Formatting Vista partition after installing Seven

PW can also Explore hidden partitions.

SIW2 said:

Hi,

You can d/l this: Attachment 65355

Rt click and run as admin on sispar.cmd - select C when asked for partition and select N to adding existing boot menu entries.

Restart and C will be the "system" partition.

Boot the free Partition Wizard Bootable CD .

Rt click D ( vista) and delete. Ok and Apply.

Rt click the 7 partition, select Move/Resize . Grab the CENTRE of 7 partition and drag LEFT so the unallocated ( grey ) space you just created is on the RIGHT of 7 partition. OK and Apply.

Will take a few mins as the data on 7 partition needs to be moved.

You can then incorproate the unallocated space into E using Move/Resize.

That's it.

You may find if you mark Recovery partition Active, you will boot up the Acer recovery program.

You could also unhide the recov partition , give it a drive letter and add it to 7 boot menu.

Looks like a perfect solution. I'll try it when I get a portable hard drive tomorrow. Thanks, I'll get back after I perform the tasks.

karlsnooks said:

The Aud Guy,
One thing good about this forum (amongst many good points) is that you will get several solutions and opinions.

Personally, I'm a fanatic about using only Microsoft software to accomplish my objective where possible.

I've never used any of the partitioning software-only the partitioning software built into to Win 7.

Now you are going to need, for many reasons, to get yourself an external drive to use for backup purposes. On that one, you need to bite the bullet and make the purchase.

Another personal opinion is--never look back. In other words, forget for now and forever Vista. I can conceive of no reasons why one would hang that albatross around their neck.

Now when you decide which partitions you want to delete, then I and many others can give you solutions.

After the deletion and after you've decided what you want to do with that new found space, then once again several of us can provide you with a solution.

Nearly always, the proposal will be valid. Simply there are many roads that lead to Rome.

Here's what I'd do:
I'd wipe the disk 100% clean using DISKPART's clean command.
Then install Windows 7.

Of course, you will want to first backup any data which is dear to your heart, e.g., pics, music, videos, documents.

I thoroughly get your point. And I will indeed get a portable drive in a few days (there's no Amazon here in India :)). But the thing is that I won't mind creating a recovery DVD and then deleting the partition, to be safe than sorry. :) I love your solution of clean sweeping, once I'm able to backup the recovery partition, which currently I'm not able to. Thanks a lot.

The AudGuy,

Hope all goes well and definitely keep us posted as to progress, results, joys and sorrows (hope those are few and far between).

@whs A good idea. I'll have to check whether I'd have to backup whole of 50GB partition or not.

@ gregrocker I just used PW to check out the partitions, and the hidden recovery partition still has data (which I thought was lost when I installed 7). Is there a way I can create recovery DVDs using the data in this partition ?

karlsnooks said:

The AudGuy,

Hope all goes well and definitely keep us posted as to progress, results, joys and sorrows (hope those are few and far between).

You got it. Thanks for the wishes.

It's very likely you can .

The AudGuy said:

Is there a way I can create recovery DVDs using the data in this partition ?

Post a screenie of what is in it.

To use the contents to create recovery media, you probably need to change it to a "normal" partition type ( use Paragon Backup and recovery free edition if PW can't do it)

Free Backup Software: Paragon Backup & Recovery Free Edition ...

The AudGuy,

If you decide you would rather use Microsoft tools to "recover" the recovery partition, then let us know.

You can also change partition types using DISKPART.

SIW2 said:

It's very likely you can .

The AudGuy said:

Is there a way I can create recovery DVDs using the data in this partition ?

Post a screenie of what is in it.

To use the contents to create recovery media, you probably need to change it to a "normal" partition type ( use Paragon Backup and recovery free edition if PW can't do it)

Free Backup Software: Paragon Backup & Recovery Free Edition ...

I just set the recovery partition active through PW and now it shows up just like any other drive, although the FS is FAT32. I have posted the screenshots of the files in it. D2D seems to be the folder which facilitates disk-2-disk recovery on boot. Any hints on how I can create a recovery disk ?