Thread: Partitions

  1. #1
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    Partitions

    Hi there,

    I have got an HP notebook with 4 partitions: SYSTEM, HP_RECOVERY, HP_TOOLS, and of course 1 big C:.

    All of them are primary and I want to have an extended one, but I do not want to delete any of SYSTEM, RECOVERY or TOOLS (tools are preboot utilities as I read). What's the best solution? Can I install Windows 7 Pro on an extended partition if I don't have any other OS? If I want to have at least 2 partitions for data, do I have to delete one of the pre-made then? I have never had a computer with so many already made partitions.

    Thanks

    (edit: I'm using GPartEd)

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    What OS is it on now?

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    It's Win 7 Pro 32-bit (64-bit is on recovery partrition only and there was no HP Recovery Manager shipped with this notebook - at least it is only a preboot utility to USE this partition, not to make a copy of it).

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    I don't know about HP, but after I moved by Compaq(HP's crappy brand)'s recovery partition, it wouldn't load the recovery option when I pressed the key on boot. The best thing I can think it to look for a partition prog that can switch a partition from primary to extended.

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    Quote Originally Posted by User Name: View Post
    I don't know about HP, but after I moved by Compaq(HP's crappy brand)'s recovery partition, it wouldn't load the recovery option when I pressed the key on boot. The best thing I can think it to look for a partition prog that can switch a partition from primary to extended.
    Since I have only Windows and a couple of programs installed, I can remove primary, make extended, and install windows. But the question: can Windows install on an extended partition and will I need a multiboot software? That's what I can't find and what I want to avoid.

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    OK... Win7 has to install into a primary partition that is made active.

    During the install phase when it gets to the part showing you the partitions on your drive, look to the lower left of the dialogue... "More Options"... clicking this will expose a number of options including "delete" for the partition....

    Now... if you want to partition your disk...

    1) Delete your big C partition... leave the others alone.
    2) In the installer create only one partition for windows about 30gb... 30000mb.
    3) Format it.
    4) Install Windows in it.

    After the install completes...
    5) type WIN+R (windows key and R)
    6) Type DISKPART and click OK
    7) In the console type LIST DISK and hit enter
    8) Find your hard disk in the list (Usually Disk 0)
    9) Type SELECT DISK ## and enter, replace ## with the number of your drive(eg: SELECT DISK 0)
    10) TYPE CREATE PARTITION EXTENDED and hit enter.
    11) After the confirmation message type EXIT and enter.

    12) Now go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management
    13) There you will see a green extended partition.
    14) Right click and follow the prompts to create as many drives as you like.

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    Thanks for the replies.

    I know how to partition, but I was thinking that I cannot delete any of the existing partitions, I have read that SYSTEM partition is created by Windows 7 Installer and to prevent creating it I need to partition disc before install, thus I can have both now: primary and extended.

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    Don't even think about removing the system partition... that 100megs holds the boot code for Win7... Not there... No Win7.

    You can delete the recovery and tools partitions... no problem, so long as you're able to reinstall the tools in your Operating System partition. The recovery partition is an image of your system in "factory condition" but really it's just wasted space if you have your own disks.

    You can have up to 4 primary partitions on a HD in Win7... after that you need to use extended.
    The system partion is 1, the recovery partition makes it 2, the tools partition is 3.... you have one left for windows... like I said about 30 gigs... The rest HAS to be drives in an extended partition.

    What I generally recommend is the standard win7 setup in about 25 to 30gb, then an extended partition for your data drives... Programs on C ... Data on D, E,F... with some space left (abt 50gb) unallocated in case you want to try dual booting something....
    Last edited by CommonTater; 01-12-2011 at 02:03 PM.

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    Is there a way to put the recovery partition on a DVD and make it bootable like a normal Windows install DVD? If that's possible, I'd do that and then delete the recovery partition.
    If anyone finds a way to do that I'd love to know too so I can do it on my netbook.
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    It's unlikely. What those recovery partitions are is a live copy of a working system... usually made with something like ShadowCopy... However, I'm reasonably sure HP has a utility that will make recovery DVDs (2 if memory serves) from the recovery partition. They could be used to restore the system to factory condition, which would, in effect, install windows.

    Poke around their websites a bit... It's probably up there for download.

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    Quote Originally Posted by cpjust View Post
    If anyone finds a way to do that I'd love to know too so I can do it on my netbook.
    You're going to have to do some serious googling but when my Aspire One (that now thinks it's a HTPC remote control) was new there was a utility I found to make a recovery flash drive for it...
    I don't know if one exists for yours or if that utility was "universal"...

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    FWIW, I've used 'dd' (having booted Ubuntu from a flash drive) to make backups of recovery partitions, and then restore that recovery partition to a new disk.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    FWIW, I've used 'dd' (having booted Ubuntu from a flash drive) to make backups of recovery partitions, and then restore that recovery partition to a new disk.
    There is a windows utility that copies the recovery partition to a flash drive and makes the flash drive bootable... I just can't, for the life of me, remember what it's called. I know it exists for the Acer, I used it there... What I'm not 100% sure of is whether it works on other machines.

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    What's on the SYSTEM partition? If it's what it sounds like, a partition for the "Windows" folder that contains all the OS related stuff, then that will make things a lot easier. If it's something different, then not so much.

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    Quote Originally Posted by User Name: View Post
    What's on the SYSTEM partition? If it's what it sounds like, a partition for the "Windows" folder that contains all the OS related stuff, then that will make things a lot easier. If it's something different, then not so much.
    Windows Vista and Windows 7 use a 100meg system partition for the bootloader and startup code. It HAS to be there. The OS itself will be on drive C which also HAS to be there.

    Partitioning rules changed with Vista then again with 7... It's not like XP where you could have the whole disk in a single partition...

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