SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

How to Optimize an SSD / HDD When You're Ready to Reinstall the Operating System​

This will show how to remove / over-write all existing data from a Solid State Drive (SSD) or a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), it'll work for both, then how to create a partition and then format that partition before install begins so you have a clean drive to start the installation with.

   Note

Before you start this, in the Windows start menu search box type diskmgmt.msc right click the entry and click "Run as Administrator" if you get a User Account Control (UAC) prompt enter your user credentials and click Yes; make very sure you know the correct drive number of the drive you want to do this to if you have more than one SSD / HDD in the machine, you don't want to do the wrong one.

   Warning

Do not do this to any SSD or HDD that has data on it you don't want to lose, the first thing this does is to mark the drive as "Unallocated Space" and then writes zeroes ( 0's ) to the entire drive, it's known as a "Secure Erase" and it will make data un-recoverable, it cannot be done to just a single partition on a drive, it will do the whole drive.
You have been warned!

   Information

It may be a help to over-write the HDD Master Boot Record (MBR) before you start any other procedure using the diskpart clean command, rather than the clean all; it takes just seconds to complete so you will have "unallocated" space to use either the Windows installer to create and format the partition(s) or use diskpart for that, however you choose.

Let's get started!

Step One

Boot To DISKPART

If need be, view this tutorial at the link below for an out-line of the process.
How to Boot to DISKPART at PC Startup

1) In the command window that opens type diskpart then hit the <enter> key then type list disk <enter> if you have more than one SSD / HDD in the machine it'll list them all.

Have a look here to view additional important information on this entire process.
click any image to enlarge

2) Now in the command window type select disk # (# = target disk number) then <enter>, you will get "Disk # is now the selected disk".

3) Now type clean <enter> you will get a blinking cursor telling you that clean all is working like in the second snip down, just relax and let it work.


4) When it finishes you'll get "DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk" in the command window.

To leave diskpart at any time and return to the Windows 7 installer type exit two (2) separate times and hit <enter> after each and you will be returned to the installer to continue the installation process.

Step Two

Create a Partition

1) Create a single partition of the entire HDD / SSD

Still in the same command window, to create a partition of the entire HDD / SSD, it is suggested if you are using one of the larger, 1 - 2TB HDDs that you use the outline in #2 below to create a single 100GB partition to do the installation to or #3 below if you would like to include the new Windows 7 System Reserved partition, as we're now seeing serious issues with some trying to install to such large partitions.

Do not format the created partition(s) with the installer if you create them using this process as the installer will delete all this info, the second snip shows how to select "where to install" during the installation process, click to highlight/select the "Windows 7" partition and click next.

Now skip down to #5 below to start the installation.
click any image to enlarge


2) Create a specific size partition

If you wanted to create a specific size partition, say 100GB you would add the size you want to create in MBs like in the command below.
create partition primary size=102400 <enter>
1024MB = 1GB - 1024x100 = 102400, you can use/create any size you like.

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.

Do not format the created partition(s) with the installer if you create them using this process as the installer will delete all this info, the second snip shows how to select "where to install" during the installation process, click to highlight/select the "Windows 7" partition and click next.

Now skip down to #5 below to start the installation.


3) Create the System Reserved partition

If you should want to add the "System Reserved" partition back after the clean all, see this snip; of course you would have to select to install Windows 7 to the partition labeled as "Windows 7" during the install and do not format either partition with the installer.

The reason for suggesting to create the System Reserved at 200MB instead of the new default of 100MB is an attempt to curb some of the issues we're now seeing with the partition being too small when dual/multi booting and it also being needed for use with the Windows 7 Backup and Restore and BitLocker programs.

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.

The second snip shows how to select "where to install" during the installation process, click to highlight/select the "Windows 7" partition and click next.


4) See this tutorial for the "align" argument

Align a Solid State Drive for Windows Installation

5) That's it, you're now done with the command window, type exit <enter> to leave diskpart and exit <enter> again to close the command window; if you're using a Windows 7 full installer it will go to the "Select Language" screen to continue the installation process as usual.

For those using a created repair CD or a Vista installer type exit <enter> to leave diskpart and exit <enter> again to close the command window; at the System Recovery Options dialog box that's still open click Restart to finish the process.

Enjoy!

Related Tutorials

---

• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/127744-clean-install-windows-7-ahead-xp.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/127918-clean-install-windows-7-ahead-vista.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/119151-system-reserved-create-using-disk-management.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/123170-system-reserved-create-dual-boot.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/121536-system-reserved-multi-boot-logical-partitions.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/76383-disk-cleanup-extended.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/70822-ssd-tweaks-optimizations-windows-7-a.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/107566-dual-boot-create-partitions-using-pwbd.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/109752-partition-recover-space-used-older-os.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/87768-password-reset-options-windows-7-a.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/818-disk-cleanup-open-use.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/93322-partition-wizard-use-bootable-cd.html
• SSD Alignment
• How to physically Install an SSD and transfer the Operating System

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Personally I would not use a used drive mate they are really cheap at the moment - depending on what size you want of course. if it is for just a boot drive then a 120GB would be ideal and even a 60GB one would do.
Any brand these days is good as a general rule though I stick to the better known brands like Samsung (the bets in my view) Corsair, Crucial, and SanDisk.

 

[mesascotty]

i followed the instructions to the letter but it tells me there is no room to partition the hard driveand it wont let me install on the windows install bit because the partitons are incorrect

 

[Brink]

Hello Scotty,

How were you wanting to set up the hard drive?

If you were wanting to do a clean install of Windows 7 on a blank drive, then you could follow the steps below to do so. When you get to steps 7 and 8, delete all partitions until the disk shows as unallocated, then select the unallocated space to install to.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

 

[Sky Ranch]

Hi all!

I've recently followed this informational tutorial and have a few questions. I've provided a screenshot of the Disk Management. I created two partitions: System Reserved and a Local Drive (C).

System Reserved
200 MB NTFS
Healthy (Primary Partition)

Local Drive (C)
238.28 GB NTFS
Healthy (System, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)

My question is whether the System Reserved partition needs to have "active" and "System" in addition to the "Primary Partition". As you can see in the screenshot it only has Healthy (Primary Partition) rather than Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition) like I've seen on my other computer which was done having the Windows installation disk create the partitions. Also, its assigned a drive letter (D) that isn't present on my other computer.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

That's cuckoo.

In an typical installation, you would have:

System Reserved marked as system, active, and primary, without a drive letter.

C would be marked as boot, page file, crash dump, and primary.

That's what would happen if you had no partitions of any type and had then installed Windows to a blank drive in the standard way.

In your case, C is marked system. "System" means that's where your boot files are. Normally, they'd be on System Reserved.

So, I'm guessing you did not install in the standard way and instead made partitions first, before installing Windows---rather than letting the installer make the partitions during the installation process??

I'm wondering why you made a System Reserved manually?

You don't need a System Reserved. I don't have it. If you want to make partitions first, you'd typically just make C and end up with C marked as system, active, primary, boot, crash dump, and page file after you installed Windows to that manually made partition.

Did you name that partition "System Reserved"?? I'm not sure what its purpose is now, since it is not marked "system" or "active".

Does the PC boot and operate OK? If so, I'd expect that the System Reserved partition is superfluous and unnecessary--boot files are elsewhere.

 

[Sky Ranch]

That's cuckoo.

In an typical installation, you would have:

System Reserved marked as system, active, and primary, without a drive letter.

C would be marked as boot, page file, crash dump, and primary.

That's what would happen if you had no partitions of any type and had then installed Windows to a blank drive in the standard way.

In your case, C is marked system. "System" means that's where your boot files are. Normally, they'd be on System Reserved.

So, I'm guessing you did not install in the standard way and instead made partitions first, before installing Windows---rather than letting the installer make the partitions during the installation process??

I'm wondering why you made a System Reserved manually?

You don't need a System Reserved. I don't have it. If you want to make partitions first, you'd typically just make C and end up with C marked as system, active, primary, boot, crash dump, and page file after you installed Windows to that manually made partition.

Did you name that partition "System Reserved"?? I'm not sure what its purpose is now, since it is not marked "system" or "active".

Does the PC boot and operate OK? If so, I'd expect that the System Reserved partition is superfluous and unnecessary--boot files are elsewhere.

Yes, I did it manually thinking that I needed to create a System Reserve partition that way while in DISKPART. After more thought, I think I forgot to set the System Reserve partition as "active" when I continued with the installation using the Windows installation disk.

It seems to work fine, though. No problems booting. I'm just wondering if I should delete the System Reserve partition as I don't think its serving any useful purpose as you surmised and reallocate it to the C drive or leave it as unallocated.

Does that sound like a viable plan? Or would setting the System Reserve partition as active fix it?

Thanks for the reply.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Well---System Reserved in your case is not empty. There's 18 mb of something on it.

I do not know if that something is needed or not. Let others comment.

You could always do it over. Make C only in diskpart, exit diskpart, continue with the install, and end up with no System Reserved at all. That's what I'd do if I wasn't sure about that 18 mb of stuff on your System Reserved.

System Reserved is needed for the "Bootlocker" capability in Windows, but I don't care about that capability. It's possible that the 18 mb of stuff is related to that.

What was your motivation in manually creating System Reserved and C, rather than letting Windows create both?

I don't think changing SR to "active" would accomplish anything. You want one active partition.

 

[Sky Ranch]

Well, I wasn't sure whether I needed to create a System Reserve partition or just let Windows installation disk create it since I was doing a clean re-installation on my computer according to the tutorial thread "SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation". For some unknown reason I got it in my head that I had to manually create that particular partition as I wasn't quite sure it was going to be created by the Windows installation disk.

I'm wondering if me omitting that step (not setting it active) while creating that partition caused that problem.

I don't know, either, what the 18 MB of data on that partition. I using Windows 7 Home and not the Pro version which from my limited understanding has the bitlocker (or is it bootlocker?) capability.

Anyway, would hate having to start all over since it took forever to download all the Windows updates! I'll wait and see if others have a solution regarding this issue before I head down that LOOONG road of doing another clean install.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I using Windows 7 Home and not the Pro version which from my limited understanding has the bitlocker (or is it bootlocker?) capability.

My error. You are correct. It is "bitlocker".

BitLocker Drive Encryption - Microsoft Windows

 

[Sky Ranch]

I went ahead and deleted the partition after much thought. Everything works fine, and so far no problems booting after deletion. It doesn't look like it was serving any purpose like the system partition and was probably recognized, in name only, as a System Reserve Partition. All that's left is 201 MB of unallocated space that can't be extended to the C partition. Something I can live with.

I'm still thinking the the source of this issue was probably due to not setting the partition "active" when I created it using DISKPART and followed it with the installation of Windows. I don't know.

Much thanks for the help, ignatzatsonic.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

All that's left is 201 MB of unallocated space that can't be extended to the C partition. Something I can live with.

You can add that 201 to C using Partition Wizard bootable disk if you decide you can't live with it.

Windows Disk Management can't do it because the unallocated space is shown as being to the left of C. It must be to the right for WDM to do the job.

 

[Sky Ranch]

All that's left is 201 MB of unallocated space that can't be extended to the C partition. Something I can live with.

You can add that 201 to C using Partition Wizard bootable disk if you decide you can't live with it.

Windows Disk Management can't do it because the unallocated space is shown as being to the left of C. It must be to the right for WDM to do the job.

Thanks, will do tonight. Cheers!

 

[jhnwck]

I'm getting an SSD soon and planning to reinstall Windows to the new SSD.
Do all these steps in cmd etc really needed? On HDD, I usually just use the graphical wizard to delete all partition (if there's any), create a single new partition. It will make a system reserved and a new partition, and then I just click next on the new partition to start the installation.

Can I do it like that, or should I follow the steps on this thread? What's the benefits in doing so?

Thanks in advance, any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[loninappleton]

Just got this thread update.

Page 36?

Has anyone made a guide?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Can I do it like that, or should I follow the steps on this thread? What's the benefits in doing so?

Well mate the choice is yours personally with a brand new drive I just install on it I don't bother with any prep.I use to use the prep in whereby you align the drive up beforehand to have an initial 100MB partition but found I was making more mistakes than not.

 

[johnnxiv]

What is an average lifespan of a SSD?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

What is an average lifespan of a SSD?

It's not the average you have to worry about. The average of 1, 100, and 100 is 67, but that's deceptive. If those numbers represented the human lifespan in years, you wouldn't be too excited about your chances, because one in three never lives to be 2 years old--despite the 67 average.

If you could stipulate that you would never have problems related to controllers, firmware, or connectors, you'd have a very high chance of it lasting many years under typical usage.

But you can't stipulate to any of those things. A certain percentage will fail long before the memory cells develop problems---if your number comes up, there's nothing you can do about it.

 

[GOTFrog]

did all that and Im still getting the error Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition. trying to install on my ssd after swapping motherboard, using a bootable windows installation thumb drive. I even redid it all in my linux install with gparted still no luck

 

[Benteke]

Great tutorial, glad I found it!

 

[twin3ddd]

Hello, I am installing Windows 7 onto a friend's laptop because he had some problems when he attempted to do so. I have no prior experience or much knowledge, so all your help is greatly appreciated. First I went into the bios to get the system to boot from a disk, otherwise it would go to set up only when powered on. Next, I placed the disk that has the Windows 7 program in the drive and got started. When the windows screen popped up, I pressed shift F10 to follow the instructions posted in this thread via disk part
I entered:
diskpart, list disk, select disk 0, clean, create partition primary size = 60000, select partition 1, active , format fs=ntfs
This is when I encountered the incorrect response it read, 0 percent completed, Diskpart has encounteredan error: The parameter is incorrect. See the System Event Log for more information.
Could you please tell me what I should do from here? I can't figure it out,, Thank you.