Removing drive partition

Cumbrian_Male

Hello

My laptop hard drive is partitioned and I would prefer it not to be. I only have 5% free space on the bit in use but have 45GB sat unused.

Can I safely remove it without having to back up all my data, and is there a free utility to do it?

I will shortly be buying an external HDD as I will be installing Windows 7 and need to do a clean install as going from XP.

Would I be better waiting to do both at the same time? Will the new OS install give me the option to reconfigure my HDD at installation?

Your advice appreciated.

gaming_guy

i'd reconfigure the partitions when you reinstall windows as you will be wiping the disk when you upgrade.

Cumbrian_Male

gaming_guy wrote: »

i'd reconfigure the partitions when you reinstall windows as you will be wiping the disk when you upgrade.

Do I have to do that before installing Windows or is it something that can be done as part of the install?

Never done a clean install before only an upgrade.

Ximian

Partitioning is done before the Windows installation starts, but you do have the option to partition your drive with the installation media. You will see the number and size of partitions listed before the installation starts, you can delete the listed partitions and select to create a new one using the whole of the drive or a size of your choosing.
What I like to do (depending on the size of the hard drive) is partition the drive in two, one part for the operating system and another for my personal data. That way, if I have to reinstall the OS I can still have all my data intact on the other partition.

computershack

If you choose to install Win7 without partitioning, you can delete the second partition and extend the primary one afterwards in Disk Management. From Windows Vista onwards, the partitioning tool is actually useful and allows on the fly partition resizing.

davb

Cumbrian_Male wrote: »

Can I safely remove it without having to back up all my data

I will shortly be buying an external HDD as I will be installing Windows 7 and need to do a clean install as going from XP.

You are definitely going to have to back up your data before doing a clean install of Windows 7 - but you should also be doing regular backups as well.

computershack

davb wrote: »

You are definitely going to have to back up your data before doing a clean install of Windows 7 - but you should also be doing regular backups as well.

Actually, thats not quite correct. As you say, its a good idea anyway but unless you format the parition, Win7 installation will move all of the contents of the "Documents and Settings", "Program Files" and "Windows" folders and subfolders to a "Windows.Old" folder. From there you can move your documents back then delete it.

Cumbrian_Male

computershack wrote: »

If you choose to install Win7 without partitioning, you can delete the second partition and extend the primary one afterwards in Disk Management. From Windows Vista onwards, the partitioning tool is actually useful and allows on the fly partition resizing.

That's mighty handy.

davb wrote: »

You are definitely going to have to back up your data before doing a clean install of Windows 7 - but you should also be doing regular backups as well.

I am buying an external HDD anyway to back everything up.

computershack wrote: »

Actually, thats not quite correct. As you say, its a good idea anyway but unless you format the parition, Win7 installation will move all of the contents of the "Documents and Settings", "Program Files" and "Windows" folders and subfolders to a "Windows.Old" folder. From there you can move your documents back then delete it.

Again mighty handy, what has happened at MS? They don't usually make things easy and user friendly.

Cumbrian_Male

Ok I have bought a network 1TB HDD and backed up my laptop.

Anyone know how long a clean install of Win 7 takes?

Money_Grabber13579

A hour max should do it. Probably a lot less, depending on the specs of your computer.