[Official] XPS M1330 Windows 7 x64 Thread [Official]

Hi guys,

I created this thread with the intention of grouping all who have, or in the process, or are planning to upgrade to Windows 7 x64 for the XPS M1330.

Personally I'm currently on Vista Ultimate x86 (because it's a Product Red) and I'm entitled to a free Windows 7 Professional x64 license from my school. I've read that it's not possible to upgrade directly from higher-to-lower (in terms of level of OS). Like for mine I'd only be able to upgrade directly if I had a Windows 7 Ultimate license.

Hence for my case, I would like to seek the advice from the helpful fellas here on my upgrade (sequence) options.

Currently I have 2 partitions, as per default. C drive as OS and main partition of 285GB and D drive as RECOVERY of 9.99GB.

Questions:
1) If I were to install Windows 7 on a newly created partition, ie. F drive (as my DVDRW is on E drive now), would I be able to format my C drive (after backing up data from it) and turn it into a storage drive?

2) If 1) is possible, should I partition F drive to 20-25GB as the norm capacity for Windows 7 OS installation, or should I allocate more space? (I'm asking this because I've never done an OS-only partition + Data-only partition in any computer I own because I don't see the usefulness of it LAST TIME.

3) If I had an OS partition in F drive, 20-25GB, and the Data partition on C drive (after formatting Vista), would I be able to swap these 2 drive letters so C drive becomes my Windows 7 OS Drive and F drive becomes my Data drive?

4) If that's the case, would I still be needing D drive (RECOVERY), or can I format->delete it?

5) Having 20-25GB in C drive, assuming I've swapped F drive with C drive, where would I be installing my applications? Do I need to install applications into the OS drive or can I install it in the Data drive? Because if it were the case that applications NEED to be installed into the OS drive, I'd need to allocate a little more space in now-C drive, right?

 

up for advice.

 

An idea...these questions could easily pertain to any Dell system: how about a thread for Dell premium laptops on Windows 7?

If you do a clean install, Windows automatically creates a backup of your current Windows installation. Backup as in browsable files, not as booting up to.

1) Yup. Be careful with your terminology, though. You meant the C: partition, right? You wouldn't want to format the entire drive.

2) Windows takes up a hefty amount of space. I don't exactly what 7 takes, but after updates and restore points, Vista was closer to 35GB of usage on my Windows-only partition.

3) Yeah, drive letter switching is possible.

4) That recovery image is of your system when it shipped. The backup Windows makes with a new install is basically a browsable folder on your hard drive of what your C:/ used to be.

So, it goes like such:

C:/Windows.old/

And the folders inside here would be: DELL, Drivers, Intel, Program Files, Program Files (x86), Temp, Users, Windows: all from your previous installation. Make sense?

From my Windows-only partition last time, this can get kind of confusing. Programs don't always let you choose where they install (most do) and some programs have some archaic features where they assume a drive location (like C:/Program Files/Program XYZ/lol.jpg) when yours is F:/Program Files/Program XYZ/lol.jpg and then Program XYZ will crap in your face.

TBH, why are you creating a data partition? There is a myth that you can just save your programs to another partition and then reinstall Windows as much as you want and all your programs will be there. IIRC, that doesn't work at all: too many "behind-the-scene" changes are there that a program does to Windows: Registry is what comes to mind.

~Ibrahim~

 

oh... but i'd rather not have my old system files in existence. i find them quite an eyesore. i understand ur answers for 1-4 but how about 5 regarding the applications? do i have to install it in the Windows 7 partition or can i install them in another data partition? coz if the former, i'd have to allocate much more space to the Windows 7 partition. :/

 

I think there have been a few threads on M1330 & Win7 x64:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=363302
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=435485

If I were you, I would backup your personal data onto a second disc and then completely reformat your drive. You only really need two partitions (C & D drive) with OS/Apps on one and the other for personal data. Unlike ikjadoon I do subscribe to the data drive although I keep this for my music, films, OS drivers and other non-application specific data. The reason I do this is that if I need to rebuild my machine I can reformat my C drive without affecting some core data that I need to rebuild my machine with (aka drivers). I suppose I could move these onto a blank DVD or my NAS but I like to have my data on one machine. I appreciate that there will always be personal data on the C: drive but I use a backup application to regularly back this up onto my NAS.

I guess your other option is to buy a brand new drive for your M1330. I did just this and bought an Intel SSD. I have been so happy with it as my laptop just flies now and don't think I will ever go back to a magnetic drive for my OS again.

Size wise, I created a 60gb C: partition for Win7 OS and Apps as I had a 40gb for Vista x86 and only had about 6gb free when I rebuilt my machine. I think I have about 30gb of free space currently...but then I have not installed all the rubbish I used to have........yet. The remaining 100gb D: is for my personal data.

 

Almost forgot....if you do ever go for an SSD, then I would disable the turbo memory module in BIOS as it will offer no better / noticeable performance gane over an SSD.

Edited:
In answer to your question, you really want to install your applications in the same partition as your OS and I would add some extra space for good measure as Win7 will use some drive space for temp files and virtual memory...etc.

 

appreciate the inputs from both of you, really helps me clarify stuff.

johns: ok understood the part about OS+apps. what would be a good gauge to increase the 20-25GB up to for the OS partition for apps? right-click on program files and check the amount of data used there and ++ a bit? heh. how's your 60GB OS partition coming along?

 

I would definitely not go for an OS / App partition of less than 40gb as the 64 bit versions of the OS are a little bigger than the 32bit version. I guess it depends how many applications you need to install with your OS. How much space does your current build take up? 60gb was ok for me but I probably could have stuck with the 40 or 50Gb and still had 10gb to play with. Having said that I guess I have plenty of scope for installing other stuff if necessary.

As confirmed above I am currently using about 30gb and have Windows 7 x64, MS Security Essentials, Office 2003, Nokia OVI, Logitech Harmony, ImgBurn, Anydvd, and some other minor apps.

 

right-clicking on my Program Files folder shows me 22.2GB of space used... hmm... i'm pretty much sure i won't be needing anymore than 5GB from this benchmark. :/

 

@smjohns

See, that I can understand. It sounds very reasonable to me. I would just be afraid that some silly day I'd forget about the partitions and just wipe the old drive when I'm reinstalling, lol. Whatever floats your boat.

Right, I would definitely allocate over 50GB for a Windows + Applications partition. I use a lot of programs, though, so maybe not so much for you.

Benchmark?

 

benchmark referring to the figure that i have 22.2GB in my Program Files folder currently on Vista Ultimate. so i'm guessing i shud allocate 60GB?