Reformatting, possibly Windows 7?

2009-09-13 11:05:53

#1

Bevo: Nah; +718|6516|Austin, Texas

So my new laptop has been running like crap, freezing up, and just a minute ago the comp froze up and then my C drive went missing. I'm thinking a reformat is in order, but I've never done one. What should be done first (besides backing up files I'd need), what about installed programs, just reinstall after? I don't have a plethora of "stuff" on here, so it's not a huge deal.

Also I've heard lots of good things about windows 7, would it be worth it to make the switch during/after reformat?

Ah need help!

2009-09-13 11:30:42

#2

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6449|The Twilight Zone

Its definitely worth a try. I like it so far, its free anyway.

https://www.shrani.si/f/3H/7h/45GTw71U/untitled-1.png

2009-09-13 11:32:41

#3

Bevo: Nah; +718|6516|Austin, Texas

Any help with reformatting? What's the process? Save images/music, right click C, reformat? Should I use a utility? Should I just blow away and reinstall my programs later? Should I try windows 7 after reformat?

2009-09-13 11:37:33

#4

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6449|The Twilight Zone

Basically you just put an OS disk in your drive and follow instructions. When you are ready to install it, it will ask you if you want to reformat prior to installing a new copy on your drive. Save your stuff first ofc.

2009-09-13 11:51:24

#5

Bevo: Nah; +718|6516|Austin, Texas

So would I do that prior to installing windows 7 (if I still wanted to install it)? Or would I be greeted with a similar choice when installing that?

2009-09-13 11:55:33

#6

zeidmaan: Member; +234|6410|Vienna

What other OS do you have? Do you have it on a CD/DVD?

How big is your HD? How many partitions do you have?

2009-09-13 12:02:11

#7

Bevo: Nah; +718|6516|Austin, Texas

zeidmaan wrote:
What other OS do you have? Do you have it on a CD/DVD?

How big is your HD? How many partitions do you have?

Running vista, and yes I have my CD at my apartment.

HDD is big (450, 250 free), no partitions.

2009-09-13 12:18:04

#8

zeidmaan: Member; +234|6410|Vienna

Well you should definitely split your HD in partitions (lets say 3). Its better for the Operating System, its better for the HD and its more manageable.

When you reformat you loose everything, and since you dont have partitions it means everything on your HD will be gone. With partitions you would only reformat one partition and keep you data on other partitions.

My advice is, backup everything on your HD to an external HD or burn DVDs.

Restart your PC and start it from the Vista DVD. Reformat the HD.
I never installed Vista, but Im guessing it should give you the option to create partitions (like XP). Can someone please confirm.
If I were you I would split it in 150, 150, 150 (C, D, E).

Install Vista on C. Than download the free Win 7 trial (90 days) and install than on D. This way you can run both operating systems.

2009-09-13 12:19:51

#9

Finray: Hup! Dos, Tres, Cuatro; +2,629|5784|Catherine Black

Well if you want I could set you up with some links to Windows 7 download. I just installed it myself tonight.

To format you just stick what I downloaded onto a disk and select boot from CD in your BIOS. Then you just follow the instructions, just like installing anything else, except you get a couple of options. You can upgrade, which I don't think you want, that basically changes your OS from Vista to Windows 7. Or you could format your drive, a brand new clean start, and install Windows 7 on it. You can then stick the stuff you backed up onto DVD/X-HDD whatever after you install Windows. Since this is your first format/reinstall I'd suggest getting another computer and going on XFire to get someone to help. I could do it if you need.

2009-09-13 12:26:18

#10

Bevo: Nah; +718|6516|Austin, Texas

I'm still kinda undecided. The partition bit sounds the best. Could I partition - say, now? And then move stuff like music and pictures to the partitioned drive and just blow away the rest?

I also like the idea of the dual boot. 90d trial is fine with me, I'd like to stay legal. I don't have the vista CD on me right now so this would be later tonight or perhaps sometime during the week.

2009-09-13 13:03:12

#11

zeidmaan: Member; +234|6410|Vienna

Bevo wrote:
I'm still kinda undecided. The partition bit sounds the best. Could I partition - say, now? And then move stuff like music and pictures to the partitioned drive and just blow away the rest?

I also like the idea of the dual boot. 90d trial is fine with me, I'd like to stay legal. I don't have the vista CD on me right now so this would be later tonight or perhaps sometime during the week.

Yes you can. I've never done it but I think this link explains it.

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Window … c1033.mspx

You shrink you current C drive by the amount that's free. That amount than becomes unallocated. Than you make a new partition using that unallocated space.

Explenation:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Window … 71033.mspx

Last edited by zeidmaan (2009-09-13 13:05:10)

2009-09-13 13:21:00

#12

Bevo: Nah; +718|6516|Austin, Texas

I'm confused. I followed the windows help bit, and when I try to shrink it tells me I can only shrink 31gig, when I have 200 + unused..

2009-09-13 13:32:47

#13

zeidmaan: Member; +234|6410|Vienna

Hmmm thats weird. As I said Im not a vista user, maybe someone else knows whats the deal.

Maybe its a Vista partitioner limitation or something.

2009-09-13 13:37:23

#14

Bevo: Nah; +718|6516|Austin, Texas

zeidmaan wrote:
Hmmm thats weird. As I said Im not a vista user, maybe someone else knows whats the deal.

Maybe its a Vista partitioner limitation or something.

Yeah it said the size can be restricted if snapshots or pagefiles are enabled. I don't know what either of these are, but right now I'm un-indexing my drive. I never search anyway.

2009-09-13 13:39:56

#15

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6449|The Twilight Zone

Acronis disk director is really easy to use if you want to make partitions. See if they have a trial version

2009-09-13 13:40:30

#16

Finray: Hup! Dos, Tres, Cuatro; +2,629|5784|Catherine Black

Linux installer is a great partition manager

.Sup, they do have a trial version, but it basically shows you what it can do, but doesn't actually do it.

Last edited by Finray (2009-09-13 13:40:58)

2009-09-13 13:59:13

#17

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6449|The Twilight Zone

Not that kind of trial

2009-09-13 21:59:55

#18

ICCULUS: Free Sam, Ban Finray.; +418|5420|Athens, GA

im loving win7 so far. fucking 20x better than vista

2009-09-14 12:44:23

#19

Mekstizzle: WALKER; +3,611|6616|London, England

I just setup a dual boot with XP and 7. Sliced my hard drive into two partitions. I like 7, it's like Vista, but just runs nicer. I'll probably eventually just get rid of XP, format the partition and then recombine the disk into one big one for 7.

2009-09-14 14:32:52

#20

ICCULUS: Free Sam, Ban Finray.; +418|5420|Athens, GA

how did you do it mek?

2009-09-14 14:38:27

#21

Mekstizzle: WALKER; +3,611|6616|London, England

ph1shman420 wrote:
how did you do it mek?

I just followed this guide:

http://lifehacker.com/5126781/how-to-du … p-or-vista

Got my 7 thanks to .soup/finray

I'll probably eventually format the XP partition and then recombine like I said, so far no problems with 7, no driver problems either despite my 2004 bucket PC. All the internets and printers and shit seem to work pretty good.

2009-09-14 14:40:28

#22

ICCULUS: Free Sam, Ban Finray.; +418|5420|Athens, GA

i just tried with that gparted and failed. is that what you used?

2009-09-14 14:41:56

#23

Mekstizzle: WALKER; +3,611|6616|London, England

Yeah. Are you sure you first resized your current partition. And then when you created a new one, you made sure it was NTFS

It takes some while to do it all, took about an hour to do it all for me

2009-09-14 14:45:04

#24

ICCULUS: Free Sam, Ban Finray.; +418|5420|Athens, GA

i tried to do it at the same time. so i have to resize, hit apply, then reboot and create a new one? maybe i should smoke a bowl. thatll prob make it easier

2009-09-14 14:59:21

#25

Finray: Hup! Dos, Tres, Cuatro; +2,629|5784|Catherine Black

Funnier at least.

BF2S Forums Reformatting, possibly Windows 7?

zeidmaan wrote:

Bevo wrote:

zeidmaan wrote:

ph1shman420 wrote:

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