May 1st, 2009
Windows 7 setup secrets
Secret #4: Do a nondestructive clean install
I wrote about this technique more than two years ago, shortly after Windows Vista came out (see “Vista Hands On #2: A no-fuss, nondestructive clean install”). The same technique works in Windows 7.
When you instruct the Windows Setup program to do a custom install on a partition where Windows is already installed, it moves the old Windows, Program Files, and Users folders (or Documents and Settings, in the case of XP) to a folder named Windows.old. Your new installation creates a brand-new set of top-level folders on the current system drive: Windows (for system files), Program Files (for application files), and Users (for data associated with each user account on the system).
The advantage of this technique is most apparent on a system that has a single disk with a single partition and plenty of free disk space. You can get the advantages of a clean install without the risk of losing any data. Performing a non-destructive clean install gives you the fresh start you’re looking for, with your old data files safely ensconced in the Windows.old folder along with drivers, program files, and any program settings that are contained in files rather than the registry. You can no longer start up your old Windows installation, but you can copy any of the saved files from that folder to your new user profile whenever you’re ready.
To perform a nondestructive clean install, you can start Windows Setup from within Windows or boot from the Windows 7 DVD. Click through the Setup steps, choosing the Custom (Advanced) option, and then, in the list of available disk partitions, choose the one containing your current Windows installation. For most people, this will be drive C.
Click OK when you see the warning dialog box shown here:
Finish setup. Because you’re not doing an upgrade, the rest of the installation should proceed very quickly. When you start Windows 7 for the first time, you’ll see that all your data and program files from the previous installation are in the Windows.old folder. If you have any old data files to retrieve, you’ll find them in the Users folder (Windows Vista) or Documents and Settings (Windows XP), under your old user account name.
Secret #5: You need less disk space than you think
By modern standards, you don’t need a lot of disk space to install Windows 7. Microsoft’s published minimum hardware recommendations for the RC call for “16 GB of available disk space.” That is not, however, a hard-and-fast requirement. I installed Windows 7 Ultimate on a virtual machine with a 10 GB drive (9.9 GB formatted). When the installation was finished, I still had 3.95 GB of free disk space. That’s good news if your main drive is a smallish (16 GB or 32 GB) solid state drive.
On several recent clean installs here, I’ve observed that a full installation of Windows 7 Ultimate x86 uses anywhere from 6 to 9 GB of space. This is a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate in a virtual machine using the new Windows Virtual PC code, for example:
Obviously, that amount will go up when you install additional programs or create data files, but it’s an impressively small starting poiint. So, how big should the Windows 7 system partition be? The question is especially relevant if you’re setting up a dual boot system or partitioning a disk to move your data files to a separate drive.
In my experience, 15GB is a minimum size for the main Windows volume, but that will get tight sooner rather than later. If you can spare the disk space, I recommend setting aside at least 30GB.
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Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 05/01/09
