Win7 Partitioning Problem

[BobLoblaw]

HALP!

I recently installed Win7 on a new 500 gig hard drive. Being the clever sort I am I wanted a 60 gig OS Partition and a second partition using the rest of the hard drive.. Win7, being the clever OS that it is, decided I really must have wanted to leave that front 60 gigs empty and installed to the second partition.

What's the easiest way for my to move my install to the front of the hard drive?

I've already tried the built in Win7 back-up tool to make an image (Which actually works quite well and fast) but it's a little too literal. It imaged the exact form of my hard drive so I still have the partition problem.

Will all cloning software do the same thing?

Should I just cut my losses and re-install?

Lemme know what youse guys think.

[JD]

It would probably be easiest/fastest to just re-install, assuming you haven't installed too many apps.

You could try this though: GParted -- Welcome to move things around. However, I'd strongly suggest having anything important backed up before doing so.

[sswilson]

Doesn't Win7 allow you to remove the partition information from the unused partition and then recover that unused space to the leftover partition?

[BobLoblaw]

Thanks for the ideas.

jdrom17: Gparted worked! I needed to run the Win7 install to get it to recognize where it had moved. But now Win7 fails to rebuild my desktop when I log in. . Very strange. I think you are correct and it's time to cut my losses and re-install.

sswilson: As far as I can tell Win7 disk management only works for unpartitioned space beyond the OS partition. I can't get it to merge the 60 gigs at the front of the drive but I've made and de-made a couple partitions beyond the OS.

Thanks again guys!

[JD]

Rebuild your desktop? What do you mean by that?

[BobLoblaw]

I dunno actually!

After I used Gpart, I needed to repair my installation. After repairing I was able to boot up to my log in screen. When I entered my password it went to the standard loading screen but had "Preparing Desktop" and after about 5 minutes it just went to a light blue screen, in the lower left it had the current build of my Win7 and I had a mouse icon but that was it. I could Ctrl-Alt-Delete and get to my task manager but nothing was running.. I could even log back out and back in where it would "Prepare" my desktop again.. After futzing with it for 20 minutes I gave up..

I figure win7 didn't like my partition move and that was it's subtle way of telling me. :)

[JD]

Very interesting. Sounds like your user profile got messed up somehow. It's probably fixable, but who knows if there will be other problems afterwards.

If you want to try, when it gets to this screen, bring up Task Manager, File > New Task > compmgmt.msc. Go to Local Users, right click Users and then New User. Make some user account then log out and log in with the new username. If that account is broken too, then I guess the default user profile is corrupted, and you're basically SOL

[BobLoblaw]

That sounded like a great idea! Too bad I've already formatted and re-installed. It's so painless now compared to XP. Also, Lifehacker.com has their 2010 app pack that you just fire and forget, installs every app I require with one or two clicks. Gotta love living in the future!

[JD]

Maybe next time then!

Least you got everything working.