Question Made a mess of Windows install - how to fix?

[davidbenpark]

Windows on the E drive got corrupted, so I installed Windows on the C drive and wiped the E drive intending to move Windows back to the E drive later. But I made a a mess of it. The EFI and Recovery partitions are still on the E drive while Windows system files are on the C drive, and I'm not sure if those partitions are being used by the install on the C drive.

I want to just wipe everything on C and E and install Windows on E. What's the best way to proceed? I've made my bootable USB already.

Any help appreciated!

 

[COLGeek]

Why are you moving Windows from its default C Drive location?

 

[Lutfij]

You install the OS on the drive you intend to work off of, there's no point moving your OS from one drive to the next. It's akin to you moving your dining table under the shower and having dinner while the shower is running.

Are you working with one physical drive with multiple partitions?

 

[davidbenpark]

Why are you moving Windows from its default C Drive location?

You install the OS on the drive you intend to work off of, there's no point moving your OS from one drive to the next. It's akin to you moving your dining table under the shower and having dinner while the shower is running.

Are you working with one physical drive with multiple partitions?

The confusion is totally down to me not being very clear. Apologies. I'm not very tech savvy.

• The E drive is my best drive - a 1tb M.2 SSD
• The C drive is just my basic SSD drive for gaming

I had Windows on the E drive, but it got corrupted somehow and I couldn't recover it, so I just installed a second instance of Windows on the C drive then tried to wipe the E drive. However, I seem to have done the second installation wrong and there's an EFI partition and Recovery Partition still on the E drive and I'm a bit confused about what that means.

I just want to wipe the gaming SSD (C drive) and the 1tb M.2 SSD (E drive), then do a fresh install on the E drive, but I'm not sure the best way to go about this to make sure I don't end up creating another mess.

Sorry if I'm making this much more complicated that it needs to be!

 

[COLGeek]

You are perceiving C and E incorrectly.

Follow this guide: https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/windows-10-clean-install-tutorial.3170366/

Wipe all existing partitions and select the desired drive for Windows to reside. That will become the C: drive.

Be sure to disconnect the SATA SSD (your basic one) when installing Windows, to prevent any installer confusion.

 

[davidbenpark]

You are perceiving C and E incorrectly.

Follow this guide: https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/windows-10-clean-install-tutorial.3170366/

Wipe all existing partitions and select the desired drive for Windows to reside. That will become the C: drive.

Be sure to disconnect the SATA SSD (your basic one) when installing Windows, to prevent any installer confusion.

Took me a few weeks to getting around to fixing this, but it's all fixed now with your advice. Thanks!

 

[COLGeek]

Took me a few weeks to getting around to fixing this, but it's all fixed now with your advice. Thanks!

Glad to hear it. Have fun!