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Clean Reinstall (XPS 17 & Win 7 Prof)
I just bought a new XPS 17 with Windows 7 Professional. When I buy a new laptop I always like to remove all pre-installed software and reformat the hard drive to 2 partitiions: 1 for the OS and 1 for my data. When looking at the factory configuration of my new XPS 17, I see there is a 102 MB OEM partition, a 14.65 GB recovery partition, and the other 451 GB is for everything else on C:
In the past I would just book to the XP cd, re-partition and format the new drives, then install Windows on the C: partition, leaving D for the data. I'm not sure where to even start with this new configuration. Does anyone have any pointers?
ejn63
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April 3rd, 2011 11:00
I would suggest doing nothing for a while until you verify the system works correctly. If you reconfigure the system and have to call for support, you could well find yourself in for a round of finger pointing - or end up having to pay for software support. That lasts only 90 days anyway - and only covers the system as installed by Dell.
Once you're convinced your system is running correctly, you can install any way you'd like. The restore partition will be useless thereafter, so you can remove it and partition as you like. It is a good idea to leave the small OEM partition in place - that is the Dell diagnostics, which you may someday need in case of hardware failure.
ejn63
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April 3rd, 2011 19:00
The process is the same. Just be sure your system is working before you do the job, and that you back up the c:\dell directory (it contains all the drivers you'll need to install).
Manual installation instructions:
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/detectos?type=force&lx=179256&lv=339949&l7=362048
expinch
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April 3rd, 2011 19:00
How difficult is re-partitioning and re-installing Win 7? I'm used to doing it with XP but obviously Win 7 is different.