, we will assist you.

~Jonathan

dknight178 · 11 Jan 2010

I've read somewhere that logical partitions are not bootable. Does that mean I can't install win 7 in a logical partition?

If I forming another partition from drive D, would one of them be a primary partition? Will installing win 7 in the primary partition from those 2 drives work? Thanks

Jonathan_King · 11 Jan 2010

It is true that logical partitions cannot boot. Theoretically, you could still install into a logical partition, but the boot loader would have to be on a primary partition. It is much easier if everything is on a Primary partition.

Unfortunately, you can only have 4 primary partition per hard drive. If I were you, I would install in the D partition. You can later shrink/expand/create new partitions as necessary to make a data partition.

Man, do I wish Greg was here. He is the master of partition/formatting issues.

SIW2 · 11 Jan 2010

You're on the button so far Johnathan.

You can install 7 to D without any problem .

7 will not create a 100mb system reserved partition.

7 will automatically set up a dual boot menu for you.

dknight178 · 11 Jan 2010

Thanks for the replies :)

How much space would be ideal for the partition where I'd put windows 7?

And also, is it possible to access my personal files in drive C even if Vista is installed on it?

Thanks in advance

Jonathan_King · 11 Jan 2010

Windows 7 needs at least 16GB to be installed, but in practice, you will want more. Maybe 30-50GB? Remember, not all programs allow you to install them in other places.

SIW2 · 11 Jan 2010

And also, is it possible to access my personal files in drive C even if Vista is installed on it?

Yes.

dknight178 · 12 Jan 2010

I shrank my drive D coz I was planning to put backup files in another partition.

However, when I was about to format the unallocated space, there was a warning that popped up, saying that to format the space my disk would be converted into a dynamic disk, and it also mentioned that dynamic disks would prevent me from loading OS from a different volume.

Should I convert my disk into dynamic or not?

And how could I create another partition without my disk being converted into dynamic?

Many thanks :)

Jonathan_King · 12 Jan 2010

DO NOT convert your disk to dynamic. Way too risky. If you ever need to use the hard drive outside of Windows, or recover data from it, you will regret it.