Bit the Bullet and Bought the Win7 64 bit HP Family Pack

[BobH]

I will be doing a complete reinstall of the OS and all my software. I'm seeking advice from you Win7 users.

I was wondering if any of you put the OS in its own hard drive partition and why? If so, do you then install all your programs in that partition or in a separate partition? How much space should be allowed to install Win7 Home Premium 64 bit? Does that include Program Files in the same partition?

I am going to try to run Win7 on a P4 processor. If I have problems, I expect them to be graphics card related.

I am planning for a system rebuild using the old ATX tower case. It has a 750W PSU, and will have 2 Western Digital HDDs with 1.5Tb. Cables and fans are all up to snuff.

Here is what I'm thinking so far. I would appreciate your feedback and suggestions.
1) I will stay with an Intel processor, probably a Core i5 Quad socketed for LGA1155.
2) I am undecided on a mobo. Of course the sockets will have to be right and I'd like to have the most RAM slots possible. Prices seem to be all over the ball park. I'm not a gamer but might do some video work. I would like for the architecture to support multiple GPUs. I would like to spend as little as possible.
3) I am undecided about GPUs. Again, prices seem to be all over the ball park. I would like to be able to load and edit old home-shot VHS tapes and burn them to DVD.

What considerations have I missed? I will have Win7 64 HP, a good case, a good PSU, good CD and DVD drives and good hard disk drives. I have plenty of good quality quiet fans.

TIA

[viking33]

I have WIn7 HP 64 as my current OS.
I do triple boot, Win 7, XP and WIn8 preview in separate partitions because of that. Prior to Win 7, I had XP on it's own partition with installed programs in their own "Programs" partition. That seemed to work well and it was with the thought that when I made my backup images with True Image, it would be faster and easier to restore just the OS, without all of the programs being involved.
Now that I've dumped Vista completely and use Win7 almost exclusively, I rarely use XP and have all of my working programs in the same partition as the 7 OS.
Images are bigger but not really a problem. I allowed 100gigs for all of that and still have plenty of spare room left. If necessary, I could move additional space to the 7 partition using Partition Master or Disk Director but it hasn't been necessary as yet.
I do have a separate partition for photos etc.
Install as much memory as the MB or your wallet will allow. Within reason of course.

[BobH]

Thanks, Bob!

[StuartR]

I always create two partitions, one for the OS and Applications, which I back up weekly, and one for data which I back up daily. This lets me do a complete restore of the environment without affecting any data files.

[John Gray]

On one of my PCs I triple-boot XP, W7 and W8RP, with a common Data partition which always appears as the D: drive for each OpSys.
Must say I haven't booted XP there for some time.

[BobH]

Well . . . I'm finally able to use my new system. I've not really done much yet because I ran into a situation installing Win7 that I've never encountered before (more later, below).

I am revisiting this thread I started a month ago because I now need more specific information about partitioning. I discovered that Win 7 has Disk Management and with it I've shrunk the partition that contains this OS down to about 250GB. In doing so, I created a new partition of about the same size.

I want the partition with the OS to contain it and all the programs and the other partition to contain all my data files, following the advice given above. What I don't yet understand is how to make that distinction in use.

Here is what I see when I display the contents of the C: drive where Win7 is installed.

Partitioning.png

Is the solution as simple as moving the Users directory to the new partition? Does the OS decide where data is stored or is that a function of each application? If the latter, can I set up a default to use the new partition and directory? I'd really like to get this resolved before I get too far along and have bunches and bunches of files to move around and options to change.

I think I might be over-thinking this a bit, but Win7 is taking a little getting used to.

TIA

As for the issue installing Win7, I purchased the Home Premium Family Pak that Amazon had on special about a month ago. It is an upgrade. That didn't concern me because when I've installed upgrade versions before - even on a freshly formatted disk - when the upgrade first was started it looked for a version of Windows already installed and, finding none, ask me to put in the older version CD. After playing that swap out game, I was able to install the upgrade.

This time, Win 7 didn't ask me to install an older version CD but when it came time to validate the Product Key, it told me that it was invalid. This about drove me nuts because I had to deal with microsoft customer support where there is an understanding problem - if not a language problem. It took me 4 different CSRs before I could make them understand that I was not having an "Activation" problem but a "Product Key" problem. Even then there was much consultation between the 4th rep and someone not on the phone.

Their solution was to tell me to ignore the Product Key entry and to proceed with the OS installation. Obviously, I did so; but I know that after 30 days I'm going to be told that I have to reinstall the OS. Looking at the microsofat (or MicrApple) web pages, there is much written about Product Key validation problems with Win7. The only resolution I could find was that I must install the old 32-bit WinXP Pro then reinstall Win7. It seems to me that there was a major screw up here by them and that have to go through 2 OS installs (and of course I'll have to swap out a CD to prove that I have an earlier version in order to install Win XP before I can install Win7.)

[StuartR]

The easiest way to move your data files is to add the external drive to the Windows 7 Libraries. You can then optionally remove the default locations from the libraries, but so long as the external drive is configured as the default save location this isn't too important.

Step1.png

[jonwallace]

As for the issue installing Win7, I purchased the Home Premium Family Pak that Amazon had on special about a month ago. It is an upgrade. That didn't concern me because when I've installed upgrade versions before - even on a freshly formatted disk - when the upgrade first was started it looked for a version of Windows already installed and, finding none, ask me to put in the older version CD. After playing that swap out game, I was able to install the upgrade.

This time, Win 7 didn't ask me to install an older version CD but when it came time to validate the Product Key, it told me that it was invalid. This about drove me nuts because I had to deal with microsoft customer support where there is an understanding problem - if not a language problem. It took me 4 different CSRs before I could make them understand that I was not having an "Activation" problem but a "Product Key" problem. Even then there was much consultation between the 4th rep and someone not on the phone.

Their solution was to tell me to ignore the Product Key entry and to proceed with the OS installation. Obviously, I did so; but I know that after 30 days I'm going to be told that I have to reinstall the OS. Looking at the microsofat (or MicrApple) web pages, there is much written about Product Key validation problems with Win7. The only resolution I could find was that I must install the old 32-bit WinXP Pro then reinstall Win7. It seems to me that there was a major screw up here by them and that have to go through 2 OS installs (and of course I'll have to swap out a CD to prove that I have an earlier version in order to install Win XP before I can install Win7.)

The article here http://winsupersite.com/article/windows ... dia-128512" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; covers your situation with 3 options (the first of which you tried and failed...). The registry hack looks to be the simplest, and the old "double install" trick the most involved.

[BobH]

Stuart and John - Thank you both very much!

First, I dealt with the Product Key and Activation issue as instructed in the Paul Thurrott article. I used the registry hack procedure and bob's yer uncle! Thank you, John! My searches did not turn up that article.

There is one statement in Thurrott's article that I must take exception to, however.

While I provide two workarounds for Windows 7 installs that will not activate, Microsoft's preference is that you simply call Microsoft Support instead. The call is free, and they will get you up and running (i.e. activated) very quickly.

This simply is untrue. I could not even make the dolts understand the nature of my problem or the error message I was receiving.

I shall make the changes to the Windows Libraries to get my data on another drive. Thank you, Stuart.

It's a certainty that I will have other questions as I learn more about Win7. It is a great comfort to know that I can come here and receive such kind, generous, knowledgeable and helpful advice.