clean win 7 install to ssd: avoiding 100 mb loss, not sure if i am

chedderslam

New member
Local time
8:31 PM
Messages
13
Location
Mobile, AL
hello friends. Merry Christmas Eve!

finally getting around to my first win 7 install on my new 120 gb mushkin chronos deluxe.

I am using tweakhounds win 7 install guide found here:
TweakHound - Installing Windows 7

particullary, I am trying to avoid the 100 mb loss:

Code:
*Avoiding the 200MB partition: Folks have discovered that on an unpartitioned drive Windows 7 will create a 200MB system partition. This is easily avoided by creating a partition before attempting to install Windows 7 (see above). (for some this partition will be 100MB)
**Exception for SSD drives to avoid the 200MB partition and partition / format the drive.
Partitioning is a little different for SSD (Solid State Drives). This is because of something called NTFS partition alignment. Basically this refers to where on the drive the partition starts. Vista and 7 will create a single partition optimally for SSD's. XP and most program boot disks will not. If possible you should partition the disk under an already installed Windows 7 or Windows Vista machine and then proceed with the usual installation steps. If not then this is the way to do it:

Windows 7 Installation Advanced Drive Formatting
1 - Boot up from the Windows 7 installation disc.
2 - Choose Repair your computer.
3 - In the System Recovery Options screen, choose Use recovery tools... and click Next.
4 - Open the Command Prompt.
5 - Type diskpart and hit Enter.
6 - Type list disk . Find the disk you wish to install Windows 7 on. If you only have one disk then it will show as disk 0. If you have multiple disks find the drive you wish to install 7 on.
7 - Type select disk 0 (or use the number of the disk you wish to install Windows 7 on)(note - that is a zero)
8 - Type list partition. There shouldn't be any.
9 - Type create partition primary.
10- Type select partition 1.
11- Type active.
12- Type format quick.
13- When finished reboot and begin your installation.
( DiskPart Command-Line Options )

After reboot, the ssd shows as having 100 mb used and is listed as a system drive.
Am i doing it wrong, or am i misinterpreting what I see, and i am saving the space...

Am i not getting the expected result(saved 100 MB) or am I misunderstanding what windows is showing me?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 and XP on my serverCore i7 920 @ 2.8Ghz6 Gigs Corsair @ 1600 MhzXFX 5770
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom Home Built
OS
Windows 7 and XP on my server
CPU
Core i7 920 @ 2.8Ghz
Motherboard
EVGA Classified e760
Memory
6 Gigs Corsair @ 1600 Mhz
Graphics Card(s)
XFX 5770
Sound Card
Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell 24" ultrasharp
Hard Drives
3xSpinpoint f1 500gb (raid 0)
3xSpinpoint f1 1tb (raid 5)
PSU
Corsair 1000Hx
Case
Ascension Duality(mountainmods.com)
Cooling
Corsair H-50
Are you attempting to do a clean install on a brand new drive?

If so, you wouldn't do steps 2 and 3 that you posted.

If it's a clean install on a new drive, try the steps below.

First: disconnect all other hard drives.

Then, boot from the Windows install disc.

1. Once Windows 7 Setup is loaded, press Shift + F10 keys at the first setup screen (which allows selection of language, keyboard and locale). A Command Prompt window will be opened.

2. Run Diskpart, the built-in disk partitioning tool of Windows 7, with the following command:

diskpart

3. Type in the following commands one by one, followed by the Enter key to create a partition (text in brackets are comments only):

list disk (to show the ID number of the hard disk to partition, normally Disk 0)

select disk 0 (change 0 to another number if applicable)

clean (this deletes all existing partitions and is not necessary on a new unused drive that has no partitions; this command does not write zeroes to drive; use clean all to write zeroes)

create partition primary (use a similar command to create more partitions if needed or create in Windows 7 after installation)

select partition 1

active

format fs=ntfs quick

exit

You will then be dropped back into the Windows installation and should not have the 100 mb partition.
 
Last edited:

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bitIntel Skylake i5-6600K, not overclocked8 GB HyperX DDR4-2666 (2 x 4 GB)none; graphics are integrated on CPU
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Ignatz Special; 4 speed manual gearbox; factory air conditioning; one of one
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
CPU
Intel Skylake i5-6600K, not overclocked
Motherboard
AsRock Z170M Extreme 4, micro ATX
Memory
8 GB HyperX DDR4-2666 (2 x 4 GB)
Graphics Card(s)
none; graphics are integrated on CPU
Sound Card
onboard: Realtek ALC1150; external: USB Behringer UF0-202
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell S2340M 23 inch IPS
Screen Resolution
1600 x 900
Hard Drives
System: Crucial MX100 series SSD, 128 GB;
Data: Samsung Spinpoint 103SJ, 1 TB;
Backup: WD Caviar Green WD30EZRX-00D8PB0, 3 TB
PSU
Rosewill SilentNight 500 watt fanless, semi-modular
Case
Antec Solo II
Cooling
Noctua NH-U12S; Noctua F12 intake, Noctua S12A exhaust
Keyboard
Microsoft 200 6JH-00001 USB
Mouse
Dell or Microsoft optical wired; USB
Antivirus
Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes Premium
Browser
Pale Moon
Other Info
All fans PWM; speeds at idle: CPU circa 500 rpm; intake circa 600 rpm; exhaust circa 600 rpm; CPU temps 27 idle and 47 C load in a warm room (27 C/81 F) when running Intel Extreme Tuning Utility stress test.
If it installed with the 100mb System Reserved partition anyway then I'd not worry about it - it's only 100mb and there is no downside to having it.

If you really have the need for the 100mb, boot free Partition Wizard to mark Win7 partition Active, click on Disk to highlight it, from Disk tab select Rebuild MBR, Apply, reboot. If Win7 doesn't start boot into DVD Repair console to run Startup Repair 3 times until Win7 starts.

You can then boot back into PW CD to delete 100mb partition, Resize Win7 partition to the left onto its space.
 
FWIW:

Personally, I don't see a big problem with losing 100megs of disk space. the gotcha is that if you use an image program to backup your c drive. It is a good idea to also include the image of your system drive of the 100megs.

This makes it much easier to replace your boot drive..

Rich
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1Intel Core I716 GigsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M
Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Toshiba Laptop Qosimo X870
OS
Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1
CPU
Intel Core I7
Motherboard
Toshiba Qosmio
Memory
16 Gigs
Graphics Card(s)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M
Monitor(s) Displays
17.7" laptop
Screen Resolution
1600 x 900
Hard Drives
256 Gig SanDisk SSD for C
256 Gig Intel SSD for D
Internet Speed
50/25 FIOS
Antivirus
Vipre (all you can eat for 10 machines)
Browser
IE and FF
Other Info
I have dos 6.22, wfwg 3.11, win98, 2000 and xp VHD's available for testing. MS's Virtual PC works great.
Back
Top