Acer :: Delete Vista Partitions, Format Hard Drive, Reinstall Vista ...
Feb 21, 2009
Background:
A few days ago i bought an Acer 7730 laptop with Windows Vista pre-installed and no disks. After initial hesitation i have decided to keep vista and not downgrade to XP. After all there will be more service packs and tweaking should speed it up lots anyway.
However, i really want to get rid of the three partitions on the hard drive. There is only one physical hard drive but there are three partitions; a hidden 10GB one (EISA configuration) which from what i have gathered is now obsolete, a C: partition 111.44GB and a D: partition 111.44GB. There is no need to split a drive into several partitions now that we have the NTFS file system (unless you are using multiple operating systems of course - but i am not) so this is really annoying me.
I have made the 2 recovery DVD and the 1 applications/drivers DVD. I have an old WinXP disk that i can use to format the laptop if required.
Question:
Using the recovery disks (which i'm assuming contain a copy of my bought OEM Vista that was pre-installed on the laptop), can i delete the partitions, format the hard drive and install Vista onto a single c: partition?
I've done this exact process before with WinXP hundreds of times but i'm not sure whether i can do the same for Vista with just the 3 DVD mentioned...
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Jan 20, 2008
I am trying to fix my dads notebook, its been running very slow lately and I want to format and reinstall Vista for him, however has most of you may know, it's really hard to find notebook drivers (well in my case it is), so does anyone know where I can find drivers for me dads 5634WLMi?
I have tryed Acer's website but they are either for 5630 or 5680/90, or can I use the 5630 drivers on this?
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Jul 1, 2009
how to i reinstall vista to new hard drive?
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Nov 23, 2009
My laptop is a hp dv6000 with 32 bit vista home premium preinstalled from the store. I never upgraded a laptop before so I don't know what to expect. Are all vista preinstalled systems already activated and do they use the OEM key or the product key on the bottom of the laptop? Recently my original hard drive failed and had no other choice expect to upgrade to a new one. My laptop came with the windows anytime upgrade disc so I used that to clean install vista home premium. Would the user recovery discs work instead on a new empty hard drive? When it asks for the product key the first time, I entered it in using the key on the bottom of the laptop. After everything was complete it said "3 days until automatic activation" and had the OEM key listed, not the one on the bottom of the laptop. I reactivate again using the sticker on the bottom on the laptop and it said "windows is activated", but it still had the OEM key listed. Did I enter the right key both times? Would there be any difference using the OEM key instead? Now about the recovery discs, if the "swsetup" folder was deleted before creating the discs will it still be on the disc even though it's suppose to be a factory image? Will I get the recovery partition and quick play if I reinstall again?
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Apr 13, 2013
I have replaced the hard drives with new blank ones, but I cannot now reinstall Vista from the Reinstallation DVD because no drives are seen.
I have updated the BIOS to the latest available version, but still no joy.
I have taken out the drives and, using an external HDD port, can access them from another PC, so I'm certain there's no issues with the drives themselves.
I've tried Paragon 2010 Suite, but even that cannot "see" the drives, so I'm deducing that it's an issue peculiar to this Dell model.
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Aug 20, 2014
I have a HP 2000 2b09wm. It just broke, giving me the error message saying in so many words that I needed a new hard drive. Guess the old one went kaput (even though I just bought this pc on eBay not a month or two ago). I have a new HD and a Windows 8 reinstall software from a dealer on eBay. I tried multiple routes in attempting to reinstall the OS resulting in as many dead ends*.The last thing offered up was to delete partitions in the new HD. I looked at an eHow page, How to Delete Partitions on a Hard Drive. It says to get a CD that includes fdisk.com. I burned super fdisk (2 MB) from SFbootablecd.iso and fdisk (40 MB) from fd11src.iso. I went to the BIOS to configure the boot order. I put Internal CD/DVD ROM Drive first, saved it and tried both CDs. It always just boots to a screen with this:
Boot Device Not Found. Please install an operating system on your hard diskHard Disk (3F0)F2 System DiagnosticsFor more information, please visit: [URL] .....
I even tried putting USB CD/DVD ROM Drive first…same results.
So, my questions to you, I guess, is firstly, why are the fdisk CDs not booting? Did I burn the wrong fdisk? Secondly, do you know why my OS couldn’t be installed using the reinstall software? I’m assuming the software is legit and the computer did in fact originate with Windows 8.
*A couple of the dead ends:
Compatibility report - The computer started using the Windows installation media. Remove the installation media and restart your computer so that Windows starts normally. Then, insert the installation media and restart the upgrade. Do not select [ICustom advanced]I to perform an upgrade. [ICustom advanced]I installs a new copy of Windows and deletes your programs and settings.
Another route for Windows Setup, I get to this: Select the driver to install: Browse for Folder - Browse to the driver, and then click OK.It gives you the list under "Computer" which includes "CD Drive (E HRM_CCSA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV5" (the reinstall software) and underneath that, the folders - boot - efi - sources - support.Picking just the E drive itself, message appears: Load driver: No signed device drivers were found. Make sure that the installation media contains the correct drivers, and then click OK.
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May 31, 2010
I am having a problem deleting Vista on my companies laptop, when I put in my OEM XP SP3 disc I am getting an error message, there is already an updated version of windows installed with no options, do I need a partion disc to help me? what brand & model # of this disc do I need, are there any other ways to accomplish complete deletion of VISTA & install XP SP3?
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Jan 6, 2014
I'm having a problem to install windows 7 pro on my Lenovo t440s ( that came with windows 8 ) using a memory stick.I went to the windows 7 installation menu and formatted the Windows 8 partition, so now I have :
Disk 0 Partition 1: WINRE_DRV 1GB OEM
Disk 0 Partition 2 : System_DRV 260MB System
Disk 0 Partition 3 128MB MSR
Disk 0 Unnallocated Space 225GB ( it was the old windows 8 partition )
Disk 0 Partition 4: Lenovo_Recory 12.1GB OEM
However, when i try to use the free space to install the windows 7 i get this error :" Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partitions style. "
I tried to bot using Legacy Boot Only and after using UEFI/Legacy Boot and nothing changed, I'm still receiving the same error.I read that I have to select each of the partitions on the drive, and select Delete. Then the drive will show a single area of unallocated space that I should use to install windows.there is any problem in delete all my partitions of Lenovo T440s? Can I delete the OEM partitions?
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Apr 23, 2009
The laptop is now 2 months old. I deleted all the games, but there is alot left over. After years of admin work on Win2k, and nothing comparable on Vista, I need advice on what I can safely delete and what I may, sooner or later, need.
Here is a list. Let me know what I can and should not delete. I know I have a factory default in a hidden partition. And note that once I delete something, further backups will be made without that software.
1) Welcome Center (Would be nice to get rid of for all users. But I am the only user on this system for the foreseeable future)
2) Windows Media Center - I may back up an audio CD or convert audio to WMA, I may make a back up of my DVDs, but I don't play CD's or DVDs.
3) Windows Photo Gallery. This is actually nice software, but the camera comes with its own, and I play any video CDs in my DVD player.
4) Extras and Upgrades - Anytime Upgrade, Marketplace, Windows Web Site. Beyond purchasing software, why would I use this?
5) Windows DVD maker - Does the Acer backup software use this? I'm still very happy with Nero, and this doesn't seem easy to use.
6) Windows Movie Maker - I don't have a video camera to make movies with, and no inclination to make any at all. I suffered through my father's home movies. - Never again.
7) Live Messenger Download. - I'm not an online chatterer. What else would I need this for? IS this needed by Live Meeting?
8) Windows Meeting Space - I would use this very rarely if at all, and certainly not in the foreseeable future. Live meeting would NOT need this as I understand.
9) Windows Sidebar - From what I read about it, it doesn't seem needed. Aren't shortcuts the same?
10) Table PC - This isn't a tablet PC. But I like the fact that the right side of the touch-pad acts as a scrolling device. Is Tablet PC needed for that?
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Feb 15, 2010
My wifes Extensa 5620 got a virus. Office Depot removed it with MalBytes. I'm still leary of something being missed. I would really like to restore it to factory defaults.
When I go into Acer eRecovery Management I see pick the Restore tab at the bottom of the window.
Now I am given the choices to
1.Restore system factory default.
2.(Which is grayed out and option not avaialable) Restore form users backup
3.Recover from CD/DVD
4.Reinstall applaications/drivers.
So I pick 1. Restore system factory default.
Next I am asked for the empowering technology password. Well I don't have it and don't know how to get it. I would choose number 2. if it were an option. If I place the disk I made into the CD/DVD unit will the option become available? I tried option 3. and it said to place the restore disk inthe drive.
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Dec 1, 2008
You know how with Win98 there was a floppy to startup the computer to reinstall the win98 disc.... My new laptop did not come with a start up disc... how is this done? I have no original disc... can this be ordered thru Acer or do I have to purchase a disc from Microsoft?
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Dec 9, 2008
I Have an acer aspire 5100 but when to format hard drive and do full recovery but nothing went on the disc does any one have a copy of the recovery disc to help me out
amd turion
64 mobile
1gb ram
80g hard drive
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Dec 15, 2009
I have acer aspire 6930g lapotop came with preinstalled windows vista ..my problem is this preinstalled windows vista now has to much troubles and I want to reinstall to get red of all these troubles and I heard that I can reinstall it using ((factory default)) DVDs which I made by acer eRecovery program when I bought this laptop but I must tell you that when I bought this laptop ,its hard disk came with only 3 partitions so I used its windows vista tools to create 2 new partitions and now I has 5 partitions so If I used ((factory default )) DVDs to reinstall windows vista ,AM I going to loose new 2 partitons I created and all data in them?
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Oct 6, 2009
I installed XP on my laptop which essentially deleted all the old HP software. And now I want to go back to Vista. Since theres no program to do it, I'm kind of lost. However I see the HP recovery hard drive still. Is there still a way to revert back to Vista or would I need to get a copy of Vista and install it from there?
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Sep 6, 2009
Recently my brand new studio 17 updated, about a week later I noticed that 50GB had gone missing! I of course called tech support to see if they could help (good luck) after spending hours on the phone they could not really solve the issue, asides from doing a factory reset.
Now again I am having this issue again, once Vista updated it is slowly eating away hard drive space. There is currently 31.4GB being used (yes, this includes all hidden files) on a 450GB hard drive, yet the system reports only 402 GB free space. Each day it decreases about 2-4 GBs ......
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Jan 10, 2009
I'm trying to install Win7B, and the main problem is that I already have four partitions on my HDD and it won't let me create any more.
There's the main C:/Drive, then the three Dell ones: Recovery, and two blank ones that (after some googling) I believe are for diagnostics and DellMediaDirect .....
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Jan 27, 2009
I've been trying to help my roommate out on this one and I think that the issue is hard drive is corrupt, but I'm not sure. A few days ago, he told me that Vista has been taking ages to start up.
I tried looking at to see what was going on and we couldn't even get passed the welcome screen. At this time, there were no errors showing up before the Welcome screen loaded. I got the Dell Vista reinstall disc and attempted to repair the files. Doing that didn't do anything. Therefore, I figured that his only option was to reformat.
I followed that guide that's stickied which shows you how to install the mediadirect and vista to each of there own partitions. After doing deleting the partitions and installing mediadirect to its own partition, I proceeded to installing Windows Vista.
Vista then finished installing and restarted automatically as it normally does. After restarting and going passed the first black screen (here you can hit F12 to get to bios), I get an error that reads .....
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Feb 22, 2013
I just installed new HHD; trying to reinstall Windows Vista Home Premium 64BIT SP1 from Reinstallation DVD of the Dell Studio 1537; I get twoerrors:
1-This computer’s hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk’s controlleris enabled in the computer’s BIOS menu. How can I tell the disk is enabled?
2 - Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for installation. What? My HDDisk size is 298.1GB free space?
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Aug 27, 2014
I was just checking my wife's older HP Pavilion dv9628nr running Vista Home Premium with 2 HDD's. I didn't even know it had 2 HDD's. I opened the case to make sure.
Below is a screenshot of Disk Management for this system. I have some questions:
1. Why is there an OS partition on each HDD?
2. Are 2 needed and can one be deleted?
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May 7, 2010
I just bought a Dell Inspiron 17 with a 350 GB HDD. It is partitioned into C: and D: drives.
The C: drive has about 50 GB and the D: about 300 GB. All of the user files are in the smaller C: drive.
1. Wouldn't it be better to have the user files in the larger side?
2. Can this be changed?
3. What do you recommend?
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Feb 23, 2009
My wife has an HP DV6000 with Vista on it from the factory. We have talked about reinstalling Vista to get rid of all the other "junk" to put it nicely. I mentioned this to my brother-in-law and he said we don't want to reinstall Vista because HP puts so much on there to help users. If we reinstall Vista are we going to loose out on something HP gave us?
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Apr 15, 2010
Is it possible to split my external hard disk into two partition? The drive is originally NTFS.. but I'm looking to split it so that the second partition is Mac OS compatible.
My plan is to use Partition Manager in Windows so that I can split the drive without having to lose data. Then plug it back into Mac OSX so that I can format the new partition to a Mac compatible format.
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Apr 27, 2009
Today I will get my XPS M1730 (warranty replacement for my Gen2). I'll get it with Vista Home Premium 32bit and I have a few questions.
1. Is the installation by dell "bloated" with unnecessary stuff?
2. If it is, I plan to reinstall Vista with a retail Ultimate DVD my friend has bought. Can I use the serial on the backside of my computer for this installation to get a clean Home Premium installation?
3. Will I need to activate afterwards, like call MS or something...........
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Nov 10, 2008
i want to uninstall everything that is i want to ununistall the OS VISTA thus replacing it with WINDOWS XP.
But unfornately i have failed to install OS (XP) on my laptop which came with pre-installed Windows Vista. I not been able , but when i boot my lapto using Windows XP CD it copies the required files but when i press ENTER to install Windows XP the message appears that " Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer and that any disk related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacture supplied diagnostic or setup program. Setup cannot continue. To quit setup, press F3." Please note I have C: drive installed windows vista on it, i have drive D: files are available for recovery disk pre-installed by the windows vista or manufacturer. My lapto is ACER MODEL 4320. Please advise how to install how to install the operating system on this computer.
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Nov 8, 2007
I just got a 1730 and if i use the operating system disk that came with it it locks up on the part of the install that says "completing installation" and If I try using a copy of vista ultimate that I have it will install and the first time i reboot the computer I get a quick flash of a BSOD then it restarts and keeps doing it.
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Mar 31, 2009
Can I use the reinstall CD that came with Precision M6400 to install on other systems ? Non- M6400, and perhaps non-dell ?
Can I use the same CD to install on multiple systems ?
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Jun 8, 2009
I have been told that Dell laptops have a hidden partition to do a factory re install of the OS.
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Apr 18, 2009
Could someone help, when i press f8 at boot, it doesnt have the option to reinstall OS.
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Oct 19, 2009
I managed to create a Recovery Disc last night using the hard drive from the 6820s in an external caddy and accessed the Recovery CD creator that way.
But now I'm having a problem trying to reinstall Windows Vista as when I accessed the section concerning the complete format and reinstallation of Windows Vista; I got the following message:
Error 0x400 100130000 1002
If this issue continues, please contact HP Support.
how I can fix the problem that this message is referring to?
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Nov 9, 2007
Windows XP/Vista Reinstall Guide for Dell 17" Laptops
Specifically made for the XPS M1710
Also works for the Inspiron 9400/E1705, 1720, XPS M1730, Precision M90 and M6300, see *NOTE* below
Guide Version 1.20 (Last Updated: 5-20-2008)
I've gotten probably about 15-20 requests on a guide with the drivers I personally use for my XPS M1710 for reinstalling Windows, since I have both an XP-dedicated M1710 and a Vista-dedicated M1710. So... I finally got around to posting it for everyone to see, and it includes some things that some people don't know about... It was originally going to be just what drivers to use, but instead, I morphed it into a full reinstall guide, as there are some things in here alot of people don't know about.
I'm splitting this guide into two parts. The first being for Windows XP, and the second being for Windows Vista. Both are similar in ways, but its better to do it in 2 different sections, to avoid any confusion. I'm not posting a guide for Windows x64, as I unfortunately do not have a copy of it in either XP or Vista form, and most people on the forums don't use it, so this guide is sticking to the 32-Bit versions of the respective OSes.
*NOTE*Inspiron 9400/E1705 - Exchange the Gigabit Ethernet drivers outlined below for the Broadcom 10/100 drivers on the Dell Downloads site for the Inspiron 9400/E1705.
Inspiron 1720 - Exchange the Gigabit Ethernet drivers outlined below for the Broadcom 10/100 drivers on the Dell Downloads site for the Inspiron 1720. Also, exchange the Modem drivers for the one specifically for your laptop. If you have a Webcam, add that software in as the last "driver" installed before moving to the next step.
XPS M1730 - Exchange the Modem drivers for those specifically for the XPS M1730. If you have a Webcam, add that software, along with the "Logitech GamePanel" software, in as the last "driver" installed before moving to the next step.
Precision M90 - Procedure should be the same as that for the XPS M1710, including all drivers.
Precision M6300 - Exchange the Modem drivers for those specifically for the Precision M6300, and also add in the fingerprint reader software (if wanted/needed) as the last "driver" installed before moving to the next step
For the newer (Inspiron 1720, XPS M1730, Precision M6300) model laptops, you MUST DISABLE AHCI (change the setting from AHCI --> ATA) in the BIOS in order to proceed with installation of the Operating System without issues, otherwise the installation WILL FAIL......................
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