Well I Botched this Setup... Windows 7 installed, but the harddrive didnt erase the old Vista installation...

I installed Windows 7 fine, and thought everything was ok. Then I went to copy all my data from my external harddrive back into the appropriate folders on my laptop. It told me there wasn't enough room!

Sure enough, I check the C Drive, it's exactly as full as it was before installing Windows 7, and it had all the old stuff on the drive still. However, it didn't install as an upgrade since nothing was put in the appropriate folders in Windows 7 like My Pictures and My Music.

Should I reformat it once again or is there a way to delete all the old data? Any idea what I did wrong?

 

Reformat the drive and start again that will be the easiest way (you can do a quick format, it will only takes seconds). I also discovered that W7 doesn't format the drive when I did my install. I don't even remember it asking if I wanted it to do a format.

 

dang thats annoying. What's the easiest way to format the drive, since like you said, it never prompted me?

Anyone have a second opinion before i go back into surgery?

 

When you boot from the install disk, choose the Advanced Options section (not upgrade). Delete all current partitions on the drive using that menu and then select format. Then continue the installation process.

 

Now that is a good question. I put my laptop HD into an external enclosure and formated it from my desktop. I didn't even try to find a way from the W7 install disk, but there must be a way.

If you have a windows repair disk or a windows xp install disk I am almost sure the format options are available.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

It probably created a folder C:\Windows.OLD, and put your files in there. So... just copy them out to wherever you want them, and delete the Windows.OLD folder when you're done. OR... just delete Windows.OLD and copy your files from your backup drive.

 

what he said.

 

It may only make the Windows.OLD file if you are upgrading. Not sure of a full install.

The new HD I used for my Windows 7 install had no previous OS installed on it but I did have it installed in an external enclosure just prior to installing in my notebook. I wanted to verify that it didn't have any problems (or the new USB external enclosure I had) so I copied all sorts of programs and files to it.

I totally forgot to do a quick format of the HD before putting it into my notebook for the W7 install. W7 simply ignored the files/folders already on the drive and installed itself. In this case NO Windows.OLD file is created.