When doing an install of Win 7, Does the entire drive get wiped, or just
the C partition? I'm thinking of course of maintaining the recovery
partition.

Dave T.

"Dave T." wrote:

When doing an install of Win 7, Does the entire drive get wiped, or just
the C partition? I'm thinking of course of maintaining the recovery
partition.

Dave T.

Problem is: you'll probably wipe the computer's ability to make use of
the recovery partition using its boot manager that you see referenced
when you start the system (Press F? to...).

It's best that you make a complete backup of your drive before doing
anything.

Acronis True Image gets the most votes of confidence, but it will cost
you close to $40 (check newegg.com for the lowest price). That is
money well spent if you use it frequently to maintain an up-to-date
backup of your system.

A newcomer freebie that is getting good press is EASEUS Todo.

Google it.

Did not your PC supplier have a means of creating the recovery disks? most
do.
Since if your drive fails so will your option to use the recovery partition

"Dave T." wrote in message
...
When doing an install of Win 7, Does the entire drive get wiped, or just
the C partition? I'm thinking of course of maintaining the recovery
partition.

Dave T.

DL wrote:
Did not your PC supplier have a means of creating the recovery disks? most
do.
Since if your drive fails so will your option to use the recovery partition

"Dave T." wrote in message
...
When doing an install of Win 7, Does the entire drive get wiped, or just
the C partition? I'm thinking of course of maintaining the recovery
partition.

Dave T.


I say again;

When doing an install of Win 7, Does the entire drive get wiped, or just
the C partition? I'm thinking of course of maintaining the recovery
partition.

It should not matter whether I have recovery discs (which I do), I'm
curious for an answer to the question. Why? I tested the disc when I
made it, but the next time I put it in the tray, maybe it won't be good.
I want to maintain the recovery partition.

Dave T.

In message "Dave T."
was claimed to have wrote:

DL wrote:
Did not your PC supplier have a means of creating the recovery disks? most
do.
Since if your drive fails so will your option to use the recovery partition

"Dave T." wrote in message
...
When doing an install of Win 7, Does the entire drive get wiped, or just
the C partition? I'm thinking of course of maintaining the recovery
partition.

Dave T.


I say again;

When doing an install of Win 7, Does the entire drive get wiped, or just
the C partition? I'm thinking of course of maintaining the recovery
partition.

It should not matter whether I have recovery discs (which I do), I'm
curious for an answer to the question. Why? I tested the disc when I
made it, but the next time I put it in the tray, maybe it won't be good.
I want to maintain the recovery partition.

You can choose to upgrade, or to do a Custom install. If you do a
Custom install then the entire *partition* gets wiped.

However, the other's comments are very relevant in that even if the
recovery partition is left intact, if it requires a special bootloader
then it may not be usable.

Note that only some recovery partitions use odd bootloaders, others are
accessible from the BIOS directly, so this may not be an issue.

Dave Warren wrote:
In message "Dave T."
was claimed to have wrote:

DL wrote:
Did not your PC supplier have a means of creating the recovery disks? most
do.
Since if your drive fails so will your option to use the recovery partition

"Dave T." wrote in message
...
When doing an install of Win 7, Does the entire drive get wiped, or just
the C partition? I'm thinking of course of maintaining the recovery
partition.

Dave T.

I say again;

When doing an install of Win 7, Does the entire drive get wiped, or just
the C partition? I'm thinking of course of maintaining the recovery
partition.
It should not matter whether I have recovery discs (which I do), I'm
curious for an answer to the question. Why? I tested the disc when I
made it, but the next time I put it in the tray, maybe it won't be good.
I want to maintain the recovery partition.

You can choose to upgrade, or to do a Custom install. If you do a
Custom install then the entire *partition* gets wiped.

However, the other's comments are very relevant in that even if the
recovery partition is left intact, if it requires a special bootloader
then it may not be usable.

Note that only some recovery partitions use odd bootloaders, others are
accessible from the BIOS directly, so this may not be an issue.

Dave, thanks for the info. I have a better understanding of it now. How
can I determine whether or not the recovery partition is accessable from
the BIOS? It is my intention to test Win 7 to decide whether or not I
want to upgrade, and then revert back to Vista.

When you install Win 7, it will only install on the C: drive and will
asked to be wiped out before installation. The other partitions
including the recovery partition will not be touched unless you delete
them.


--
bruce2

If you find some one's post helpful, please click the scales to give
rep.

Rick Rogers wrote:
Hi,

In nearly all cases, the bootloader on the drive is modified by the
manufacturer so that the user can access the recovery volume on demand.
This has nothing to do with the system BIOS. If you install another OS,
the boot sector will be modified by it and you will no longer have
access to the recovery volume. Should you ever need to use it, you will
need to contact the manufacturer for assistance (and likely have to pay
for it) as the method of getting access back varies greatly.

Rick,

Understood, and thank you. Does this mean that the recovery disc would
be unusable also?

Dave T.

bruce2 wrote:
When you install Win 7, it will only install on the C: drive and will
asked to be wiped out before installation. The other partitions
including the recovery partition will not be touched unless you delete
them.


Thanks for the info Bruce.

Dave T.

Rick Rogers wrote:
The recovery volume will not be touched, but the bootloader used to
access it will be, rendering it useless as you won't be able to access it.

Win7 will call whatever volume it installs to as C:\, it does not have
to be the existing C:\ drive. In fact, if C:\ is left intact and Win7 is
installed to an alternate volumet, it will actually be relettered when
Win7 is booted.


Rick, thanks for all the info. If I read it all right, dual booting
would be the better way to go, correct?

Dave T.