TUTORIAL: Windows 7 and Windows 10 together with Linux - Quick restore and optimize

[cannie]

Modified paragraphs 3 (to simplify the process) and 5 (to include system image managing).

Best wishes

cannie

Edited September 11, 2010 by cannie

[sixcentgeorge]

your way of installing windows 7 is the same hp used with the touchsmart . i find it good but not that much .

first i prefer to have the first partition being at 2 Go and formated with fat16 .

second after installing windows 7 , is to create a grub4dos entry in the boot menu

third is to install the win98 boot files to be able to update the bios

then may be add to the grub menu some linux or bartpe iso image to do backup of the second partition onto the third

[cannie]

1.- your way of installing windows 7 is the same hp used with the touchsmart.

2.- have the first partition being at 2 Go and formated with fat16, installing windows 7, install the win98 boot files to update the bios, iso imagadd some linux or bartpe to do backup of the second partition onto the third

As usual, I divide your post in parts for a better answer:

1.- Windows 7 is a very special OS: it creates an special boot partition when installed first into an unallocated space. So methods must also take it into account. No connection at all between Touchsmart from HP and this humble tutorial, made as a completion of a previous work for Win98 and XP that you can find in the Windows 98 thread of this forum.

2.- Yours is also a valid option if your machine allows you to do all that. But there are a lot of difficulties when you try to install Linux or any previous version of Windows into new computers running preloaded Windows 7 64 bits, and even to run most linux or bartpe CDs. Because of this impossibility it is even more important than ever to install an easy working clone to replace the original: no problem of drivers or incompatibilities of any kind, and a single and simple install and update procedure.

Best wishes

cannie

[cannie]

Text has been modified to include paragraph 4.4.

HTH

Edited October 18, 2010 by cannie

[cannie]

Paragraphs 4.2 and 4.4 have been improved for better results.

HTH

Edited October 30, 2010 by cannie

[cannie]

Latest improvements:

Light text corrections, not affecting at all the contents of the tutorial .

HTH

Edited December 2, 2010 by cannie

[cannie]

Sorry for off topic but The Title must be HDD not HD

HOW TO OPTIMIZE Hard Disk Drive, not HOW TO OPTIMIZE High Definition

HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR HDD FOR WINDOWS 7

Even when I modified the title of the tutorial after reading your post, the whole text has been reviewed and the abbreviation HD has been changed into HDD just whenever it exactly matched the sense of the sentence.

Thanks for your suggestion.

cannie

[cannie]

Latest changes:

- A considerably improved new version replaces the old one.

Enjoy it!

Greetings.

Edited March 10, 2011 by cannie

[xpJohnson]

5.5.- REDUCE THE SIZE OF WINDOWS 7 BY DELETING UNNECESSARY FILES AND FOLDERS.-

- The Windows size can be considerably reduced by deleting the C:\winsxs\Backup subfolder.

- Use the "Search" option of "FreeCommander", copy this line "as is" into the search space and delete all results:

.log1;.log2;.pnf;.tmp;.bak;.evtx

I am having problems with this. I can't delete the files it finds. It says they are in use. Any ideas?

Also I noticed you removed the language files you were mentioning to delete as well. Should I keep those now?

Great guide, your last update is easier to follow now but I would still recommend the larger win2 partition. My install to backup is 13.3GB without the hiber and page file and I started with a 2.5GB slimmed version.

[cannie]

1 - I am having problems with this. I can't delete the files it finds. It says they are in use. Any ideas?

2 - Also I noticed you removed the language files you were mentioning to delete as well. Should I keep those now?

3 - ...25 GB....

Hi xpJohnson:

1.- Windows 7 uses many .lnk files connected to C drive into the drive root folder. If you copied any of them into the unactive unit it will redirect the search towards the current C unit. Delete all .lnk files at the drive root.

2.- Asian language files can of course be deleted using the line I included into the previous version of the tutorial. Nevertheless I deleted it because Windows 7 detects the changes, forcing you to activate again. I thought that even when I used it happily it could mean a problem for some users, so I've tried to avoid it.

3.- The 25 GB dimension is thought in order to make it possible a reinstall into the same drive using a copy of the install DVD kept into the same HDD by simply clicking on "Setup", which leaves the previous Windows 7 into a "Windows.old" folder, to be deleted manually. I have reconsidered the size of primary partition 3 and any logical unit to be used as drive C after detecting that the use of any other partition or logical unit to do the same does not work properly. This way the only possible install partition is the correct one. The 12 GB size is nevertheless considered as a minimum, and if you have space enough it is better to keep the 25 GB for any partition used as drive C because it considerably reduces fragmentation.

Gretings.

[cannie]

Empty (error).

Edited April 6, 2011 by cannie

[cannie]

... I can't delete the files it finds...

Great guide, your last update is easier to follow now but I would still recommend the larger win2 partition. My install to backup is 13.3GB without the hiber and page file and I started with a 2.5GB slimmed version.

Hi xpJohnson!

Taking into account your suggestions I've modified paragraph 5.5 for a better understanding of its contents, and also included at paragraph 6 the one about 25 GB size, including the needed advice to users to avoid problems coming from the use of Win2 to install the original Windows.

Thank you for your contribution.

cannie

Edited March 15, 2011 by cannie

[cannie]

Latest changes:

- Paragraph 4.5 has been improved to optimize copy booting.

Greetings.

Edited April 11, 2011 by cannie

[GREGZENG]

Uncertain why you think Linux & Grub are "optional". I have Super-os (Ubuntu improvement) on all my notebooks & Netbooks. Ubuntu opens & closes quicker than Win7. It uses less HHD space, but is unreliable with Ms-NTFS-compressed partitions. All my data is on NTFS-compressed partitions - quicker access for environmentally responsible computer users.

Generally I use Win7, but for virus, etc crashes, I rush to Ubuntu. If I'm doing "dangerous" web access (malware of all kinds), instead of having all the Windows anti-malware updated & on-duty, I'll use Ubuntu. Since Linux is so small, I also have two boot-up versions of Ubuntu, for the same reason you have two bootups of Windows.

From your post now, I'll try dual boots of Win7-Enterpriseon my one terabyte notebook now. Thank for your post. Pity i discovered it so late.

For a few decades. I've been a registered user of the world's best-ever file manager: Servant Salamander. It also operates (under WINE) in Ubuntu. So it of course can easily do what you freeware file browser can do. Making tutorials of the Salamander soon, as I get time.

[cannie]

- Uncertain why you think Linux & Grub are "optional".

Hi GREGZENG:

When you install Windows 7 into a non assigned space at the beginning of the HDD, as explained, Windows gets installed into Primary Partition 2 while Primary Partition 1 contains the bootmanager, just a Microsoft's version of Grub. The whole tutorial is based on this.

What I consider to be of course also a valid option is the use of other Grub versions instead of it.

Being this work a live collection of new ideas and experiences, I rewrote the tutorial using Linux KNOPPIX as basic file manager to create the cloned unit instead of the more hazardous and difficult procedure previously used.

Any new idea to make things better will always be welcome.

Best wishes.

cannie