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phantom16
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« on: August 22, 2011, 06:01:51 PM » |
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i just had a question involving windows 7.
so i just bought a new laptop, and it came with windows 7. I want to reformat stuff and make 1 partition for pclos, which i just downloaded, and have the 2nd partition for windows 7. so that means im going to have to format my current partition, but not sure what the best course of action is. will i be fine with just deleting the main partition? because theres another 15GB partition for recovery, do you know if i can reinstall windows on a new partition solely from that? or would it be best to just make a back-up image (that could quite possibly take several DVDs)? i would just hate to formate my current partition and find out i pretty much lost my windows completely, and have to order the disks from the manufacturer.
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so i used a 3rd party tool to shrink my partition, and hopefully i wont run into any problems from that, thanks everyone for your input
(and on a side not, im very frustrated at M$ for removing the option to format and partition your HDD from the recovery disk, that just caused so much problems for me
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AS
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Have a nice ... night!
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« Reply #1 on: August 22, 2011, 06:37:05 PM » |
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i just had a question involving windows 7.
so i just bought a new laptop, and it came with windows 7. I want to reformat stuff and make 1 partition for pclos, which i just downloaded, and have the 2nd partition for windows 7. so that means im going to have to format my current partition, but not sure what the best course of action is. will i be fine with just deleting the main partition? because theres another 15GB partition for recovery, do you know if i can reinstall windows on a new partition solely from that? or would it be best to just make a back-up image (that could quite possibly take several DVDs)? i would just hate to formate my current partition and find out i pretty much lost my windows completely, and have to order the disks from the manufacturer.
Hi phantom16, no, we do not know if it's possible to recover win7 from the recovery partition, it's should be possible, because that's the reason for the existence of that partitions, but it's not known how the restore actually will take place, may be you are allowed to choose a partition to install, maybe not. It's possible that a restore operation simply take the "whole disk". Check the documentations that come with your laptop, or check the manufacturer website docs/faqs. I would say that a backup is however appropriate. About freeing space for PCLinuxOS, probably your best option probably is shrink your windows partitions, leaving at the end of the disk the space for PClinuxOS installation. PCLinuxOS will install it's own bootloader, that will include an entry to boot windows, while if you install PCLinuxOS firstly and Windows after, probably it will eat the PCLinuxOS bootloader code. AS |
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T6
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« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2011, 06:51:20 PM » |
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windows 7 needs at least 40 gbs for the os, it also creates a ghost/recovery partition that should be 10 gbs in size but i have seen systems declaring it as 100 gbs in size(surpassing the hard disk limits  ) the other recovery partition, factory created contains a restoration image and some apps and drivers that sometimes ends full of virus or damaged and is not that useful, i have seen it wiping the my documents folder killing everthing in it(horrible situation) i normally nuke everything and recover that space to be used by the os when i fix a laptop with win 7 i leave everything for win 7, not creating extra partitions but the 10 gb partition is created by the installation process, i use a installation disc, not the recovery partition because it is a dumb tool that doesn't help me to do what i need to do sometimes you can resize th partition you have to leave space for pclinux but i haven't done that so can't guide you there about reinstalling from clean, you need the installation dvd for the version of windows 7 you have, the one that says on the coa you have under the laptop that has the windows 7, use that key on the coa if you never installed it from clean, you will have to activate the license by phone because system will tell you that the license is not valid, it is, it was never used and windows is dumb and scares you this way by activating the phone method using the 9 sections of codes and they can return you the real activation code by email or by phone(by phone no, it is so annoying...) about drivers, in the laptop manufacturer website it should be easy to find, the apps that came with it like roxio and similar things, usually are lost because the page only has updates but you need the whole app those don't work that nice anyway or are demos or bloatware so i usually just install infrarecorder to burn cds or similar apps the antivirus that comes with the laptop, i replace it with avast or avira free and i forget the original setup most people will tell you to install first windows 7 and leave the space for it after the windows partition and after windows 7 is installed add pclinux so the boot from pclinux covers the windows boot are you planning to have a compatibility partition to share files between both os? i recommend a ntfs partition in the middle of both os, some users choose to give to each os 40 to 60 gbs and the rest a ntfs partition to share files between linux and windows without problems when you dualboot as is correct, what you want to do, backup files first so you don't loose your my documents folder, everything should be in the windows 7 partition under a folder called users that is their version of our /home folder the documents and settings folder is just a link to users folder |
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"It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out."
Carl Sagan
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OldGuy
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« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2011, 07:21:40 PM » |
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I too got a new (to me) laptop with win 7 on it. Before I started to use it I created the two backup disks they suggested to do, one was a emergency disk, the other (I think was a full backup) that was a couple of weeks ago, sorry for being vague.
Using clonezilla I created a image of my system (win 7). Then played with win 7 for a few days. Finally saying to myself that's neat but not my favorite system to use. I did a full load of PCLinuxOS.
So I should have the tools to restore, if I ever wanted to. But love the speed and ease of use of PCLinuxOS.
So you might like to review clonezilla and whateve utilities you find on win 7 control panel, to help answer your question.
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T6
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« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2011, 07:31:56 PM » |
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the 2 to 4 dvd set to restore system is only useful if your hard disk dies and the partition with the restoration image is lost
the dvds are usually a copy of that image
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"It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out."
Carl Sagan
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phantom16
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« Reply #5 on: August 23, 2011, 12:37:11 AM » |
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hmm, i just cant get this to work, and this is all windows questions, so i would understand if the answers arent to be found here (i aksed on yahoo answers as well). but anyways, in XP or Vista, when i made a recovery disk and reinstalled it, i would have the option to format and partition as i chose, but none of the windows utilities seems to have that when i boot from the disks, the pretty much all will only run off the current partition, and not give any option for formatting or partitioning. and The image i created is an image of my entire drive, so if i installed PCLOS, and then that i twould assume that it would just wipe everything and make the entire drive the image that it is. I have tried just shrinking it as well, but im not allowed to shrink my partition any less than 303GB, and i want it less than that. I just dont know what to do, im so amazed that something as simple as reinstalling windows on a smaller partition so i can install PCLOS on a partition of the size i want is proving to be so frustratingly difficult
the only 2 options i can see to something so simple is actually having to order the original installation disks, which costs more money...the other option using a 3rd party partition manager to shrink the current partition, but i seem to see a lot of warnings about messing up my system if theres an important file thats being the immovable problem, not something im keen on doing. i just wish i could reinstall windows, and repartition it smaller first, and then get on my merry way with PCLOS...
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Rudge
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« Reply #6 on: August 23, 2011, 12:50:32 AM » |
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Am I missing the obvious? When you instal PCLinuxOS you have the option of how to repartition your hard drive. Why not choose the partitions and allocate space the way you want at installation time and let PCLinuxOS do the work for you? I am an idiot so perhaps I don't understand the problem. |
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phantom16
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« Reply #7 on: August 23, 2011, 01:10:17 AM » |
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the problem is currently the windows partition is the entire drive, and thats the thing, i need it lowered to the amount i want first. otherwise if i install PCLOS, im going to have to format my C drive with windows, and then im afraid i wont be able to reinstall windows in the space afterwards. the only disks i have managed to make that my computer let me was an image of my disk, which if i use that again its going to restore my entire disk, and then i have a recovery disk, but i just dont know if that will allow me to install windows, i seem to be under the impression that you need to have the OS in the first place
and your not an idiot :-), and thanks for your input
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Rudge
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« Reply #8 on: August 23, 2011, 01:19:58 AM » |
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the problem is currently the windows partition is the entire drive, and thats the thing, i need it lowered to the amount i want first. otherwise if i install PCLOS, im going to have to format my C drive with windows, and then im afraid i wont be able to reinstall windows in the space afterwards. the only disks i have managed to make that my computer let me was an image of my disk, which if i use that again its going to restore my entire disk, and then i have a recovery disk, but i just dont know if that will allow me to install windows, i seem to be under the impression that you need to have the OS in the first place
Perhaps I truly don't understand the problem. Every time I have installed PCLinuxOS along side of any other OS it seems very polite and asks me how I want to repartition things. If you are saying that your Windows install takes up your entire hard drive then you don't have space for another OS anyway. Have you ever installed PCLinuxOS on a machine that already had Windows on it? |
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Just18
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« Reply #9 on: August 23, 2011, 01:27:45 AM » |
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the problem is currently the windows partition is the entire drive, and thats the thing, i need it lowered to the amount i want first. otherwise if i install PCLOS, im going to have to format my C drive with windows, and then im afraid i wont be able to reinstall windows in the space afterwards. the only disks i have managed to make that my computer let me was an image of my disk, which if i use that again its going to restore my entire disk, and then i have a recovery disk, but i just dont know if that will allow me to install windows, i seem to be under the impression that you need to have the OS in the first place
and your not an idiot :-), and thanks for your input
You can reduce the size of the Win partition from within Win, if what I have read elsewhere is correct (I do not have Win 7). So as AS pointed out, reduce the space taken by Win7, by an appropriate amount to allow installation of PCLOS, reboot Win a few times to ensure all is OK, and then use the PCLOS liveCD to install PCLOS into the empty space you left when resizing the Win partition. It may take more than one reduction sequence to attain the desired reduction. regards |
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MLUs rule the roost!
Linux XPS 3.2.17-pclos1.pae.bfs 32 bit
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4 GB RAM
MCP51 High Def Audio
GeForce GTX 550 Ti
PHILIPS DVD+-RW DVD8701
Logitech BT Mini-Receiver
Afatech DVB-T 2 USB DTT
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Xenaflux
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« Reply #11 on: August 23, 2011, 01:38:51 AM » |
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I have tried just shrinking it as well, but im not allowed to shrink my partition any less than 303GB, and i want it less than that. I just dont know what to do, im Yes, you can shrink it lower than that. There is a partition manager which is shareware, but full working for a month that can move the so-called unmovable partition Just give me 30 minutes, I try to find it in my hopelessly disorganised "" to do "" folder  |
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The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand,
as in what direction we are moving.
(Oliver Wendell Holmes )
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phantom16
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« Reply #12 on: August 23, 2011, 01:47:53 AM » |
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@rudge i know that repartitioning while installing PCLOS wouldnt be a problem, the problem is that my windows partition does take up my entire HDD, whish is what im trying to fix. i need to reinstall windows 7, and format and make a smaller partition while im doing it (an option that was there with XP and vista, but not with 7 it seems). after i get that done it will be smooth sailing with installing PCLOS, its just i cannot seem to figure out the simple way to do this with windows 7. yes i have installed pclos on machines with xp and vista, in which i could reinstall and make the partition smaller for windows and leave space to install linux. however, i cant seem to do that with windows 7 which is new to me, and i dunno what to do. but like i said, this is a windows question, i just figured i would ask here to see if i can get any help.
@Just i know i can lower the partition size within windows in disk management, but windows has annoyingly made an immovable file that makes it so i cant free up more than 290GB, which is quite a bit less than i want for my linux partition.
im really not trying to be rude or anything, but the only problem im having is that i just cant make my windows partition as small as i would like so i can then install PCLOS. the only solutions i can seem to find is either pay for and order the original installation disks which will give me the option to format and partition as i want when installing, or use a 3rd party tool to lower the partition size which could mess with the window OS. but i guess since i made an image ill try the latter, and if Windows crashes ever ill have to restore my entire drive and be back at square 1
edit:thanks xena, yeaa that seems like the only feasible option right now, take your time, i will try what you reccomend :-)
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Rudge
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« Reply #13 on: August 23, 2011, 01:56:04 AM » |
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@rudge i know that repartitioning while installing PCLOS wouldnt be a problem, the problem is that my windows partition does take up my entire HDD, whish is what im trying to fix. i need to reinstall windows 7, and format and make a smaller partition while im doing it (an option that was there with XP and vista, but not with 7 it seems). after i get that done it will be smooth sailing with installing PCLOS, its just i cannot seem to figure out the simple way to do this with windows 7. yes i have installed pclos on machines with xp and vista, in which i could reinstall and make the partition smaller for windows and leave space to install linux. however, i cant seem to do that with windows 7 which is new to me, and i dunno what to do. but like i said, this is a windows question, i just figured i would ask here to see if i can get any help.
@Just i know i can lower the partition size within windows in disk management, but windows has annoyingly made an immovable file that makes it so i cant free up more than 290GB, which is quite a bit less than i want for my linux partition.
im really not trying to be rude or anything, but the only problem im having is that i just cant make my windows partition as small as i would like so i can then install PCLOS. the only solutions i can seem to find is either pay for and order the original installation disks which will give me the option to format and partition as i want when installing, or use a 3rd party tool to lower the partition size which could mess with the window OS. but i guess since i made an image ill try the latter, and if Windows crashes ever ill have to restore my entire drive and be back at square 1
edit:thanks xena, yeaa that seems like the only feasible option right now, take your time, i will try what you reccomend :-)
VB for your Windows install? |
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Xenaflux
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« Reply #14 on: August 23, 2011, 01:56:57 AM » |
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OK, first;
I do remember that this was posted on this forum a while ago by some of our own members.
That's why I looked it up. I have no need for this utility, so, it was curiosity only.
It seems to be EASEUS.
And here I have to go from memory.
You had the free download and the shareware download.
The shareware was valid for 1 month, but fully functional and was able to move the unmovable files ( which u$ most probably has put there on purpose )
If the freeware is able to do this, I don't know, but it should ( I think )
It's worth a try
Good luck
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The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand,
as in what direction we are moving.
(Oliver Wendell Holmes )
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