Best partition setup for my HDD and SSD? (with screencap of Win7 Disk management)

[ally0007]

I'm setting up a newly-acquired PC (HP Compaq 8200 Elite CMT). I have two internal storage devices: a 500gb HDD and a 128gb SSD. I plan to use the 500gb HDD for file storage, i.e. manually saved files. I'll reserve the SSD exclusively for the OS (Windows 7 Pro) and installed programs.

What is the best way to partition my drives? Below is a screencap of Windows7 Disk Management, showing the current configuration of the drives. Is this optimal? Both of these drives have had Windows installed on them in the past. I'm wondering if the installation of Windows has configured the partitions optimally, of if I should change anything. I see they are all 'primary' partitions (whatever that signifies). And I'm not sure what those small 100mb partitions are for...

Many thanks for any advice!

 

[jankerson]

It's fine the way it is.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Your OS is installed on HDD. That's quite opposite to optimal.

Clean everything and redo OS install. Disconnect HDD during install.

 

[jankerson]

That's what he plans on doing from what he posted.

 

[ally0007]

It's fine the way it is.

Many thanks!

 

[SkyNetRising]

Are you planning to reinstall OS?
If not, then current config is not fine.

 

[ss202sl]

Then he should back up data and blow away all the partitions and start over. he has a system partition on the HDD that is not needed since it will go on the SSD. The OS install will set the partitions on the SSD.

 

[ArtPog]

A quick question for the OP. Do you know how to use the Windows DiskPart utility?

 

[USAFRet]

1 drive, 1 partition.
Don't divide them up in any way beyond what Windows creates.

Install the OS on the 128GB SSD, with only that drive connected.
Later, reconnect the HDD, and wipe it of all existing partitions.

Install what you need, where you want it.

That 128GB SSD won't go far spacewise.
Read these:
Win 7 & 8: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1834397/ssd-redirecting-static-files.html
Win 8.1 & 10: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2024314/windows-redirecting-folders-drives.html

And this for Steam games:
Steam games location
In the steam client:
Steam
Settings
Downloads
Steam Library Folders
Add library folder

 

[ally0007]

Then he should back up data and blow away all the partitions and start over. he has a system partition on the HDD that is not needed since it will go on the SSD. The OS install will set the partitions on the SSD.

Thank you.

 

[ally0007]

A quick question for the OP. Do you know how to use the Windows DiskPart utility?

Sort of. :/ I tried to use diskpart yesterday to 'clean' the drive, after finding I could not install Windows7 on the drive (I kept getting a Windows Setup error message saying "Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration. Installation cannot proceed]"). Diskpart said it could not 'clean the drive. I wondered if that was because the drive is an SSD rather than a SSD.

I have not yet resolved the above error message. I did some googling and learned that updating my BIOS may be the solution.

 

[ally0007]

Are you planning to reinstall OS?
If not, then current config is not fine.

Yes, I am planning to reinstall the Windows7 to the SSD. Can you please clarify what is not fine about it?

BTW. I'm wondering if I have done something disastrous: I reformatted the 100mb EFI system partition on the SSD. Was that a mistake? After I did that, I learned that the partition *might* have contained essential firmware files or suchlike. Can anyone clarify?

 

[ally0007]

1 drive, 1 partition.
Don't divide them up in any way beyond what Windows creates.

Thanks; I am glad you said that, because I reformatted the 100mb EFI system partition on the SSD, and was worried that this might have been a mistake. (See my other post in this forum.)

Install the OS on the 128GB SSD, with only that drive connected.
Later, reconnect the HDD, and wipe it of all existing partitions.

Install what you need, where you want it.

That 128GB SSD won't go far spacewise.

I think it'll be fine for space, but thank you; I calculated my space needs based on my previous system (also Windows7 Pro), which I have been using for the past 7 years, and still had only used 42gb for the OS and installed programs. My saved files take up much more space, and will go on my 500gb HDD, with loads of room to spare.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Sort of. :/ I tried to use diskpart yesterday to 'clean' the drive, after finding I could not install Windows7 on the drive (I kept getting a Windows Setup error message saying "Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration. Installation cannot proceed]"). Diskpart said it could not 'clean the drive. I wondered if that was because the drive is an SSD rather than a SSD. I have not yet resolved the above error message. I did some googling and learned that updating my BIOS may be the solution.

Well. You're doing something wrong. It has nothing to do with drive being SSD or BIOS updates.

• 1. Disconnect HDD,
  2. Boot from windows installation media,
  3. Clean the SSD using diskpart
  4. Reinstall windows

Can you please clarify what is not fine about it?
I reformatted the 100mb EFI system partition on the SSD. Was that a mistake? After I did that, I learned that the partition *might* have contained essential firmware files or suchlike. Can anyone clarify?

Not fine - windows currently is installed on HDD (not SSD). EFI system partition contains bootloader (not firmware) and is necessary to boot OS.

 

[ally0007]

Well. You're doing something wrong. It has nothing to do with drive being SSD or BIOS updates.

• 1. Disconnect HDD,
  2. Boot from windows installation media,
  3. Clean the SSD using diskpart
  4. Reinstall windows

I tried to do this already, but diskpart reported it could not clean the drive, for some reason. I had already cleaned it using Eomei Partition Assistant, though. Re the suggested BIOS update, you may be right, but there is a thread somewhere, where a guy says he had several HP Compaq 8200 Elites that exhibited this same Windows Setup error message until he updated the ROMs on those machines...

Not fine - windows currently is installed on HDD (not SSD). EFI system partition contains bootloader (not firmware) and is necessary to boot OS.

Thanks for the clarification. Once I am able to complete Windows installation onto the SSD, the setup process will write appropriate bootloader into the EFI partition, will it?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Once I am able to complete Windows installation onto the SSD, the setup process will write appropriate bootloader into the EFI partition, will it?

Yes, it should (unless there's some exotic drive partitioning performed before).

 

[ally0007]

Once I am able to complete Windows installation onto the SSD, the setup process will write appropriate bootloader into the EFI partition, will it?

Yes, it should (unless there's some exotic drive partitioning performed before).

Thanks for that. Re the suggested BIOS update, you may be right, but there is a forum thread where a guy says he had several HP Compaq 8200 Elites (same PC that I have) which exhibited this same Windows Setup error message until he updated the ROMs on those machines. It's a comment by 'dereksmall2' here: https://tinyurl.com/ybb92rxb He wrote: "Updating the bios on my computer resolved this problem for me. I was having the issue on multiple HP 8200 elite desktops."

 

[ArtPog]

I'm really not at all certain at this point where things stand with your system, so the following suggestions may not be relevant to your current situation. But for what they may be worth, here they are...

1. All the following is based on your stated objective of making the 128 GB SSD your new boot drive and utilizing the 500 GB HDD as a secondary drive for storage purposes. That's what you desire, right?

2. Your first basic step, of course, is to reinstall the Win 7 OS onto the SSD. The SSD is devoid of data at this point.

3. Note the SSD is GPT-partitioned; I assume the 500 GB HDD is not. That should not pose a problem. But it might be best at this point to use DiskPart to delete the current EFI and F partitions on the SSD via DiskPart's "clean" command and then use Disk Management to initialize the drive to the MBR partitioning scheme. You needn't partition/format the SSD at this time; that will be taken care of when you fresh-install the Win 7 OS onto that drive.

You've indicated that you've used DiskPart in an attempt to "clean" the EFI partition currently on the SSD. Naturally the clean command will "clean" the entire disk, which is fine. Was the attempt successful in that you received a confirmation message from DiskPart?

4. So can we assume at this point that the SSD is uninitialized, unpartitioned/unformatted? Or have you since partitioned/formatted that drive to the MBR-partitioning scheme, (which I think is desirable) in this case.

5. Now you can reinstall the Win 7 OS onto the SSD. Since it previously held a licensed (we assume) copy of that OS there should be no licensing/activation problem. Ensure the HDD is disconnected from the system when you reinstall the Win 7 OS on the SSD.

6. After the Win 7 OS has been installed, boot to the SSD to ensure it boots to the OS without incident and properly functions. Only then should you reconnect the HDD to serve as a secondary drive in the system.

7. After the HDD has been installed it would be best to delete the 100 MB System Reserved partition. The likelihood is you will NOT be able to carry out the deletion with Disk Management. Give it a try, but it probably won't "fly". You'll have to use the DiskPart utility again to delete that partition. (The final DiskPart command to effect the deletion will be "delete partition override" (no quotes). You need that override flag (protocol) for the command to work.)

8. Now you're going to have to reinstall all (or virtually) of your programs that reside on the HDD. That will be the most onerous task of this entire operation.

 

[ally0007]

I'm really not at all certain at this point where things stand with your system, so the following suggestions may not be relevant to your current situation. But for what they may be worth, here they are...

1. All the following is based on your stated objective of making the 128 GB SSD your new boot drive and utilizing the 500 GB HDD as a secondary drive for storage purposes. That's what you desire, right?

2. Your first basic step, of course, is to reinstall the Win 7 OS onto the SSD. The SSD is devoid of data at this point.

3. Note the SSD is GPT-partitioned; I assume the 500 GB HDD is not. That should not pose a problem. But it might be best at this point to use DiskPart to delete the current EFI and F partitions on the SSD via DiskPart's "clean" command and then use Disk Management to initialize the drive to the MBR partitioning scheme. You needn't partition/format the SSD at this time; that will be taken care of when you fresh-install the Win 7 OS onto that drive.

You've indicated that you've used DiskPart in an attempt to "clean" the EFI partition currently on the SSD. Naturally the clean command will "clean" the entire disk, which is fine. Was the attempt successful in that you received a confirmation message from DiskPart?

4. So can we assume at this point that the SSD is uninitialized, unpartitioned/unformatted? Or have you since partitioned/formatted that drive to the MBR-partitioning scheme, (which I think is desirable) in this case.

5. Now you can reinstall the Win 7 OS onto the SSD. Since it previously held a licensed (we assume) copy of that OS there should be no licensing/activation problem. Ensure the HDD is disconnected from the system when you reinstall the Win 7 OS on the SSD.

6. After the Win 7 OS has been installed, boot to the SSD to ensure it boots to the OS without incident and properly functions. Only then should you reconnect the HDD to serve as a secondary drive in the system.

7. After the HDD has been installed it would be best to delete the 100 MB System Reserved partition. The likelihood is you will NOT be able to carry out the deletion with Disk Management. Give it a try, but it probably won't "fly". You'll have to use the DiskPart utility again to delete that partition. (The final DiskPart command to effect the deletion will be "delete partition override" (no quotes). You need that override flag (protocol) for the command to work.)

8. Now you're going to have to reinstall all (or virtually) of your programs that reside on the HDD. That will be the most onerous task of this entire operation.

Thank you very much for the detailed help. I will follow your suggestions and see if the Windows installation completes. Below: my responses to your points above:
(1) Yes, by objective is still the same.

(3) I did try to clean the SSD using diskpart, but it wouldn't do it. It told me "could not clean the drive". I don't know why. However, I had previously cleaned the drive using Aomei Partition Assistant. Is that equally viable?

(4) I didn't realise that an SSD had to be unformatted and un-partitioned before installing Windows7. I will now try that and report back. (It was formatted as NTFS, last time I tried, and it had that 100mb system partition too.)

 

[ArtPog]

Re (3)...That should be fine. The most likely reason DiskPart could not (or would not) clean the drive was because of the existence of the EFI partition. That partition would have first have to be deleted using the DiskPart command (after selecting the partition) "delete partition override". You would have needed the override "flag" (protocol) for the deletion command to be viable. But no matter, as long as the AOMEI Partition Assistant did the job it's fine.

Re (4)...It's actually unnecessary that the SSD be in a "virgin" state (unpartitioned/unformatted) prior to the installation of an OS. The only reason I mentioned it was to save you a step or two on the assumption that DiskPart did its work in "cleaning" the disk. (We frequently install an OS on a brand-new "virgin" drive without bothering to partition/format the drive - choosing to do so during the installation of the OS.) Generally it's six of one, a half-dozen of the other.

When you install the Win 7 OS onto the SSD that 100 MB System Recovery partition will be created. That's perfectly normal.

And just to reiterate...carry out the OS install with ONLY the SSD installed. Assuming all goes well and you have a bootable perfectly functional Win 7 OS, only then should you connect the HDD as a secondary drive in the system. And ensure you delete the 100 MB SR partition on the secondary HDD. You will need to invoke the DiskPart command that I mentioned above. ENSURE that you've selected the SR partition on the HDD and NOT on your boot drive.

Good luck and let us know how it all turns out.

P. S.
I'm assuming that the SSD has been initialized to the MBR-partitioning scheme.

 

[ally0007]

I'm assuming that the SSD has been initialized to the MBR-partitioning scheme.

Thank you for the clarifications. How do I initialize the drive (to the MBR-partitioning scheme)? I can't find a way to do it in Aomei or Win7 Disk Management. Does the drive need to have a volume and/or a partition and/or be formatted as NTFS, first?

 

[ArtPog]

As it stands now that 128 GB drive is presently unpartitioned/unformatted? Is that how it's shown in Disk Management while it's still a secondary drive in your system?

 

[ally0007]

As it stands now that 128 GB drive is presently unpartitioned/unformatted? Is that how it's shown in Disk Management while it's still a secondary drive in your system?

I just created a simple volume using Win7 Disk management. It is 119.24gb and NTFS and has been assigned drive letter F. It shows as a Primary Partition. I'm not sure if it is a 'secondary drive';

Then I converted it to MBR using Aomei, which now shows it as:

Does the disk now look suitable for installing Windows7? The drive has no bad sectors. Is "F" a suitable drive letter? I hope it will end up as "C:" after Windows is installed, and it becomes the booted drive.

 

[ArtPog]

No, it's fine. A "secondary" drive is simply a drive that is NOT the boot drive. Your present boot drive is, of course, the 500 GB HDD. So, for the moment, the 128 GB SSD is currently a secondary drive. Later, after you install the Win 7 OS onto the SSD the labels will be reversed, i.e., the HDD will become the secondary drive. That's all there is to it.

When in Disk Management you right-click on "Disk 0" (your SSD drive), a drop-down menu will appear with a number of options. Is one of the options "Convert to GPT Disk" (grayed-out)?

 

[ally0007]

No, it's fine. A "secondary" drive is simply a drive that is NOT the boot drive. Your present boot drive is, of course, the 500 GB HDD. So, for the moment, the 128 GB SSD is currently a secondary drive. Later, after you install the Win 7 OS onto the SSD the labels will be reversed, i.e., the HDD will become the secondary drive. That's all there is to it.

When in Disk Management you right-click on "Disk 0" (your SSD drive), a drop-down menu will appear with a number of options. Is one of the options "Convert to GPT Disk" (grayed-out)?

Yes, I just did this, as it happens. (Please see my previous reply to you, now amended with screencap of Aomei Partition manager, showing my drives). So now I will try installing Windows7 onto the SSD again, with fingers crossed! (I will disconnect the HDD during the op.) I'll report back if I still encounter problems with the installation. I much appreciate your help!