Windows 7 on a 1720

I have recently downloaded Windows 7 beta from MS and have my OS DVD's in the mail from Dell... now here is my problem.

I have the 3 partitions that came with my 1720 from the factory. OS C:, DATA D:, RECOVERY E: I am not interested in messing that up as my vista ultimate runs great. I am VERY interested in test driving Win7 and doing a little bug hunting in my spare time. Now what I would like to do I am not sure is possible.

I currently have Vista 32 installed and would like to dual boot Windows7 64 on the DATA drive. I've heard about removing the primary drive and installing on whatever is left then using the BIOS to determine which drive to boot from. Would this work on my Inspiron? It seems like an Ideal solution. I can make a nice partition on the D using partition magic or something and format that to whatever Win7 would like then use, i think it's f12?, to determine which drive to boot from when i turn my computer on. I know laptops open a whole new world of quirks which is why I ask this question of you guys to see where my logic is flawed and if there is a way to get around that. I should have my Vista 32 and 64 disks by wednesday so hopefully a workable solution is found by then!

 

Just done this myself on my studio15.
Use the volume shrink tool to reduce your OS drive in size and create about 40g of free space. Format the created space as a new partion.
Boot from your win7 dvd and install to that drive. Win7 will sort out the rest and you can then duo boot from start up.

 

well its reassuring to know dual booting on a single drive is possible. My biggest concern is actually.... well there are several to be honest. First is using that shrink tool. I've heard nightmare scenarios about the primary install becoming unusable after shrinking and such. Also would i be able to install 64 bit on the new partition when i currently use 32bit? to install 7 you need a base install of vista first. I personally would prefer to remove my C from the laptop and install 7 onto a separate partition created on my current data drive. then use bios to determine the drive to boot from. this way after i put the C back in i could default to my vista 32 install and only boot to win7 when i interrupt the boot. It seems like this would be the most painless method to handle this. My question is does the Dell bios support such a thing? I haven't poked around the bios yet and i'm at work without my laptop. thanks for the reply! Any feelings on the Win7 experience so far?

 

Ah well, ignorance is bliss.

I wanted to duo boot and preserve my vista install so just used the easiest option to create another partition assumming the shrink tool was up to the job. It has worked ok for me though, vista still boots fine.

I'm using 32bit so dont know about mixing flavours, sorry. From your reply its sounds like you have separate hard drives and not one drive divided up like mine?.

So far Win7 seems a good improvement. Its seems to be quicker and use less memory than vista but its not got loads of appilcations loaded yet so not a true reflection. First impressions are good though.

 

yes i do have dual drives in my laptop. two 320gb drives to be precise. There is no raid arrangement so i should be able to pull one and use the other etc. Glad to hear everything worked out for you. I'm really looking forward to poking around 7 and getting a feel for any improvements they have made as well as the opportunity to opine on anything they may need to focus on. 7 seems to be shaping up rather well and the online community is taking to it with a very positive attitude which is surprising for a Microsoft product. A lot is riding on this release and if past performance is anything to go by the final product will indeed be an improvement from beta code. Since this is probably the finest and most stable beta code to come down from Redmond it really puts high expectations on the finished product. OK enough hype lets figure out a solid install plan for my trusty 1720!

 

Hi guys,
I don't mean to jump in on your thread here, but maybe you can help me. I am currently running vista 32bit on a dell inspiron 6400 and would like to dual boot with windows 7. I have windows 7 currently running in virtual box, but I would prefer to dual boot in.
Problem is, when I go to partition my hard drive, there is already 4 partitions on it a 47MB, C (OS), D(Recovery), and a 2GB which I believe is media direct. What is the 47MB partition, and what would be the best way of doing this without having to wipe my hard drive and start over from scratch.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, in advance!

 

Hmmm considering my question is somewhat similar i would leave this for a more expert opinion.... my day has turned sour since i have realized dell tried pulling a fast one and despite written e-mail confirmation they are only sending me the 32bit version of vista..... off to the phones i go.... watch as steam shoots forth from my ears and my eyes bulge from their sockets in anticipation of tearing a new one for the next rep who denies me my rightful copy of vista 64. I am aware of your policy dell.... do not try and mislead a well informed consumer who thus far has been happy with every purchase he has made through your company. a life long customer may be lost over the simple act of not making good on a MS/Dell policy.

 

My 1720 came with VISTA. I gave it a chance, it didn't worked well (first update went wrong and the restore didn't worked).
I've formatted the HD, made 4 partitions and now I have Ubuntu, Debian, XP and Windows7.
I'm not a Windows fan but the only one that worked out of box was Windows 7
and it's working fine until now.

 

Ive installed win 7 on my studio 15 and notices that the CPU runs around 10*C hotter than vista.

On vista, the CPU idles at around 45*C with the laptop placed on bed covers (covering the air vents) and 42*C with good all around air circulation. But with Win 7, it idles at 50*C with good air circulation.

Might it be because of bad/incompatible drivers?

BTW I am using RMClock to monitor temps.

 

well i got win 7 x64 installed, no thanks to Dell mind you. So far i'm impressed. my vista 32 install was not harmed and the speed of Win7 is making me wish 2010 was already here! I ran MS Flight Sim 2004 with stunning results. everything maxed and still pulling 30fps in NY which is the most difficult city to get good frames in. For a laptop this is amazing. I think Win7 just became my new gaming OS!

 

Good to hear. I was about to install Win7 on my 1720 as well. I heard alot of good feedbacks that it works great - too great.

 

Never mind the above post. Turns out to be my logitech setpoint misbehaving. solved it by reinstalling the software.

 

hello
i have dell inspiron 1720 too and wondering if i could install windows 7 64 bit
my main problem is drivers, i have core2duo t5450, intel graphic, 4 gb of ram, 160 gb HDD, so i need 64 bit drivers for everything...
can anybody help?
i have windows 7 32 too, so which one would you suggest?

 

I installed win 7 64bit on a system with the exact same cpu, graphics, HD, I have the Web Cam, bluetooth. Didn't need to find a single driver. FYI found out today that the T5450 does not support virtualization so no XP Mode for running legacy apps. If that isn't a problem then go with the 64 bit. Runs great.

 

I've got it installed on my 1720 and didn't have to find a single driver. Windows 7 has all of them included. It works great.

Just be sure to dual boot and keep Vista installed.

 

yeah, creative webcam, bluetooth, wifi too, but i don't wanna do dual boot, i want clean OS install
big tnx

 

Yes, Win 7 works flawlessly on my system. You don't need a single driver for it. But just for the heck of it, I decided to install the chipset and wireless drivers for Vista x64. And they work fine in Win 7. Not to worry as the driver architecture Win 7 is very much as remained as in Vista.

 

thnx guys, i've installed it (win 7 x64) and it works perfect except one thing:
MEMORY CARD READER - thats very useful thing and i need it to work :S
can anybody give me link to memory card reader drivers (64 bit) please?
EDIT:
i need webcam drivers too ;( picture is blurry
my headset mic also doesn't work, where can i get sound drivers? :S
touchpad scrool doesn't work either, so that too
EDIT2:
there's a bug!
close, maximize & minimize icons in the upper right corner are invisible xD

 

I went to Dell and found that looking at 'similar' xps notebooks with vista 64 installed have exactly the same hardware with workable/downloadable drivers. Worked for me with the XD /mmsdriver. Good luck, a great experience so far with 7. I hope that Dell gets forward thinking and embraces 7. The 1720 I've got, with it, is now a year+ old laptop that is screaming like its tomorrow's answer!