Restore Windows to factory settings on a logical partition

[Monado]

Hello, sorry for posting in an old thread, but I'm about to try this and I have a couple of questions before I do.

First, I'm on this hurr durr HP Pavillion g7 laptop, and for some reason, Windows 7 has corrupted beyond comfortable using (I cant reproduce .mp4 files anymore, photo viewer doesn't work anymore, most programs now say they have stopped when starting them, flash player crashes on all the browsers I have[but it works in windows Safe mode for some reason] and more things. I'ts perhaps a really dangerous virus or malware, as I already scanned my PC with Avast, MalwareBytes and SPyBot Search & Destroy and they don't pick anything up)

As with many factory built stuff, this laptop already has all the partitions in use (System, C:, HP_TOOLS and recovery) and I want to create another 'partition' by shrinking the C: drive to create space to make a new 'partition' so I can store all my documents/files there.

I want to do this because I have ton of stuff and I currently don't have access/can't afford an external HDD that can back up all I have.

I plan to reset Windows 7 to it's factory settings after making C: the logical partition to make it possible to add another 'partition' to store my files there.

So my question is:
Can I restore Windows 7, which is located ont eh C: partition to its factory settings with no problems to my other 'partition' which holds my files AFTER I have made C: a logical partition?

tl;dr
Can I restore C: to its factory settings after I made it logical so I could create another 'partition' to save my files in? (As in, the 'partition' where my files are wont be deleted when I restore windows to its factory settings, which is located on the C: partition)

 

[rvcjew]

If you take the factory route it will either not work if you resize the partitions its looking for or you will need to use the 5 dvds you made when you bought it for the factory recovery and the disk method wipes the drive and recreates its partitions so that won't help you much. How much space do you need to store your stuff before the restore to factory, you could use a cloud service like google drive to store it temporarily if your cool with it being on there service. I used to own a g7-1365dx and it let you pick the option to restore the image but keep your files, but I would backup before attempting this anyways.

 

[Monado]

Thanks for the head ups.
I have now a clear answer.
As for online stuff, I have Skydrive and dropbox, but I don't want to upload/download stuff there because it would take ages (2mb internet)

I decided I will factory reset it. back to square one.

I'll be more careful in the future.

 

[mitchell65]

If you don't somehow manage to back up your data then you will likely loose it when you do a Factory Reset!

 

[rvcjew]

Thanks for the head ups.
I have now a clear answer.
As for online stuff, I have Skydrive and dropbox, but I don't want to upload/download stuff there because it would take ages (2mb internet)

I decided I will factory reset it. back to square one.

I'll be more careful in the future.

Yeah if you factory reset it will format the drive first, you should get these options. You could always burn your crucial stuff to dvd's and split the data up.