Solved New System with Old Hard-drive. Seeking advice.

[Ferenth]

Hey folks,

I've been doing quite a bit of reading over the past week and found some very useful information on this forum. I'm getting a new system (sorry no confirmed parts yet so I can't provide specs etc...) however I will be keeping my hard-drive.

I've also decided based on reading that I will wipe it clean and do a fresh install of my windows 7 (64 bit) and then re-install programs, games etc... (I'm fine with re-doing all the personalization stuff...no real need to save preferences).

I have a 2TB external so I've begun backing up media, personal files, and certain game files if I can find them all.

So here are my questions:

- When I get the new system (all new save for hard-drive), is my first step simply plug it in and put the 7 disk in the tray and turn it on?

- Do I need to go straight into the BIOS and tell it: launch from the disk now but launch from my hard-drive after I install? I haven't got much experience with BIOS.

- Is the reformat option at the time of install enough to clear my hard-drive and re-install without having any issues (old drivers lying about, etc...)?

I understand some of these questions are pretty basic...my apologies, but I'd like to be 100% sure of the process before I power down and get to work. In fact, I'm making a step-by-step word document to make sure everything goes smooth.

I'm assuming the drivers for everything will be a relatively simple process given Windows 7 being very smart (but I could be back here next week haha).

If you would like some possible parts that I'll be getting I can definitely state a few that I'm looking at.

Comments and advice are very much appreciated!

Cheers,

 

[ignatzatsonic]

- When I get the new system (all new save for hard-drive), is my first step simply plug it in and put the 7 disk in the tray and turn it on?

- Do I need to go straight into the BIOS and tell it: launch from the disk now but launch from my hard-drive after I install? I haven't got much experience with BIOS.

- Is the reformat option at the time of install enough to clear my hard-drive and re-install without having any issues (old drivers lying about, etc...)?

I'm assuming the drivers for everything will be a relatively simple process given Windows 7 being very smart (but I could be back here next week haha).

Sounds like you have a pretty good handle on it.

Yes, change the boot order in the bios to ensure that you boot from the DVD first. Actually, you can make a one time change in the boot order without entering the bios. I'm not sure what F key it is--maybe F8--that brings up a menu where you can choose the boot device you want for this boot only. Or just go in the bios.

Assuming you don't want to add another partition or change partition sizes, it's pretty self-explanatory once you boot from the DVD.

If you do want to fiddle with your partitions, you can do that during the install using diskpart or just wait until Windows is up and running and then do it through Windows Disk Management. I'd give some thought to partitioning--do you just want C only, or do you want C and D, etc.

During the installation process, Windows will reboot itself 2 or 3 times. Just let it do that without using your keyboard.

I'd probably disconnect all external stuff like printers or external drives before I began. If you have 2 internal hard drives, I'd suggest you disconnect the one that does not contain your C partition.

I would go to the motherboard manufacturer's web site and download the most recent drivers for your particular motherboard.

The first thing I would do after the installation completes is install chipset drivers. Then get antivirus going, establish an Internet connection, and go to Windows update and get updated. Then install your other drivers and external stuff and begin installing apps.

 

[theog]

When buying the new MOBO, make sure Drivers CD is in the box.

Most new MOBO now have a UEFI-BIOS.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...e-firmware-interface-install-windows-7-a.html

 

[gregrocker]

Reinstalling Windows 7

 

[rraod]

Once you take a complete backup of the hard disk in the computer on an external HDD,

It is always better to remove all the partitons from the hard disk during the windows installation and create fresh partitions as per your requirements rather than just formatting the old partitions during windows setup.

This way you will have a clean disk.

 

[Ferenth]

Excellent, this is all great advice guys thanks very much.

Currently my hard-drive has just C: as its only "partition" I didn't actually partition the drive at all when I first installed windows a year or 2 back (besides windows taking the system reserved).

In that case, will the standard reformat at the re-install be sufficient? Any other related suggestions?

Thanks again!

 

[ignatzatsonic]

If you currently have just C and system reserved, and plan to stick with that, you may as well delete all partitions and recreate them.

A lot of people in this forum would try to get you to make a D partition for data only. That's what I do, but it's hardly a necessity. Most people just go with a single C.

If you want to, you can avoid creating that system reserved partition by using the diskpart command early in the installation. You can also clean the entire disk and recreate partitions of your chosen size in diskpart. System reserved is a very small partition and certainly doesn't hurt anything, but it always sort of offended my sense of order and organization, so I don't use it. That way, my entire installation including boot files are on C. Very few users would ever need it so long as they have a Windows installation disc.

Start a new thread if you want to regarding your parts list when you get closer to ordering time.

 

[Ferenth]

If you currently have just C and system reserved, and plan to stick with that, you may as well delete all partitions and recreate them.

A lot of people in this forum would try to get you to make a D partition for data only. That's what I do, but it's hardly a necessity. Most people just go with a single C.

If you want to, you can avoid creating that system reserved partition by using the diskpart command early in the installation. You can also clean the entire disk and recreate partitions of your chosen size in diskpart. System reserved is a very small partition and certainly doesn't hurt anything, but it always sort of offended my sense of order and organization, so I don't use it. That way, my entire installation including boot files are on C. Very few users would ever need it so long as they have a Windows installation disc.

Start a new thread if you want to regarding your parts list when you get closer to ordering time.

The point in bold is what I plan on doing. In this case, when you say I may as well delete all the partitions and recreate them (aka..C and system reserved): does the format during installation take care of this or not? Sorry if this has been answered by a previous poster I read quite a lot and was slightly overwhelmed by all the different methods of wipe and reinstall.

As for the parts list I like that idea and will hopefully finish finalizing my list by the weekend...thanks for the advice .

Cheers,

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I do my partitioning with diskpart, but as I recall there is a choice to delete partitions early in the installation process. It might then ask you if you want to use all of the newly generated unallocated space for a single partition and you would say yes to that.

If I recall correctly, formatting is not mentioned per se---formatting is done by default on any newly created partition. Just let it do its thing after you authorize a new partition.

 

[theog]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html

 

[Ferenth]

Awesome. Great advice again. Thanks for the links as well theog and gregrocker.

I think I have one final question. What are the physical differences between using diskpart clean all where it writes 0's to the hard-drive and deleting the current partitions (I have technically 2: 99% of the HD space and the System reserved) through windows installer and then saying: format my hard-drive so windows can install "cleanly".

More directly, what does windows actually do when it deletes the partition...does it just delete pointers (I have some level of how hard-drives work and I'm curious exactly what happens)?

Thanks again folks!!

 

[nickyoung]

Writing 0's over the surface is called a "pass". You can use a third party utility to basically ensure no old data can be recovered from a disk by making several passes over the surface of the disk.

For the sake of simplicity, deleting a partition during windows setup, creating a new one, and then doing a full format of that partition generally erases everything on the drive. (If given the option do a full format after recreating the partition).

How well windows does a pass / format of your drive - debatable I guess...but it works just fine.

 

[rraod]

Here is an excellent article on Disk partitioning from wikipedia...

It should answer most of your questions.

About cleaning the hard disk for security purpose..
There are various methods.

I am not well versed with diskpart.exe of Windows 7 OS.
Many utilities do exist for deleting the data securely from a partition.

CCleaner (a free utility.... Not again... free publicity to Piriform .....) is one of them which I use..... It gives options to clean the drive (whole drive or only the free space including MFT free space).

Simple overwrite (1 pass)
Advanced overwrite (3 passes)
Complex overwrite (7 passes)
Very Complex overwrite (35 passes)

One of the options (depending on how much paranoid someone is about his/her sensitive data - no pun intended) should do the trick.

Another excellent article on Data erasure methods and standards on wikipedia to satisfy your curiosity.