Windows 7 I Deleted All My Partitions (All Files Including OS) In Windows 7 Disk Utility.

[Clickeee]

I Upgraded My Windows7 Starter To Ultimate Recently And Everything Was Going Fine, But I Wasn't Happy With The Disk Space Because I Had Ubuntu As Second OS And I Wanted More Space For Win7. ( Ubuntu Was In The same Partition As Win7 C: ). I Searched For Ways Of Increasing The Size Of The Partition But I Didn't Understood Them So I Deleted Ubuntu. The Space Wasn't Recovered (Unallocated Space) So I Still Searched For Ways Of Making The Partition Size Bigger And i Found a Way That Said If You Right Clicked The Gray Square Of Disk Utility And Click a Phrase That i Don't Remember You Can Show the "Resize" Option Of the Partition.i Did That and i Received a Notification Dialog That Said That Said That If i Do That All The Partitions (OS's, Files, And Drivers) Would Be Deleted And I Like A DUMB Clicked "Ok" At Next Restart There Was No Boot Manager, The Boot Just Loaded Again And Again. So I Installed Ubuntu Using a Bootable USB (Current OS) And There Was No "Install Alongside Other OS" Option. I Tried To Run Windows 7 Setup Again Using a Bootable USB, But I Get Stuck at The Part That You Must Select The Drivers Needed So Windows Could Read The Partitions. I Have The CD With The Drivers But i Have a Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 Netbook With No CD Drive So i Downloaded All The Drivers That the Factory Installs From Dell.com And Saved It on A USB But the Windows 7 Setup Doesn't Recognize The Drivers, It Only Recognize The USB But Not It Contents(Drivers).
Please Help Me, I Want To Keep Using Windows 7 And All Programs i Need Windows But It Seems Like Ubuntu Is My Only Option.

 

[Andrea Borman]

First of all,I would never advise anyone to alter or change their hard disks,let alone delete partitions. I have a Netbook and it has got 3 partitions put there by the makers of my computer HP. These are C which is the main harddrive that hold all of the program files and data. D which is the recovery partition that is there so you can restore your computer back to factory settings. And this will re install your original version of Windows,in my case Windows 7 starter. And then E HP tools where the HP promoitional program files are stored this drive is still there but now empty. As I have uninstalled most of the HP programs which were nothing important just HP quick web,and HP support assistant.

But for some reson HP the computer makers created a 3rd partion E and put their files there.Presumably so they would be easy to find,if you wanted to install these optional programs,which I don't. But that E drive only has 95 MB free but it is in reality part of C drive and marked HP tolls so you cannot delete it. The D drive is the recovery partition of C drive and is also part of C drive but just split up. But if you look on C drive which is your hard drive you will also find recovery D drive on there. And you must not alter or delete this or even touch your recovery partition or you will mess up your computer.

I too think it is silly that the E partition is not just merged together with my C drive but HP built my laptop not I and I have been told this cannot be changed and the E drive must stay where it is even though it is empty. As to alter or delete it would mess up C drive and my computer as it is in reality part of C drive and the E partition is created by HP the makers. I have an HP Mini 210 Netbook and I also have bought a newer model recently. Also HP Mini 210 but this model although it is a 1GB netbook too,this only has 2 Drives,C and D not E. So on the newer model I have just bought,HP have just put their files on C drive but have not created a second copy on a 3rd partion. Like they did on my older netbook,thats why there is no E drive on my new one I just bought.

And there is a lot more space on my new Netbook than on my old one. My new Netbook has got 199GB free space on C drive and my old Netbook has 124GB space on it's C drive. On the old one if the makers of my laptop had merged E drive with C it probably would have had more C drive space. But as the space on E drive is only 99Mb thats MB not GB there would not be much more space on c drive anyway,if it could be merged with C which I was told it can't be. So that's that I guess.

But regarding your problem,you do not need to alter or partion your disks in order to install Linux or Ubuntu. You could have just done what I did and installed it on virtual clone drive,which you just download from the Internet. And then download the Linux ISO Cd file from the website. Then mount it on the clone drive and the Windows installer finishes the installation. Select install inside Windows and you can select how much GB installation sise you want. By default it's 17GB but you could select,say,10Gb if you want to during the installation.

You can also install Linux by boooting from a CD or USB stick and none of these installations involve partitioning your hard disk. So you did not have to even tough your hard drive. You should have just done the Linux installation only and not touched your hard disks. Well,I would not any way.

I too would like more space on my Netbooks but it is better to have less space than no computer and that's what would happen if I started altering or partitioning the hard drive. And I do not know how to do this anyway,I do not have any experience in this field.

But I do think that you should never have touched your hard drive and should have just left it as it was and installed Linux,the same way I did. This way you still have Windows and you are a lot safer and you can just uninstall Linux again. Through windows if you do not like it. You can also choose to install Linux as your only operating system to replace Windows. This can be done from a CD or USB installation and again none of this involves partitioning your hard drive.

But I say again that you should not touch your hard drive or creat partiotions yourself unless you realy know what you are doing. As that will mess up your computer. And on Windows 7 they do have a setting in control panel that lets you do this. But I think this needs to be removed from Windows. As ordinary computer users like mysefe and other people should not be allowed to do this,even if they are an administrater and have an administater account,like I do. Because only a proffessional computer technition can do this. Not you or I.

I feel realy sorry that you have this problem on your computer and I hope you get it sorted out. But I advise you next time you install Linux,just install it like I did. But do not partition your hard disk and you won't go wrong. Andrea Borman.

 

[Highwayman]

Umm I agree to a point, however the part I struggle to grasp is why the windows installer even has issues seeing partitions at all, I mean Windows 7's installer is one of the most simple ever and even has a very straight forward utility built in to erase and format and partition BEFORE you even install anything, not too difficult with a little forsight about expected uses of the space you have available.

As for the drive snap in tool, it again is in my view an essential application, I use it for all sorts of tasks, although to be fair I've never felt the need to resize a partition during use, I tend to do mine before installing windows, which I do often as a system builder.

As for the USB installer problem, what you need to do is get the tool that formats the USB drive as a bootable device, copy the windows installer to that using a friends pc and run direct from the usb pendrive, assuming theres not a partition recover drive with said installer available.

the usb tool itself can be found here Link Removed - Invalid URL

further reading on that topic here Boot From A USB Flash/Pen/Key Drive

 

[stueycaster]

I Upgraded My Windows7 Starter To Ultimate Recently And Everything Was Going Fine, But I Wasn't Happy With The Disk Space Because I Had Ubuntu As Second OS And I Wanted More Space For Win7. ( Ubuntu Was In The same Partition As Win7 C: ). I Searched For Ways Of Increasing The Size Of The Partition But I Didn't Understood Them So I Deleted Ubuntu. The Space Wasn't Recovered (Unallocated Space) So I Still Searched For Ways Of Making The Partition Size Bigger And i Found a Way That Said If You Right Clicked The Gray Square Of Disk Utility And Click a Phrase That i Don't Remember You Can Show the "Resize" Option Of the Partition.i Did That and i Received a Notification Dialog That Said That Said That If i Do That All The Partitions (OS's, Files, And Drivers) Would Be Deleted And I Like A DUMB Clicked "Ok" At Next Restart There Was No Boot Manager, The Boot Just Loaded Again And Again. So I Installed Ubuntu Using a Bootable USB (Current OS) And There Was No "Install Alongside Other OS" Option. I Tried To Run Windows 7 Setup Again Using a Bootable USB, But I Get Stuck at The Part That You Must Select The Drivers Needed So Windows Could Read The Partitions. I Have The CD With The Drivers But i Have a Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 Netbook With No CD Drive So i Downloaded All The Drivers That the Factory Installs From Dell.com And Saved It on A USB But the Windows 7 Setup Doesn't Recognize The Drivers, It Only Recognize The USB But Not It Contents(Drivers).
Please Help Me, I Want To Keep Using Windows 7 And All Programs i Need Windows But It Seems Like Ubuntu Is My Only Option.

You should be able to get your Windows Basic installation back by doing what it says to do here.

[Dell Laptops] Restore factory settings

Then you can run your upgrade again. Never install 2 operating systems in the same partition. If you plan to dual boot they have to be in separate partitions.

 

[Clickeee]

Thank You So Much For Your Opinions and Facts, Thats Right Its Better Have Lees Space Than No Computer But I Was Ignorant and Didn't Know What i Was Doing.
Thank You For Your Answer.
Regards. Take Care.

 

[Clickeee]

Umm I agree to a point, however the part I struggle to grasp is why the windows installer even has issues seeing partitions at all, I mean Windows 7's installer is one of the most simple ever and even has a very straight forward utility built in to erase and format and partition BEFORE you even install anything, not too difficult with a little forsight about expected uses of the space you have available.

As for the drive snap in tool, it again is in my view an essential application, I use it for all sorts of tasks, although to be fair I've never felt the need to resize a partition during use, I tend to do mine before installing windows, which I do often as a system builder.

As for the USB installer problem, what you need to do is get the tool that formats the USB drive as a bootable device, copy the windows installer to that using a friends pc and run direct from the usb pendrive, assuming theres not a partition recover drive with said installer available.

the usb tool itself can be found here Link Removed - Invalid URL

further reading on that topic here Boot From A USB Flash/Pen/Key Drive

Thank You For Your Answer But i Deleted Accidentaly ALL The Partitions And i Don't Have BootMGR The Dell Loading Screens Just Loads and Get Back To The Loading Screen.
So i Don't Have Any Chance of Seeing The F8 Menu Or Anything Else.
Thanks, Regards

 

[Clickeee]

Umm I agree to a point, however the part I struggle to grasp is why the windows installer even has issues seeing partitions at all, I mean Windows 7's installer is one of the most simple ever and even has a very straight forward utility built in to erase and format and partition BEFORE you even install anything, not too difficult with a little forsight about expected uses of the space you have available.

As for the drive snap in tool, it again is in my view an essential application, I use it for all sorts of tasks, although to be fair I've never felt the need to resize a partition during use, I tend to do mine before installing windows, which I do often as a system builder.

As for the USB installer problem, what you need to do is get the tool that formats the USB drive as a bootable device, copy the windows installer to that using a friends pc and run direct from the usb pendrive, assuming theres not a partition recover drive with said installer available.

the usb tool itself can be found here Link Removed - Invalid URL

further reading on that topic here Boot From A USB Flash/Pen/Key Drive

What Does The Download Does ?

What i Did Is a Bootable USB With The Windows Installer Setup and Tried To Install Windows, But i get Stuck When i Try To Select The Partition To Where Install Windows, There are No Partitions(or Windows Doesn't Recognizes Them) So i Get a Error Window That Says That i Need Drivers So Windows Can Recognize The Partitions And It Gives Me the Option To Browse a Driver Source Media So i Saved The Original Inspiron Mini Drivers But Windows Doesn't Show The Drivers.

 

[Andrea Borman]

I am sorry that you have not been able to resolve your problem after you deleted the partitions of your hard drive. When I said it is better to have less space than to mess about with the hard drives and have no computer at all. I was talking about myself. To be honest I do not have a clue or any knowledge of how to partition a hard disk. And although I have done many things to improve my laptops,these things were just installing new web browsers and upgrading Windows. That is using the anytime upgrade service to upgrade from Windows 7 starter to Home Premium or Ultimate and downloading media players VLC player. But that is not really a high tech computer skill.

All right I did learn from reading the How To Geek website how to use virtual clone drive and install Linux Mint. And I did remove Internet Explorer web browser from my 3 Netbooks (I bought another one 2 days ago.) I uninstalled Internet Explorer just by deleting the Internet Explorer or IE for short file in programs on C drive after I turned IE off in the "turn Windows features on or off setting." This did not effect my computer in any way nor did removing Windows Media player,which I have replaced with VLC player instead of WMP.

But to partition the hard disk,that's a different story.I have no idea how to do this and i do not even want to try. Because if I did i am sure I would mess up my computer for good. It is just not worth taking that risk.

I know there is a setting or service in control panel on Windows 7 that lets you partition your hard disk but I would never use it. I have an administrator account on Windows. But I think that Windows should not allow any user to partition or change or delete their hard disks. And Windows needs to remove this dangerous feature now,so that other Windows user do not damage their computers. It does not matter if they are a user,administer or have an administer account. This feature needs to be removed so that NOBODY can partition or alter or do anything to their hard disks. Because there are computer repair shops with computer engineers,who build and repair computers who are trained to do this and have the equipment for this. But it is not some thing any ordinary computer user should be doing.

I have an administrator account but that does NOT make me a computer engineer. It just means that you can download web browsers and software from the internet and change computer settings and set up different accounts for other people to log into your computer. And that you do not have passwords to log in or change computer settings if you are the only user. But that is all being an administrator is. But this service that Windows has that lets you partition and delete your hard disks needs to be stopped by Windows. And Windows should not allow it.

I have an empty E disk partition but that was not put there by me.It was created by HP my laptop makers,so they could store their promotional software files on there separate from the main program files. But since I have now uninstalled all of these programs as I use Windows software to update and scan my computer not HPs. So the E drive is now empty.So I too think it would be better merged with my C drive instead of on a separate partition.

When I bought my Netbooks I took out tech support which means I can get my laptops repaired and get tech help over the phone or in the shop if some thing went wrong. I spoke to them and they said they may be able to merge E drive with c drive but they was not sure.

But my E drive says HP tools so maybe they cannot. But they told me they have the equipment to do it but would have to see the laptop first. But they did not advise me to merge the drives myself. I won't do this anyway as I do not want to take a chance that some thing could go wrong. After all,if you remove your hard disk dater your computer is out of action and will no longer work.

I suggest you contact one of the more experienced forum members for advice on how to fix this problem. But I think you need to take your computer in for repairs where they can reinstall Windows for you.

But regarding the hard disk space. Well,I have a Netbook and I have about 124GB disk space on C drive which is quite a lot.And I install software and web browsers from the Internet but these take up very little space. In addition to that I record and save webcam videos and this too uses little space. So the chances are you have a lot more space than what you think you have got. And you would have to install thousands of web browsers and save millions of videos before you would fill up your hard drive. And I do not think many people would do that,or get to a point where the hard drive is absolutely full. Andrea Borman.

 

[stueycaster]

Can you tell us how you deleted your partitions? Did you go into Administrative Tools - Computer Management - Disk Management?

In there there should have been a small partition named something like "System Reserved". It would have been the smallest one. Did you delete that one too? If you didn't then you can probably still save your computer. Go to the link I mentioned in my previous post. It will tell you how to reset your computer back to like new condition.

If you did delete that one too then you'll need to reinstall from USB or let Dell fix it.

 

[Andrea Borman]

I do not understand why anybody who is thinking of installing Linux wants to partition their hard drive at all. I installed Linux Mint alongside Windows in the past. And I did this by mounting it on virtual clone drive which you can get here Link Removed and then downloading the ISO Cd file from the Linux Mint website and then the Mint 4 windows installer finished the installation.

Yes,it's true that this method installs Linux Mint alongside my Windows files on C/drive and that this way it can only be uninstalled in programs menu. On Windows but even though Linux Mint file is on the same drive in Windows with your other files,it is a separate operating system and is untouched by Windows. Until you decide to uninstall it yourself.

This is a far safer method of installing Linux than partitioning your hard disk,which you do not need to do. The restore your computer to factory condition recovery on your computer will put it back to the way it was before you bought it. On my laptops there is also a recovery option of minimum factory restore. This is where restore windows a clean re install and all the essential software needed to run it. This is what ever copy of windows your computer came with. So if your computer came with Windows 7 Starter like mine did,then that is what will be reinstalled. Even if you have upgraded to Windows 7 home Premium for example. Also the other software that will be re installed is Internet Explorer,Windows Media Player,Adobe flash player and other Windows drivers including wireless network drivers needed to run Windows but not the promotional software,for example HP or Dell products.

This is a good option if you do not want all of the branded tools of your manufacturer,like HPs Norton security or HP cloud drive for example. I wish I had looked at the recovery settings more closely on my first laptop and chosen minimum factory restore instead of full factory restore. Full factory restore puts back all of the software including your makers products Hps that was on there before you bought the laptop. And Minimal factory restore just re installs the original copy of Windows that was on your computer before you bought it with all of the vital Windows software need to run and use Windows,Internet Explorer,Windows Media Player,etc but not the branded software from your manufacturer.

And with my second laptop I chose the minimum factory restore,so i did not have to uninstall all of that unwanted HP software all over again,like I had to with the first laptop. Readers here will know I had to restore both Netbooks because a registry cleaner messed them up.

This recovery option would help you only if you had dater left on your computer. But if as you say you have deleted all of your hard disks or all dater leaving the hard disks blank,including the recovery partition. Then this will not help you. As there is no dater on the computer for it to read from.

Just what exactly has been deleted? Or are you not sure? There is some one here on this forum called Mike-please see this link in this post I wrote about my problem. Here Link Removed he may be able to help you and he can be contacted online through AIM Messenger and Skype. But I do not have an answer to this problem,except for if you do get your computer back- do not touch the hard drive. If you are not happy with the amount of space your laptop or Netbook has. Then you can either have it as it is or buy a new laptop that has a larger,say,3GB or 5GB hard drive space. Andrea Borman.

 

[Highwayman]

Blimey, every reply is an essay from you Andrea....lol

 

[Clickeee]

Can you tell us how you deleted your partitions? Did you go into Administrative Tools - Computer Management - Disk Management?

In there there should have been a small partition named something like "System Reserved". It would have been the smallest one. Did you delete that one too? If you didn't then you can probably still save your computer. Go to the link I mentioned in my previous post. It will tell you how to reset your computer back to like new condition.

If you did delete that one too then you'll need to reinstall from USB or let Dell fix it.

Yeaah Computer Management-Disk Utility and Right Clicked "Disk 0" and Pressed "Convert To Dynamic Disk"

 

[Clickeee]

Can you tell us how you deleted your partitions? Did you go into Administrative Tools - Computer Management - Disk Management?

In there there should have been a small partition named something like "System Reserved". It would have been the smallest one. Did you delete that one too? If you didn't then you can probably still save your computer. Go to the link I mentioned in my previous post. It will tell you how to reset your computer back to like new condition.

If you did delete that one too then you'll need to reinstall from USB or let Dell fix it.

Yeaah i Went To Computer Management- Disk Management and Right Clicked on "Disk 0" and Pressed "Convert To Dynamic Disk"

 

[fjgold]

I do not understand why anybody who is thinking of installing Linux wants to partition their hard drive at all...

Some of us know what we are doing.

Partitioning can be risky that is why a backup should be created.

Partitioning can be accomplished on a bare drive or one that has been borked like Clickees.

Since he already has a Ubuntu live USB he can perform partitioning tasks from that using Gparted.

This is a last resort to only be done if the restore partition is really gone.

Anyway after booting to the Live desktop go to system>administration>gparted and start Gparted.

Use Gparted to delete everything there and when complete use it to
create one NTFS partition to install Win 7 on.

The following tutorial should help.

GParted partitioning software - Full tutorial

When Win 7 is installed afterwards it should see that one partition and install normally.

It will overwrite the GRUB bootloader in the MBR and everything should be ok.


If the Ubuntu live USB you have doesn't have Gparted it can be installed
using Synaptic located at system>Administration>Synaptic Package Manager.
Open Synaptic and use the search box to locate gparted and install it.
Installing gparted doesn't require a reboot so it can be used without
rebooting the live session.

Most of the latest Ubuntu live releases contain gparted so you shouldn't
need to install it separately.

BTW: sorry for the mini essay Highwayman.

 

[stueycaster]

Some of us know what we are doing.


BTW: sorry for the mini essay Highwayman.

Lol. Good one dude.

Good answer. I've had very good results using GParted in the past.

I just need to know if my answer above is a good alternative if the recovery partition is still there. Or would it be better to edit partitions first.

 

[Andrea Borman]

I am sorry that your problem is not resolved but I am glad to see that other forum members who are more experienced than I are trying to help by advising you. Did you contact Mike who is a senior member of this forum on Skype and Aim Messenger live chat? He is online most of the time and I think it is worth contacting him on Skype and Aim live chat messenger,which you can download and use for free from the Internet. On another computer or a friends one if you can,as your own computer is still not working.

But I think that you need to take your computer in to a repair shop for a computer expert to fix it,as I do not think it can be fixed otherwise. You need someone to look at it in person and do the necessary repairs to try to get it working again. So I advise you to get an expert to look at it. That is what I would do if I was you. Let me and the others here on this forum know if you did get it fixed or not. Andrea Borman.

 

[Highwayman]

...not that there is anything wrong with a long reply

 

[fjgold]

Clickeee, I just reread your post # 13 and you say you converted your drive from basic to dynamic.
That is the reason your attempts to install Win 7 fail.
It is not supposed to be possible to install Windows on a dynamic volume.

Use the Ubuntu live USB to run Gparted and simply delete all partitions and then create a single NTFS partition using the tutorial
I linked to earlier.
Task #4 in the tutorial may be of help.
You would then create and format using the directions in the tutorial.
You might need to reboot your live USB before you can reformat your drive after performing task #4.

 

[Clickeee]

Thank You Guys i Manage Somehow To Install Windows 7 Ultimate Again, i Installed The Original Dell Inspiron Mini Drivers In Ubuntu Using Wine (i Think ) and Then Ran The Setup Of Windows In a Bootable USB and The Partitions Appeared i Deleted the Ubuntu Partition and Convert it To NFTS and Did a Bigger Windows Installation Partition and Now I'm Running Back Again Windows 7 Ultimate.
Thank You Guys For Your Cooperation and Solidary Feelings.
This Has Showed Me a Lesson To Not Mess With Windows Disk Utility.
Regards. Clickeee.

 

[fjgold]

Thank You Guys i Manage Somehow To Install Windows 7 Ultimate Again, i Installed The Original Dell Inspiron Mini Drivers In Ubuntu Using Wine (i Think ) and Then Ran The Setup Of Windows In a Bootable USB and The Partitions Appeared i Deleted the Ubuntu Partition and Convert it To NFTS and Did a Bigger Windows Installation Partition and Now I'm Running Back Again Windows 7 Ultimate.
Thank You Guys For Your Cooperation and Solidary Feelings.
This Has Showed Me a Lesson To Not Mess With Windows Disk Utility.
Regards. Clickeee.

Glad you got it sorted out Clickeee.
And you didn't need to take it to a repair shop and pay an "expert" to fix it.
Not sure what you mean about the drivers but Win 7 should have had most if not all drivers needed on the installer disk\USB flash.
I'm also not sure how you got Ubuntu installed in the same partition as your Window install, that shouldn't be possible since Ubuntu requires ext3 or another linux filesystem.