system reserved HDD

[Alston518]

i have 2 hdd's in my new computer that i built. One is a 640Gb and the other is a 1TB. Both are Western Digital Black edition. When i installed windows 7, both hdd showed up when it asked where i wanted to save the OS. I then saved it to the 640GB hdd. Now my computer is up and running, and i go to my computer and only the 640GB hdd shows up. I figured it is because i need to format the 1TB hdd, so i right click my computer and click manage and then i see the 1TB hdd there. It says in there that the 1TB hdd is system reserved and it will not let me format it. so is there anyway i can format this hdd so that i can format it and save files to it?

 

[BomberAF]

Go into computer management, then storage devices.

 

[Alston518]

Go into computer management, then storage devices.

yaaaa....if you read my post, it says i already did that and it doesnt let me format it in there because it says its system reserved, im looking for a way to get rid of the system reserve, or else format the hdd with the system reserve on it so that i can use the hdd, cause right now i cant use it at all

 

[rap33042]

Alston518:
Have you tried a third-party tool like Partition Wizard?
Is there a already Boot Partition (reserved) on your primary drive? If so, then format the secondary drive.
If not, then I think you'll have to re-install W7. (Disconnect all secondary drives before you do this)

 

[Alston518]

Alston518:
Have you tried a third-party tool like Partition Wizard?
Is there a already Boot Partition (reserved) on your primary drive? If so, then format the secondary drive.
If not, then I think you'll have to re-install W7. (Disconnect all secondary drives before you do this)

when i installed windows 7, i had both HDD's connected. Do you think this is what caused my problem?

 

[Hopalong X]

YES!

The System Reserved should be on the disk with the OS.

Usually best to install OS with only one HD wired up then wire up the second after the install.
That prevents this problem.

I'll see what I can find for a remedy besides reinstalling.
Mike

This has the steps to add the System Reserve to the 640GB HD after installing Win 7.
Read the tutorial and see if you can do it.
If you can then you should be able to reformat the 1TB HD with the reserve to normal usage.
Disconnect the 1TB hard drive until finished.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/119151-system-reserved-create-using-disk-management.html?filter[3]=Installation and Setup

Hope that helps.

 

[Bill2]

I would say disconnect the second drive, then reboot and run Startup repair 3-4 times till windows boots successfully. Then reconnect the second and format it.

 

[Alston518]

YES!

The System Reserved should be on the disk with the OS.

Usually best to install OS with only one HD wired up then wire up the second after the install.
That prevents this problem.

I'll see what I can find for a remedy besides reinstalling.
Mike

This has the steps to add the System Reserve to the 640GB HD after installing Win 7.
Read the tutorial and see if you can do it.
If you can then you should be able to reformat the 1TB HD with the reserve to normal usage.
Disconnect the 1TB hard drive until finished.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/119151-system-reserved-create-using-disk-management.html?filter[3]=Installation and Setup

Hope that helps.

thanks a lot! ill give it a try later on

 

[Lunarpancake]

1-insert win7 disk
2-go to recovery console.
3-type in "disk part"
4-type in "list disk"
5-this will show you the disks it can see, and also tell you the active disk
6-now you want to choose your 1tb disk by typing in "select disk #" where # is the number the disk was in list disk
7- type "clean disk"
8- boot back into windows 7 and you should now be able to format and use the 1tb disk.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello Alston518, welcome to Seven Forums!



So we know what we are suggesting for you to do please post a snip of disk management for us to look at; in the Windows start menu right click computer and click manage, in the left pane of the "Computer Management" window that opens click disk management and post a snip of that.


How to Upload and Post a Screenshot and File in Seven Forums

 

[Alston518]

Hello Alston518, welcome to Seven Forums!



So we know what we are suggesting for you to do please post a snip of disk management for us to look at; in the Windows start menu right click computer and click manage, in the left pane of the "Computer Management" window that opens click disk management and post a snip of that.


How to Upload and Post a Screenshot and File in Seven Forums

i am not home now, therefore i cannot do this, will have to wait till later, but i am going to try some of the suggestions that i received

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello Alston518, welcome to Seven Forums!



So we know what we are suggesting for you to do please post a snip of disk management for us to look at; in the Windows start menu right click computer and click manage, in the left pane of the "Computer Management" window that opens click disk management and post a snip of that.


How to Upload and Post a Screenshot and File in Seven Forums

i am not home now, therefore i cannot do this, will have to wait till later, but i am going to try some of the suggestions that i received

Then I suggest you look at THIS before you do.

 

[whs]

Your 1TB drive is probably on mobo Port 0 or at a lower port than the 640GB drive. In that case the installer puts the active partition on the first drive it finds - go figure (and possibly hides it). Now you have a variety of options:

1. Move the MBR to the 640GB HDD - there are tuts on this site
2. Install 7 on the 1TB HDD and delete it from the 640 HDD
3. Switch the 640 HDD mobo wire with that of the 1TB wire and reinstall on the 640 HDD

 

[Alston518]

Your 1TB drive is probably on mobo Port 0 or at a lower port than the 640GB drive. In that case the installer puts the active partition on the first drive it finds - go figure (and possibly hides it). Now you have a variety of options:

1. Move the MBR to the 640GB HDD - there are tuts on this site
2. Install 7 on the 1TB HDD and delete it from the 640 HDD
3. Switch the 640 HDD mobo wire with that of the 1TB wire and reinstall on the 640 HDD

yes you are right, my 1tb drive says drive 0 i think and the other 640 gb one is drive 1, but can you be a little more descriptive on your instructions? im a little confused what you are saying to do, thank you

 

[whs]

Do you have a partition that is marked as Active on the 1TB drive? Is that a 100MB partition? Have a look in Disk Management.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello Alston518, welcome to Seven Forums!



So we know what we are suggesting for you to do please post a snip of disk management for us to look at; in the Windows start menu right click computer and click manage, in the left pane of the "Computer Management" window that opens click disk management and post a snip of that.


How to Upload and Post a Screenshot and File in Seven Forums

i am not home now, therefore i cannot do this, will have to wait till later, but i am going to try some of the suggestions that i received

Then I suggest you look at THIS before you do.

I posted instructions for you to see what is marked active.

 

[Dave76]

Hi Alston518,

Bill2, whs and Bare Foot Kid are suggesting the same thing, which I agree with.

It appears that your system reserved, which should be 100MB and holds the OS boot files, somehow got on the 1TB drive while your OS is on the 640GB drive.

BFKs link to another post explains how to do this, the links to the tutorials will explain it even further.


Click on this link to see the original post, below.
Weird 'reboot and select proper boot device' problem!!!

Hello lordbob24, welcome to Seven Forums!

First disconnect all Hard Disk Drives (HDD) except the one Windows is installed to, then boot to diskpart to see if the Windows partition is marked as "Active" if it is then do the 3 separated startup repairs out-lined in this tutorial at the link below.

If not use Step Two # 1 to mark it active then do the startup repairs to get Windows booting again.

Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times

click to enlarge
View attachment 116546
​

See the above post to view the attachment.


Let us know if you have any other questions.
​

 

[Alston518]

i have been looking more and more into this issue. I just started using this computer, so i will not have really anything that i need to back up. Can i just wipe both hdds and start from scratch. Like just delete everything and then re insall windows? Would that be the smart thing to do?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Yes it would, power down the PC and disconnect all the HDD(s) except the one you want to install Windows 7 to and do the 'clean all' then use Step Two #2 to create a single 100GB partition to install Windows 7 to and after Windows is booting good reconnect the other HDD(s) to the motherboard.

If you want to add the "System Reserved" partition use Step Two #3 for the create.


SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

 

[whs]

i have been looking more and more into this issue. I just started using this computer, so i will not have really anything that i need to back up. Can i just wipe both hdds and start from scratch. Like just delete everything and then re insall windows? Would that be the smart thing to do?

Yes you can do that. I would call it the "brutal way". But why don't you first try to fix it with BFK's tutorials. The advantage is that you will learn something and if it does not work, you can still go the brutal way.

Btw: if you reinstall, you might want to first define an active partition on the disk where you want to install. You can use the bootable Partition Wizard CD for that (Option1, Step2 in the tutorial). Then you install Win7 into that partition and the installer will not define the 100MB partition. Your MBR will then be on this OS partition.