Confused about reformat Win7, strange results
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Thread: Confused about reformat Win7, strange results

  1. #1
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    Confused about reformat Win7, strange results

    I did a reformat of my Win7 Home Premium 64 bit machine. I first set the CD/DVD player as first boot device, and the install went well. So far as I know. When I went to reset the HD as the first boot, I noticed that both my hard drives had the same ID number. I had asked the install to format Drive 0, or C drive, which is the one it chose. Now, whenever I boot
    up, I get a page that looks like the one you get when an improper shut down happens, but this one is requiring me to select one of two Windows 7, or select other tools with the Tab button. I did something wrong, no doubt. When I go to Computer Management, C drive, Disk 0 is "healthy, boot, page file, crash, dump, primary". Disk 1, D drive, says "Healthy,primary partition." It has files on it that shouldn't be there, it has a whole Windows system file and a lot of other stuff.

    Help me, o gurus, this is a new quagmire for me.

    Thanks
    Art
    www.artsdigitalphoto.com

  2. #2
    photolady's Avatar
    photolady is offline Lifetime Friend of Site Staff
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    You should have deleted the partition/s when attempting to install Windows 7. Now you have to start over. Deleting partition/s, gets rid of the partition that your software is installed on and stops these problems of having two OSes.

    See if this helps:

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...ws-7#section_7

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    Tell me there's another way, please! I've spent six, seven hours here installing my old programs. Can't I just reformat the secondary drive? Delete the files? Oh s...t!
    Art
    www.artsdigitalphoto.com

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    If I had a broken install, I wouldn't have installed all my program on it first.

    You might try this little program, it might remove the other entry but I think it only removes it from the bootmanager and not the harddrive itself.

    EasyBCD

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    When installing Windows, I usually make sure that only one hard drive is connected. That way the gurus at Microsoft don't get confused about which drive you want Windows installed on.

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    If you have done a parallel install of Windows, bite the bullet and start over. Although it is a royal pain, it is going to be a lot less painful than trying to deal with the mess that you get from a parallel install, believe me.
    Nick.

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    Okay, I'll bite the bullet. And I'll disconnect that second drive. I did all kinds of homework,
    read the material, watched a video tutorial, and the issue was never covered....or I was
    in outer space at the time.

    thanks, and once more into the fray...
    Art
    www.artsdigitalphoto.com

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    what next?

    I've disconnected one of the HDs and reinstalled Win 7. What happens when I connect the other HD? I tried to reformat it but it gave me ominous warnings because it had an OS on it.
    So I went ahead and installed the OS on the available drive. When I plug in the second drive
    will it see that and try to boot? or should I connect it and reformat it now that I have a safe OS installed?

    thanks
    Art
    www.artsdigitalphoto.com

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    It will just pick it up as a added drive. And no, if it not listed in the BIOS as primary drive, the computer will not try to boot to it.

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    Some BIOSes may change the order of the drives when you connect a new one, and that may affect the drive that the BIOS is set to boot from. Are both the drives the same make, model and size? If not, you can go into the BIOS setup after reconnecting the second drive during the first boot and see which drive the BIOS is set to boot from. If it is not the correct one, change it and continue booting.

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    I should report that my secondary disk, noted as Disk 0, has split itself into a partition of 100mb as System Rserved, and an F partition noted as Healthy, Primary. Can I reformat this disk now? My Disk 1 is my boot disk C, apparently. It's a little confusing.

    thanks
    Art
    www.artsdigitalphoto.com

  12. #12
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    The "System Reserved" partition is where Windows 7 installs the boot files. I think the best thing to do here would be to post a screenshot of your Disk Management, or there will be confusion and you may end up reinstalling a third time!
    Nick.

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    screen shot

    Can you see this shot?
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Art
    www.artsdigitalphoto.com

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    Try again

    bigger screen shot?
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    Art
    www.artsdigitalphoto.com

  15. #15
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    I'm utterly mystified as to how that happened if you had one of the drives disconnected

    Which drive did you want to install Windows on - Drive 0 or Drive 1? Because I don't like the situation that you have there, currently you are dependent on both drives being present and correct before you can boot into Windows
    Nick.

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