Solved extending seagate 160 gig hhd, new installation

[drmax]

Hello, new with windows 7 and messing around with partioning. I've done a bit of searching here and not finding anything directly, nor quickly. This is a newly built 64 bit machine, with W7 Home Prem. Ok, so I'm using an older seagate sata 160 gig hdd, that had xp on it from old system. There was 1 partition on this HDD. What I have done already, in the W7 install, is format this drive. It now says Disk 0 Partition 1 149.o GB total size and 184.4 GB free space. I want to partition this down to about 50 GB (or whatever is suggested to me) just for W7 OS. The delete option is "greyed" out. The only option that is available here is "extend" and it states I can only extend a min. of 152618 MB. So, is this correct that I need to "extend" this current partition, to do what I want? If so, what number am I looking for here? I'm just trying to move along. Thx for the help. DM

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello drmax, welcome to Seven Forums!


Before we make any specific recommendations will you please post a snip/screen-shot of the entire Windows disk management drive map with a full description as to which drive/partition is which, so we can see what you have going on as there may be a fairly simple way to resolve the situation.

In the Windows start menu right click computer and click manage, in the left pane of the "Computer Management" window that opens click disk management and post a maximized snip of that.


How to Upload and Post a Screenshot and File in Seven Forums

 

[drmax]

OS is not installed. This is a fresh install, as I don't think I pointed out on 1st post. I don't have the option to do what you're asking. Let me know how else I can give you info, as to help.
Thank you kindly....DM

 

[gregrocker]

Boot the Win7 installer, use Custom>Drive Options to delete all partitions, create new ones of the size you want, format each, then install to first partition.

The installer will create a 100mb System Reserved boot partition which conveniently places the Repair console (normally only on DVD/Repair CD) on F8 Advanced Boot options list.

All of the steps are illustrated here: Clean Install Windows 7

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

You need to do a complete wipe secure erase to the entire Hard Disk Drive to over-write all the old XP code and start the clean install from there, have a look at these tutorials linked below and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Additional Secure Erase / Wipe Information

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[drmax]

You need to do a complete wipe secure erase to the entire Hard Disk Drive to over-write all the old XP code and start the clean install from there, have a look at these tutorials linked below and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Additional Secure Erase / Wipe Information

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ok, so method #2. I'll have a look at this soon. gotta feed the youngins. thx for the info. to the poster above...the "delete" feature is greyed out.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Simply deleting partitions on a HDD does not remove data; be sure to post back with an update.

   Information

Contrary to popular belief, doing a full format with Windows 7 only over-writes the old disk format configuration data (the MBR) with the new and checks for sector errors, then marks the remaining space to be over-written as needed, it does not over-write (remove) any other data at all, it's all still there including code from previous Operating Systems and all of the old personal data.

Secure Erase / Wipe : Definition and Methods
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[drmax]

ok, i'm gonna look at this in the morning. my head hurts and not sure the hurdles i'll need to jump through to "wipe" this hard drive clean. i'll post back once I get it cleaned off. how much space do you recommend i partition, megabyte wise, so i know when I get to it? i'm not gonna load this pc down with a ton of apps. or anything. thx dm

 

[drmax]

100 gig?

Read through the procedure and seeing that you recommended 100G space for W7? Recommended size or necessary? I was initially leaning towards 50G. Unsure of he advantage of additional partition, if I'm only using 1 OS. So sorta confused. Starting to think I should just wipe it clean and leave it at 1 partition. Please advise as so I know my options. I have a 2TB HD and plenty of room for others...so space is not really a big deal. I just wanna do this smartfully, one time. Thx again gents. DM

 

[gregrocker]

What do you mean Delete is "greyed out?" I suggested you follow the forums' procedure for clean install which is explained in this tutorial: Clean Install Windows 7. It illustrates how you boot the Win7 installer, then use Custom install>Drive Options to delete, create and format partitions as desired.

The benefit of keeping the OS partition compact is to keep the image compact with just the OS and programs, so that if/when WIn7 becomes irreparable or problematic you can reimage it's partition while the separate data partition is kept intact and current.
Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
System Image Recovery

To achieve this you would link your named User Account or select User folders to another partition by this method: User Profile - Change Default Location
User Folders - Change Default Location

 

[theog]

As you have 160gb HD & a 2tb, just aswell have OS HD 160gb as one partition.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

As you have 160gb HD & a 2tb, just aswell have OS HD 160gb as one partition.

I agree with this, after the clean all finishes type exit 2 times to close diskpart and let the Windows installer do the create/format of a single partition.

 

[drmax]

As you have 160gb HD & a 2tb, just aswell have OS HD 160gb as one partition.

I agree with this, after the clean all finishes type exit 2 times to close diskpart and let the Windows installer do the create/format of a single partition.

got it...gonna go this direction. if i run into a problem, i will post back for help. thank you kindly. great forum you all have here. will most likely be donating, if this is possible...regards, dm

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Thanks and glad we could help, be sure to keep us updated.

 

[drmax]

what does ueif stand for? i've only got 1 dvd drive, but it shows me a sata and this ueif. i ask, because when i drag the sata over for 1st priority, it does not save it in the spot when pc is restarted. mobo is asus F!A&%-V pro

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Have a look at this link.


Unified Extensible Firmware Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[drmax]

it's working

ok, so got "clean all" working. so then, my hdd had just the 1 partitions, with xp on it. it is now wiping the entire drive clean, correct?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Yes, when the clean all is finished type exit 2 separate times into the diskpart command window to get back to the installer and when you get to step #7 follow along to create a single partition.

How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7

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[drmax]

Yes, when the clean all is finished type exit 2 separate times into the diskpart command window to get back to the installer and when you get to step #7 follow along to create a single partition.

How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7

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k, will be a few hrs no doubt. will get back to this later. got a refrig. to repair.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

The clean all on a 160GB should take around 1.5 hours to complete.