Install Win7 without 100MB system reserved partition?

vick1000

vick1000

2[H]4U
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I see that one can pre-partition and format a drive to prevent Win7 from creating the recovery partition. My question is if I use Shift+F10 to bring up the command prompt and use diskpart to partition and format the drive, will the partiton table still be aligned to the 4K allocation desireable for SSD performance?

Plus, it seems the 100MB partition somehow messes up any attempt to restore an image with the Win7 built in imaging tool.

Or do the SP1 discs not force the install of said partition anymore?
 
It's 100 MB, big woop. Just leave it the eff alone like it was designed to be.
 
Thanx, but NO. It screws with reimaging, as in when I "left it alone" previously I could not restore images to the drive, while after I removed it and reparted and realigned the drive, reimaging was then successful.
 
It's there for a reason, but it is possible to get Windows 7 installed without it being there: you'd just have to install another OS first, like XP perhaps, and then Windows 7 after it. The other solution is to pre-partition/pre-format/pre-align the drive and then choose that partition to install Windows 7 on, but it's basically defeating the purpose of having the 100MB partition there in the first place.

Like the poster above said, it's 100 megabytes, practically irrelevant in the long run, and the Windows imaging app is aware of the recovery partition (what that 100MB is designed for), and you're the very first person that's ever said there's some conflict with it. Seems a bit odd that Microsoft would include a tool like that and then have it end up not being compatible with the OS it's designed for... if you're having issues with that Windows imaging tool, use some third party imaging software like True Image or even Clonezilla.
 
I know it's possible to not have the partition during install. And the built in imaging tool is just Acronis, not Microshaft's software.

The question is will the partition table still be aligned to 4K using the diskpart tool built into the windows setup utility?

In any case, I will post back after I try it out.
 
^lol like anyone is going to take you even remotely close to serious when you use terms like Microshaft's..

never had a problem with the partition either so it must be a short between the keyboard and chair kind of deal.....
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
^lol like anyone is going to take you even remotely close to serious when you use terms like Microshaft's..

never had a problem with the partition either so it must be a short between the keyboard and chair kind of deal.....
Click to expand...

Right, because making and restoring an image is such a technical process. Oh, and Microshaft is famous for never having broken features in their software, everything works perfectly 100% of the time.

If you can't contribute any useful information, please keep your opinions to yourself. Thanx.
 
vick1000 said:
Right, because making and restoring an image is such a technical process. Oh, and Microshaft is famous for never having broken features in their software, everything works perfectly 100% of the time.

If you can't contribute any useful information, please keep your opinions to yourself. Thanx.
Click to expand...

Calling it MicroShaft is an opinion (and designed to incite other users), so take your own advice... I agree with the others, no one's going to be looking at these posts seriously with terms like those and random spellings like "thanx" sprinkled throughout :eek: . In any case, 100mb is 100mb, it's an issue of PEBKAC if the thing's causing a conflict for you I'm sure considering it's a built-in part of Windows that has worked fine for everyone else I've ever heard of.
 
Acronis works just fine with that 100mb partition, so does Macrium...and PING...and Clonezilla.
 
All you have to do to keep Vista or 7 from making that partition is to make the partition beforehand.

When I am imaging systems at work, I use diskpart and imagex (with gimagex).

Wipe the drive, create the partition, assign it a letter, set it active, and then use imagex with gimagex to install the image.

If installing from the install DVD, just use diskpart on a bootable usb stick to create the partition(s) first.
 
Wow, I didn't realize their were so many Microshaft lovers here, and so sensitive too. Some are even grammar Nazis to boot. I never stated an opinion, unless you really think I just hate Microshaft becasue of that term. It's a love-hate relationship, when you have been dealing with Microshaft OS products as long as I have, there will be the hate occasionally. Instead of trying to make me compute YOUR way, why not just ignore the thread all together? Much too sensative for the intra-webs.

Since no one seems to comprehend the original post, all I need to know is if the partition table will be aligned to 4K. No opinons of Microshaft are required.
 
You can align with diskpart, you just need to tell it to start the partition 1 MiB in, which is sector 2048.
 
vick1000 said:
Wow, I didn't realize their were so many Microshaft lovers here, and so sensitive too. Some are even grammar Nazis to boot. I never stated an opinion, unless you really think I just hate Microshaft becasue of that term. It's a love-hate relationship, when you have been dealing with Microshaft OS products as long as I have, there will be the hate occasionally. Instead of trying to make me compute YOUR way, why not just ignore the thread all together? Much too sensative for the intra-webs.

Since no one seems to comprehend the original post, all I need to know is if the partition table will be aligned to 4K. No opinons of Microshaft are required.
Click to expand...

I know the answer, but, I'll be damned if I'd tell you...:D. As I said, you may want to be less abrasive when asking for help.
 
GoldenTiger said:
I know the answer, but, I'll be damned if I'd tell you...:D. As I said, you may want to be less abrasive when asking for help.
Click to expand...

Well I certainly woudn't want you to be damned, so by all means keep the answer to yourself. Now if I could just get you to keep your opinions to yourself...

The only reason I'm bieng abrasive is becasue people keep polluting the thread with their opinions that have nothing to do with the topic. As if I am supposed to care that you think I'm abrasive.

It's not so big a deal that I can't figure it out myself, I am just trying to save time.
 
vick1000 said:
Thanx, but NO. It screws with reimaging, as in when I "left it alone" previously I could not restore images to the drive, while after I removed it and reparted and realigned the drive, reimaging was then successful.
Click to expand...

You are re-imaging wrong then. What are you using to image?
 
vick1000 said:
Well I certainly woudn't want you to be damned, so by all means keep the answer to yourself. Now if I could just get you to keep your opinions to yourself...

The only reason I'm bieng abrasive is becasue people keep polluting the thread with their opinions that have nothing to do with the topic. As if I am supposed to care that you think I'm abrasive.

It's not so big a deal that I can't figure it out myself, I am just trying to save time.
Click to expand...


You don't need to do anything special for SSD install with Win7, it aligns and handles everything automatically. You're welcome, and you wouldn't be asking for help for a day+ if you could figure it out yourself, as that wouldn't be saving time. There's nothing wrong with asking for help, but you might have found an answer given sooner if people actually sympathized with your issue at all ;).

vick1000 said:
Thanx, but NO. It screws with reimaging, as in when I "left it alone" previously I could not restore images to the drive, while after I removed it and reparted and realigned the drive, reimaging was then successful.
Click to expand...

PEBKAC.
 
You can do this from the install screen for W7. Create a partition and it will reserve 100MB. Delete the 100MB partition and extend the partition that was the rest of the disk to include that 100MB. Easy as pie.
 
/usr/home said:
It's 100 MB, big woop. Just leave it the eff alone like it was designed to be.
Click to expand...

If you want to (1) multi-boot off several OS and (2) want a separate extended partition for your data, photos, music, and whatnot, then you don't want to waste one primary partition for that silly 100 MB. :rolleyes:
 
x509 said:
If you want to (1) multi-boot off several OS and (2) want a separate extended partition for your data, photos, music, and whatnot, then you don't want to waste one primary partition for that silly 100 MB. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

You don't need that 100 MB partition gone to multi-boot. God forbid we have more than two partitions on a drive :O :p.
 
GoldenTiger said:
You don't need to do anything special for SSD install with Win7, it aligns and handles everything automatically. You're welcome, and you wouldn't be asking for help for a day+ if you could figure it out yourself, as that wouldn't be saving time. There's nothing wrong with asking for help, but you might have found an answer given sooner if people actually sympathized with your issue at all ;).



PEBKAC.
Click to expand...

Wow, can you read at all?

I asked about using diskpart in the command prompt, and whether or not it aligned as does windoze setup (I bet you'll love that slang). Why would you be saying welcome? I didn't thank you, unless you have another account. Or did you think you answered my question somewhere?

I could easily find out for myself, I would simply install using diskpart first, with no 100mb Microshaft partition, then check alignment after the install. And I wasn't asking for help for "a day+" (nice grammar there), I asked in a single post for the information about alignment, and got a rash of shit from a bunch of Microshaft lovers who obviously can't take a joke about a stoopid software company. Then spent the rest of the time admonishing them for my entertainment, and to hopefully humble their rediculous internet egos.
 
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/usr/home said:
You are re-imaging wrong then. What are you using to image?
Click to expand...

Just the built in Windoze 7 control panel imaging tool (which is licensed from Acronis). There are no mistakes to make, you select a place for the image (My 1TB back up drive), you select what drives to image (my C: drive 60GB SSD), it makes the image, when you wish to restore it, you boot from the Windoze 7 DVD and use the recovery utility there to restore an image. Works without the 100mb MS part, does not with it there, plain and simple. Maybe it has something to do with the Sandforce controller.

Acronis does not get stellar reviews anyway, actually I haven't found a imaging suite that does, and that's why I have held off buying one.
 
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vsboxerboy said:
You can do this from the install screen for W7. Create a partition and it will reserve 100MB. Delete the 100MB partition and extend the partition that was the rest of the disk to include that 100MB. Easy as pie.
Click to expand...

You are correct, if you have done this on a drive, check the partition alignment for me with AS-SSD (doesn't have to be an SSD) and see what it says in the upper left corner. I would appreciate it, and would place you in my opinion, among the more intellectual inhabitants of the [H] community.
 
Or just partition/format it ahead of time like I said earlier.

I mean really...
 
Joe Average said:
Or just partition/format it ahead of time like I said earlier.

I mean really...
Click to expand...

Yes, I know this, I knew this. Do you understand what partition alignment is? Maybe the thread title is a distracton, I appologize for any confusion.
 
vick1000 said:
Yes, I know this, I knew this. Do you understand what partition alignment is? Maybe the thread title is a distracton, I appologize for any confusion.
Click to expand...

Great.
Great.
Of course I do.
Yes, it is considering how far off track it's gone.
No problem.

NEXT!!!
 
vick1000 said:
You are correct, if you have done this on a drive, check the partition alignment for me with AS-SSD (doesn't have to be an SSD) and see what it says in the upper left corner. I would appreciate it, and would place you in my opinion, among the more intellectual inhabitants of the [H] community.
Click to expand...

I actually just jumped on the refurb crucial SSD deal a bit ago and will be reinstalling W7 later this week on my SSD. I will report back then, but PM me at the end of the week if I forget.
 
vick1000 said:
Right, because making and restoring an image is such a technical process. Oh, and Microshaft is famous for never having broken features in their software, everything works perfectly 100% of the time.

If you can't contribute any useful information, please keep your opinions to yourself. Thanx.
Click to expand...

Well if you cannot post like an adult and keep the name calling to yourself, do us all a favor and don't post..... That way, you won't get your panties in a bunch when people call you out for being stupid....

Are we clear?

BTW, it's not that people love Microsoft, it's more of you acting like an adult when asking for help......
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
Well if you cannot post like an adult and keep the name calling to yourself, do us all a favor and don't post..... That way, you won't get your panties in a bunch when people call you out for being stupid....

Are we clear?

BTW, it's not that people love Microsoft, it's more of you acting like an adult when asking for help......
Click to expand...

I believe someone posted a derogatory remark toward myself, something about the error bieng between the keyboard and the chair, which is just a smart ass remark with no place in this thread. Simply because I use the term Microshaft, now who has their panties in a bunch?

Again, people posted their opinions such as, "just leave it", "it's just 100MB", blah blah, none of which were helpful. Yet I am supposed to be this gracious human bieng and not take offense to some smart ass remark and useless opinionated trash. No, I'll post as I choose thank you, the critics be damned.

Are we clear?
 
Well I used diskpart to set up the drive at the initial setup screen, and it aligned the drive properly at 1024K. And no 100MB waste of space from Microshaft. Thank you to the intellegent members who posted, to the rest.....you can bite me.
 
Glad your issue was settled.

I see why you got irritated at people during the beginning when the whole "it's 100mb...leave it alone" thing was an annoyance, but now that it's all said and done: why was the 100mb partition thing causing a problem for your image in the first place? Did you ever pinpoint the problem?

EDIT: 'Problem' meaning the underlying issue aside from the 100mb partition itself, because people don't usually have an issue with it. *Not saying it's a user error, don't take it that way*
 
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/usr/home said:
You don't need that 100 MB partition gone to multi-boot. God forbid we have more than two partitions on a drive :O :p.
Click to expand...

Unless you have an UEFI BIOS, you are limited to 4 primary partitions on one drive. If you want to multi-boot between 3 OSs, plus have an extended partition, you need to not have that 100 MB RESERVED partition.
 
vick1000 said:
Well I used diskpart to set up the drive at the initial setup screen, and it aligned the drive properly at 1024K. And no 100MB waste of space from Microshaft. Thank you to the intellegent members who posted, to the rest.....you can bite me.
Click to expand...

Can the intelligent members bite you?

*chomp* :)
 
stop!theradio said:
Glad your issue was settled.

I see why you got irritated at people during the beginning when the whole "it's 100mb...leave it alone" thing was an annoyance, but now that it's all said and done: why was the 100mb partition thing causing a problem for your image in the first place? Did you ever pinpoint the problem?

EDIT: 'Problem' meaning the underlying issue aside from the 100mb partition itself, because people don't usually have an issue with it. *Not saying it's a user error, don't take it that way*
Click to expand...

It's hard to say, since the imaging feature in Win7 is pretty much a hidden process. All I know, is on the Vertex2 I was using as the OS drive, Win7 would not restore an image to it (tried several), where the 100MB partition was there when the image was made. Nore would it restore an image that was made with out the 100MB partition, to the drive where the partition still existed. The drive had to be Secure Erased, then reimaged with a non-100MB inclusive image.

I understand when people have never encountered an issue, like to blame the user. But for something as simple as creating an image with Win7, c'mon it's not like you can do anything to screw it up. Unless they are a jack-ass and never even used the utility to begin with, which wouldn't suprise me.

I'll post the exact procedure I used for search engine sake.
 
OK, here's what you do.

When the first setup screen comes up, where you select language etc...just press Shift+F10 to get a command prompt.

Type "diskpart" hit enter
Type "list disk" enter, make note of the disk number
Type "select disk X" where "X" is the number
Type "clean" if the disk had been partitioned
Type "create partition" (add "size=X" where "X" is the desired size in MB if you want multiple partitions)
Type "list partition" make note of the partiton you wish to format
Type "select partition X" where "X" is the desired partition
Type "active"
Type "format" I don't recommend the quick modifier
Type "exit", close the command window and install.

You should have a 1024K alignment.
 
Thanks for posting that. Always annoys me when I google a problem and find a thread where the OP has the same problem and just later posts, okay fixed it - or - got it working, with no mention of how.
 
vick1000 said:
OK, here's what you do.

When the first setup screen comes up, where you select language etc...just press Shift+F10 to get a command prompt.

Type "diskpart" hit enter
Type "list disk" enter, make note of the disk number
Type "select disk X" where "X" is the number
Type "clean" if the disk had been partitioned
Type "create partition" (add "size=X" where "X" is the desired size in MB if you want multiple partitions)
Type "list partition" make note of the partiton you wish to format
Type "select partition X" where "X" is the desired partition
Type "active"
Type "format" I don't recommend the quick modifier
Type "exit", close the command window and install.

You should have a 1024K alignment.
Click to expand...

Technically, you can skip selecting the partition as it will already be automatically selected after you create it if you are only making a single partition.
 
vick1000 said:
I believe someone posted a derogatory remark toward myself, something about the error bieng between the keyboard and the chair, which is just a smart ass remark with no place in this thread. Simply because I use the term Microshaft, now who has their panties in a bunch?

Again, people posted their opinions such as, "just leave it", "it's just 100MB", blah blah, none of which were helpful. Yet I am supposed to be this gracious human bieng and not take offense to some smart ass remark and useless opinionated trash. No, I'll post as I choose thank you, the critics be damned.

Are we clear?
Click to expand...

lol nice try but in the end the error was between the keyboard and the chair as you were given multiple solutions to your problem and you came off like a total ass......
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
lol nice try but in the end the error was between the keyboard and the chair as you were given multiple solutions to your problem and you came off like a total ass......
Click to expand...

What solutions?

Only one poster offered a solution, or rather answered my only question, and it dman sure wasn't any of the dip shits that think I am the error. The only error is between your ears.
 
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