Reinstallation of Windows the best solution?

[Lulubop]

I've had this computer since about July, and right away I had issues. It took a little over a month to realize the problem was a bad stick of RAM. I of course RMA the sticks and have not had a BSOD, or a majority of the other issues that were occurring since. However they're still some oddities. Every time I seem to d/l a file of a certain size I get disc volume errors which leads to Chkdsk whenever I reboot. Even though it does not find any errors, it does fix whatever set off the disc volume error message I received while running the maintenance task. Other issues include not being able to deleted certain files, and programs and not being able to update windows.

I know the problem isn't my HD, I've checked it multiple times and even though I've done repair/custom installs I've yet to complete reinstall windows completely. The repair installs have not fixed anything but I wonder if a complete reinstall is really any different. Also at this they're a a lot of files I want to save, and I wonder the best possible way to go about that as well as the whole process in general.

Though it isn't a huge problem, I think I've waited long enough to try this approach.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello.


Start by having a thorough look at the information presented below to get some ideas where to start and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.


After you have copied out or made back-ups of the data you need to save to external media, use Step One of this tutorial at the first link below to do a wipe (secure erase) to the entire Hard Disk Drive / Solid State Drive.

• Then if you do not want to create the new Windows 7 "System Reserved" partition use the outline in Step Two #2 to create, format and mark Active a single 100GB partition to do the installation to.
• If you do want to create the "System Reserved" partition use the outline in Step Two #3 to create, format and mark Active the System Reserved partition and then create and format the 100GB partition to do the installation to.

Either way, running the "clean all" then creating and formatting the partition(s) using diskpart will get you the best possible space to do a clean install of Windows 7 to; you can always extend the Windows partition to include the remaining unallocated space on the HDD / SSD or create additional Primary partitions or an Extended partition after the installation completes if you choose.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

DISKPART : At PC Startup

Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

 

[Lulubop]

I'm confused about creating portions. Is it necessary to create more? Recommended? Also what exactly is System reserved?

 

[mjf]

Do you mean partitions.
You will get different opinions. I like a few partitions because they physically separate regions on a disk. I think it makes things like file/partition recovery a bit easier.
But it is definitely a good idea to keep your Windows OS and installed partitions on a partition which can be easily imaged and restored. 100GB is not a bad figure.
System reserved is a special small (typically 100-200MB) partition used by the OS in it's booting process. Small but very important if you have one and best left alone.

 

[Lulubop]

Sorry, yea partitions. Right now I have a System Reserve and the rest of my drive is all one partition. If I install into a 100 gb partition will I only be able to use that much space?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Sorry, yea partitions. Right now I have a System Reserve and the rest of my drive is all one partition. If I install into a 100 gb partition will I only be able to use that much space?

Hello again, from the last paragraph of my post above.

... you can always extend the Windows partition to include the remaining unallocated space on the HDD / SSD or create additional Primary partitions or an Extended partition after the installation completes if you choose.

 

[theog]

Follow BFK advice.

Have you called the OEM manufacturer, sounds like time for a replacement.

 

[mjf]

I'm not suggesting you don't follow BFK's advice.
I'm suggesting you limit the size of your Windows partition for the purposes of efficient imaging. You can clearly use the remaining space for other data partitions.

I also explained the role of the system reserved as requested.
(don't confuse the 100MB system reserved with the ~100GB windows partition I referred to).

Also, logical partitions are fine when you need more than the 4 primary partition limit. But logicals are linked partitions living within one physical partition (the extended partition). I believe this makes logicals more vulnerable to recovery if required.

 

[Lulubop]

Hello, I successfully reinstalled windows using method 3 a few weeks ago however I had an incident in which I had to reinstall it again. Now Windows 7 is the c drive, and system reserved is d. This wasn't the case in the previous install and I took the same exact steps. I'm wondering if this is an issue.

Thanks.

 

[xxxdannyxxx]

In my experience the system reserved partition should not be assigned a drive letter at all I dont think.I would post a screenshot of your "disk management" screen and let someone have a look at it for you.

Danny

 

[gregrocker]

Good idea. Post a sceenshot of maximized full Disk Mgmt drive map with listings using Snipping Tool in Start Menu. You may need to remove the SysReserved drive letter so nothing is written to it.

Did you delete all partitions, create new and format using booted Custom install from DVD, as shown here: Clean Install Windows 7

 

[Lulubop]

Sorry for the delay

http://i52.tinypic.com/miz01y.png

 

[mjf]

The size of your system reserved is good (ie. 200MB). It occupancy is about right.

BUT it should be system, active. Your C: is system, active. So at some stage the system active status, along with the corresponding boot functions, has been passed across to your C: (OS - called Boot!) partition. Also, system reserved shouldn't ideally have a letter assigned.

It's easy to fix up your system reserved partition and make it system, active again but I can't see it to be the main cause of your problems.

I would probably, backup my data, take a system image as well and do a full clean install. Also take the opportunity to include Service Pack 1 if you haven't already.

Let us know what you want to do.

 

[Lulubop]

Extremely sorry for the delay, but does this look correct?

 

[mjf]

As I said earlier changing your boot sequence back to include the system reserved partition is highly unlikely to be the cause of your major problems.
Certainly keep a system reserved at the 200MB size (System,active)

However, if your original problems still exist, I'd still start with a fresh clean install and move on from there.

 

[Lulubop]

Well the initial reinstall I did resolved everything, this is really the only issue this time as well and I wouldn't call it an issue. However someone said it was recommended to have a system reserve if I had already had one before. I did try to repair it with the CD and nothing seems to have changed, I can't f8 and bring up that screen.

 

[gregrocker]

If your SysReserved is 200mb it must have been left over from the factory preinstall or Win7 beta, so you likely just ignored it when you reinstalled to C and it was cut out.

The only way to recreate it during booted Custom install is to use Drive Options to Delete all partitions, then it will issue a 100mb SysReserved when you create and format partition(s) during install.

I would move the Active flag back to Win7 then ignore the 200mb until time for reinstall. How is the problem with Disk Check loop now?

 

[mjf]

I would move the Active flag back to Win7 then ignore the 200mb until time for reinstall. How is the problem with Disk Check loop now?

Tend to agree. Can be useful but not essential.
A system repair disk (or 2) is all you need instead of F8. Eventually putting the system repair plus other tools on a bootable USB is more powerful.

 

[Lulubop]

Move the active flag back? Not entirely sure what to do there. I haven't had any issues with Check Disk, or Disk Read Errors. Since I made this topic I have installed Windows twice, the first I set up with System Reserve as the guide suggested and it was where it is suppose to be. The second time it appeared as the D drive, though I think that's because I forgot to mark it as active. My computer runs perfectly fine, I was just curious as to any issues that may come about but if it's not really a problem I won't worry.

 

[gregrocker]

Let me try again: When you reinstall Win7 by booting the installer, choosing Custom Install, then use Drive options to delete all partitions and create/format New ones, then the installer will issue a 100mb System Reserved partition. You don't have to do anything except click Next.

If you used the tutorial to create a System Reserved partition during install, it must have not been marked Active because it did not write the System boot files during install so it is serving no function now and should not be marked Active.

You must have marked System Reserved partition Active since posting your first Screenshot, so change Active flag back to Win7 partition now in Disk Management as shown here: Partition - Mark as Active

Next time you reinstall at the screen shown below use the Drive Options to Delete all partitions, create New as you wish, then format. Then you'lll get a System Rserved partition:

click to enlarge.
Source: Clean Install Windows 7