Should a clean install be in separate partition?

[irishmike]

Trying to fix some issues trying a Win 7 Ultimate clean I stal

I dented partition now I'm looking at 100 MG and a 499 GB partition I deleted

Should I install in the 499 or create a separate partition?

 

[Paul Black]

Hi irishmike,

Trying to fix some issues trying a Win 7 Ultimate clean install.

I dented partition now I'm looking at 100 MG and a 499 GB partition I deleted

Should I install in the 499 or create a separate partition?

When you do a clean install you should delete All the partitions first, leaving a single partition of un-allocated space. Then just continue with the installation. A 100 MB partition will be created and is the System Reserved Partition, which contains boot files and recovery information. Windows will install on the remainder [and set the Windows OS to the C:\ drive].

IMPORTANT: Make sure that you backup ALL your essential files to an external HDD or USB BEFORE you start the clean install. This is because during the clean install process, ALL your User Accounts, Folders, Files, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, Data Files, Icons, and any installed programs will be erased and become irretrievable. It is also still strongly advised that you make a system image as a secondary precaution. This way, if things go wrong in the future, you will be able to restore your OS back to the exact same state that it is now in a very short time. There are two imaging programs which are very popular among members here, the first is AOMEI Backupper Standard [FREE], and the second is Macrium Reflect [FREE].

I hope this helps!

 

[Alejandro85]

There could be many setups, but my personal preference is to always have a single partition spaning the whole disk. The default setup almost does this (it creates a useless 100MB partition). Additional partitions only create administrative problems down the road, without any tangible benefit.

When first installing a system, there is not much of a choice, but when reformating an existing one, you can install Windows in whatever partition and disk you like, strictly speaking. Moreover, existing data won't be touched at all (of course don't blindly trust this, a backup is in order in any case).

 

[SIW2]

You might prefer to split it and have a separate partition for data. That makes housekeeping easier, and is simpler if you need to reinstall/restore system image in the future.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

You might prefer to split it and have a separate partition for data. That makes housekeeping easier, and is simpler if you need to reinstall/restore system image in the future.

I totally agree. It makes everything, especially backups, simpler and faster in the long run.

 

[hazel123]

Assuming you've backed everything up, delete all partitions then click on "New" - Windows will make two new partitions - a very small one (100mb I think) and a large one. You select the large one and then click "next" to install.


I think just one main large partion is fine - especially if you're only planning to run Windows. If you ever did need another partition to install another distro etc you could partition later.

 

[Vineet Garg]

Hi All,
Greets,
irishmike : Sir,

1. 100% agreed with sir SIW2 & Lady Fitzgerald.

2. If you are doing it for Bios+Mbr follow here :

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

(a) It suggests 'Clean All' or 'Clean' to clean/wipe the drive at first. 'Clean All' takes a long time but surely better then 'Clean' when troubleshooting!
(b) It suggests to allocate/fix 200 Mb for System Reserved Partition in advance. So that you can plan multiboot in future.
(c) It suggests that initially you should make a partition less than 100gb, install win 7 on it & then extend it as you desire. It says that installing win7 directly on bigger partitions has caused problems.

Let us know.

Thanks & Regards. ...