Want to format. please need answers!! [ Edited ]

[HaggisCat]

That is what it means by bootable disc's. They do not need the recovery manager to get them to boot. The disc's that you have created has the original OS system on it, including the recovery manager and even the recovery partition. Here is a guide to make some recovery disc's so you get it right.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01895783&tmp_task=useCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=u...

Ounce you have made the recovery disc's you can delete the recovery partition using the recovery manager since you no longer need it. Deleting it here now is much easier than deleting after the clean install.

As for the "window old" file, it's easier just to get rid of it after the clean install. The catch 22 is that you can't delete all the information on your hard drive to create "unallocated space" because it has your primary OS on it.

There is a way to use Partition Magic to do this on a single hard drive system, but I have never done this and I am not going to experiment on your machine. I will do some reading to see what I can do to accommodate you.

How many hard drives does your laptop have ?

 Here is the link to Partition Wizard so you can read up on it as well.

http://www.partitionwizard.com/

Use the Home Edition one, it's free.

I am going to do an experiment this evening and see if I can use Partition Wizard to delete everthing on my hard drive with the primary OS in place. I was going to do this any way, but not this method.

 I will post what I find here, this way you don't have to deal with the "windows old" file. Be patient and give me a little time, but I will have an answer for you soon.

I found this tutorial on how to delete your OS system to do a clean install. I will try this at home tonight, wait for my findings. Don't try this your self.

http://www.partitionwizard.com/video-help/delete-all-partition/delete-all-partition.html

[guido_1]

I have just one hard drive. with one partition of 285 gb. the other is the recovery disk of 12 gb

I'll wait you i dont have any problem. 

I can't delete all the info? on the drive? why? i mean if i'm also deleting windows vista,

is in  not easier to do it from the bios?  this program  you are talking about runs from the OS? 

I dont want to deal with the "windows old" file, because i thought this only happens when an OS upgrade happens. you know just put the dvd while running vista, and install windows 7, but i repeat i want to format everything of C. 

I don't have maybe a complex problem like other people, I just want to format my C drive in the way I used to do it on desktop computers. 

I also don't want to bother you with this.   

thanks a lot for your help

[HaggisCat]

You are making this procedure way more complex then it has to be.    I am also dong this because I need to know for more self as well. I will post again and let you know how things went.

The reason why you can't delete all the info is because it's the active OS system, but I am going to find out. The program I am talking about has really nothing to do with the BIOS, at least not directly.

[HaggisCat · Accepted solution]

So here is the simplest way to upgrade to W7 without creating the "windows old" folder. This is the method that I like to use, there may be others, but this works well for me.

Create some recovery discs of your original OS system using your recovery manager. Here is a link on how to do that :

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00809678&tmp_task=useCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=u...

After this is done you may delete the recovery partition, but it will be wiped out later any way with this procedure.

Also, go to drive "C", expand this and burn the folder "SwSetup" to a DVD. This folder has all your Vista drivers and software that you may need if the ones on the HP web site won't work. This is a precautionary measure just in case the W7 drivers and software won't work, but you shouldn't have any problems.

Down load and install Partition Wizard-Home Edition (it's free) :

http://download.cnet.com/Partition-Wizard-Home-Edition/3000-2094_4-10962200.html?part=dl-6285158&sub...

Here is a basic tutorial from Partition Wizard on what we are going to accomplish :

http://www.partitionwizard.com/video-help/delete-all-partition/delete-all-partition.html

In guide_1's case he has two partitions, drive "C" with his primary OS on it and his Vista recovery partition. We are going to delete everything on the hard drive to perform a clean install of W7. This goes beyond formatting where they may be hidden files left over from Vista that might give problems when installing W7.

This is a little different than what it shows in the video, but it does the same thing.

Right click on "disk 1" and choose "delete all partitions" and apply the changes. It will give one or two warnings that you are about to delete your active OS system and you will not be able to boot up your machine. This is normal.

When you get to the window where it asks you to restart, open the CD/DVD drawer and leave it open.

Restart your computer. When it boots up the HP logo will appear and down in the lower left corner of the screen it will say "push esc. key" push the key. You only have a second. This will take you to a list, push the f9 key for Boot Device Options.

This will give you two choices here, use your up and down arrow keys to choose "Internal CD/DVD ROM Drive.

At this point insert your W7 DVD and close the drawer. Let it load for a bit if it wants to and push "enter" to boot from the W7 DVD.

Follow the instructions until you get to the window where it gives you two choices "upgrade" or "custom" . Choose custom. In this case because there is only one hard drive you have no other choice, but to choose that one. It will be labeled as "unallocated space".

Go ahead and finish the installation.

After this I recommend the first driver you install is for your Video driver as your screen at this point may be large and a little blurry.

I will give you the link for your video driver and I will leave the rest up to you. If you have problems, post again, and I will nurse you through this.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-80855-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&...

This method to do a clean install works as I just did it on my dv8. I prefer to wipe out all traces of Vista when going to W7 and deleting everything on the hard drive works well.

[guido_1]

Im a beginner in this. that's why i have lots and stupid question for you. i am really sory 

A couple of questions after doing this.  

• Can i copy the swsetup folder to a sd memory?

• After creating a recovery disc. how can i use it in the future?  is it going to be a bootable dvd? 

• Any way with this procedure it is going to be deleted the recovery partition?   supose i have installed windows 7, ¿will it appear in My PC or computer in the future,?  (same as I have now in vista) like another hard disk drive?

• So after deleting all partitions and restarting the pc, it is formated? it is going to be the last time i see vista? you know why i'm asking this, because i've never deleted all the computer through  the system itself, using a programme, I always used to do it from the bios or the MS-DOS. that's what it makes me confused. but it  seems to be just another way.

I also prefer to wipe out all traces of vista, thats why i wanted to delete everything from C.

• there is no way to do the same procedure without erasing the recovery partition?  instead of deleting all partitions, just deleting C drive?

Thanks again.  

[HaggisCat]

• Can i copy the swsetup folder to a sd memory?

 Yes you can, but it is more stable to burn it to a DVD and label it SwSetup Vista. Things on a memory card or flash drive are effected by magnetic fields and information on them can become lost. Things sometimes are forgotten about and can be erased too easily.

• After creating a recovery disc. how can i use it in the future?  is it going to be a bootable dvd?

 Yes, it (they) will be a bootable DVD(s). That's the whole idea and even if it doesn't work, the worst thing that will happen here is that you will have to order some factory recover disc's from HP. You're just in the US so they will only take a few days to reach you and they will only cost around 20.00 dollars.

• Any way with this procedure it is going to be deleted the recovery partition?   Suppose i have installed windows 7, ¿will it appear in My PC or computer? like another hard disk drive?

If you follow my procedure it will delete the Vista recovery partition. You won't need it any way because you will have your recovery DVD's that you have made.

Ounce you have installed W7 it will appear as one drive and it will more than likely be named "C" If you go to disc management it will show 2 partitions : System Reserved (100 MB or more) and drive "C". Don't ever touch or modify the System Reserved partition. Your boot manager is in there and this should be left alone. The System Reserve partition is a hidden partition and will not show up in "my computer"

• So after deleting all partitions and restarting the PC, it is formatted? it is going to be the last time i see vista? you know why I'm asking this, because I've never deleted all the computer through  the system itself, using a programme, I always used to do it from the bios or the MS-DOS. That's what it makes me confused. but it  seems to be just another way.

 After deleting all the partitions, they are deleted and everything in them. as I said before it goes beyond formatting.

Some people upgrade to W7 on a badly corrupted hard drive. For what ever reason they have had a virus that has left the hard drive unstable.

They begin the upgrade process and it formats the drive and some where through out the process it gives an error and reverts back to Vista. The fact that it is able to revert back to Vista tells me that formatting does not remove all trace of Vista.

This is what formatting does. It leaves behind old hidden files of the previous operating system. Formatting will defiantly delete your own personal folders, but does not delete every thing.

Doing my procedure and deleting, rather then formatting will unsure a cleaner full install.

I also prefer to wipe out all traces of vista, that's why i wanted to delete everything from C.

• there is no way to do the same procedure without erasing the recovery partition?

You can use Partition Wizard just to delete every thing in "C" and leave the recovery partition in tact if you like.

The problem with that is : the recovery partition that is there was designed to be used with the Vista recovery manager, which you no longer have in W7. Even if you were to down load the Vista recovery manager it still would not work because your are now running W7. Many have tried by making the recovery partition active in disc management, that works for some and not others.

This is why I have had you make some recovery disc's while you are still in Vista. As I said before these are bootable disc's and do not require the Vista recovery manager to get them up and running.

To boot them you would perform the same procedure to install W7 as to restore your machine back to Vista.

After pushing the start button  look for "push esc key for start menu". You would push that and then "f9" and then select  "internal cd/dvd ROM drive" Your Vista recovery disc would have been inserted into the dvd drawer before this procedure at some point of course.

I always used to do it from the bios or the MS-DOS. That's what it makes me confused. but it  seems to be just another way.

I have never used MS-DOS. I  don't want to start giving you advise in an area where I am not familiar with. What I have done here is given you a procedure that should work smoothly and give you most of what you want.

And yes, "it just seems to be another way" To point out here though, ounce you have your recovery disc's you can experiment around all you want. If you screw up you can always go back to Vista and start over. When I ordered my dv8 I included my HP recovery DVD's with it. I knew I was going to be experimenting and that I would need them. I must have performs at least 3 or 4 system recoveries because my playing around left the hard drive a mess.

The down side of this though is that it really eats up the time.

Thanks again. 

[guido_1]

I finally create the DVD's. with recovery disc creation (long time). Now I'm going to windows 7.

i just follow the tutorial and that's it?

now i understood, there is no sense in keeping the recovery disc because it is going to be unusable in windows 7.  

i have the 3 DVD's, if someday something really bad happen,  which is the procedure to get back to vista, and it original condition factory? or we can talk about this in other tutorial. 

I have 320 gb or less. you know there are never 320.  is it okay if i put everything in one partition? or do you recommend more than one?  I prefer to have it all in one unless it is not recommended. 

I have not copy the swsetup folder,  is it really necessary?

Spoiler

Right click on "disk 1" and choose "delete all partitions" and apply the changes. It will give one or two warnings that you are about to delete your active OS system and you will not be able to boot up your machine. This is normal.

When you get to the window where it asks you to restart, open the CD/DVD drawer and leave it open.

After this, my computer will be "officially" empty, so  if i want to star it, it will do anything because there is no OS, right?

Then I continue with you explanation.   when the list appears i use the arrow up or down to choose Boot Device Options. or i have to press f9?  and then i just continue with the installation

I'll wait for your final answer, and after that I'll go on. then i told you how was it. 

[HaggisCat]

I finally create the DVD's. with recovery disc creation (long time). Now I'm going to windows 7.

i just follow the tutorial and that's it?

now i understood, there is no sense in keeping the recovery disc because it is going to be unusable in windows 7.

Just leave the partition there. It will be deleted when you use Partition Wizard to delete the entire drive. 

i have the 3 DVD's, if someday something really bad happen,  which is the procedure to get back to vista, and it original condition factory? or we can talk about this in other tutorial. 

It's the same procedure as to load W7 except that you use your recovery discs that you made.

The fact that the DVD's took a long time to create and that you have 3 of them is a good sign. If you followed the tutorial you should have them numbered in order that they were created. 

I have 320 gb or less. you know there are never 320.  is it okay if i put everything in one partition? or do you recommend more than one?  I prefer to have it all in one unless it is not recommended. 

Ounce you have deleted everything on the Hard Drive, W7 will create it's own partitions. Leave these partitions alone.

I have not copy the swsetup folder,  is it really necessary?

It probably isn't, it's a precaution.

Spoiler

Right click on "disk 1" and choose "delete all partitions" and apply the changes. It will give one or two warnings that you are about to delete your active OS system and you will not be able to boot up your machine. This is normal.

When you get to the window where it asks you to restart, open the CD/DVD drawer and leave it open.

After this, my computer will be "officially" empty, so  if i want to star it, it will do anything because there is no OS, right?

At this point it actually won't be empty, only after the restart.

It will attempt to start, but it will only go to the small blinking line at left top corner of your screen. You will have to do a forced shut down. Yes there will be no operating system in it.

Then I continue with you explanation.   when the list appears i use the arrow up or down to choose Boot Device Options. or i have to press f9?  and then i just continue with the installation

You could just press f9 to get to the Boot Device options upon start up. If you find this easier. The idea here is to have your W7 disc in place when you hit the enter key to boot from the CD/DVD Rom drive after you have deleted the original OS system.

I'll wait for your final answer, and after that I'll go on. then i told you how was it. 

[CherylG]

When you boot from the Windows 7 dvd ,setup can delete partitions before installing. Read the Guide here_page 9 & 10 describes deleting partitions.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/windows-7-clean-install-part-1.htm

This is about as informative & to the point as you will find.

[guido_1]

so this is the same as using partition wizard? but doing less things?

there is no way to download recoery manager software and use it in windows 7? in order not do delete the recovery partition?

I know Haggiscat yu told me that is not usable in windows 7, but  is there a recovery manager programme from hp available for download? or from softThinks,?