Unable to create new "visible" partition

[Milleniumaire]

I have just purchased an Acer Aspire 8935g laptop, which comes with Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit (not sure why 64bit isn't supplied). It has two 500gb hard drives; Disk 0 and Disk 1. Disk 1 is empty and I have successfully created 3 partions on this drive. According to Vista's Disk Management tool, Disk 0 contains three partitions. The first and last are both EISA Configuration partitions and can't be seen through Windows Explorer. The 2nd (middle) partition is the C: partition on which Vista is installed.

I want to install Windows 7 RC 64bit in a dual boot configuration, so I used Disk Manager to shrink the C: partition and then create a new 100gb partition. I assigned it the drive letter B: (there are no floppy drives on the laptop). The new B: partition is visible, along with the original C: partition through Windows Explorer, until I reboot the laptop. The B: partition then disappears and Windows Explorer can no longer see it, however Disk Management shows it is still there but it no longer has a drive letter and is now an EISA Configuration partition. I thought this issue might be caused by the choice of drive letter so I tried again using a different letter (F: ). Each time the drive is only visible to Windows Explorer until the laptop is rebooted. I've also tried using a different partition management tool (Partition Wizard) but it makes no difference. I've tried creating the partition as logical and primary but to no avail.

Can someone please explain what is happening? Why can't I create a visible partition on my "O/S" drive?

[gazzoid]

try creating the partition through youre windows 7 rc disc,ADVANCED SETTINGS,this SHOULD give you the option to select partition you want to select,just format unallocated space call it windows 7 and give it a drive letter i used W for Windows 7 myself,hope this might help.wasnt worth the couple of hour installing though,you shouldnt need to set up dual boot as its the same boot manager as vista,it shouls recognize both on boot up

[Milleniumaire]

If I do it that way, my worry is that after hours spent installing Windows 7, when the laptop reboots it will all be lost!

[gazzoid]

when you first start installing it,it reboots 3-4 times,on the second reboot you should BRIEFLY see two OS systems,vista and windows 7,on the next reboot you should have to choose which you want to use- vista or windows 7,thats it,DON'T OVERWRITE YOUR CURRENT OS AS WINDOWS 7 HAS SOME CONFLICTS WITH COMPATIBILTY,IT HAS TO BE A CLEAN INSTALL,AS LONG AS YOURE PARTITION IS VISIBLE THEN IT SHOULD WORK,BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING,CAN YOU, OR HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO MAKE A COMPLETE REINSTALL OF YOUR PREINSTALLED VISTA?? AS LONG AS YOU DONT REMOVE THE EISA THEN YOU WILL BE FINE,

[Milleniumaire]

I contacted Acer who tell me they don't support the creation of partitions on the main O/S drive as this will affect their recovery software! They went on to say that if I do change the way the recovery software works it would void the warranty!!!!

I'm absoluteley amazed. I have a state of the art laptop with 2 x 500gb disk drives. I can partition one of them, but not the one with the O/S as this will void the warranty.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gazzoid

when you first start installing it,it reboots 3-4 times,on the second reboot you should BRIEFLY see two OS systems,vista and windows 7,on the next reboot you should have to choose which you want to use- vista or windows 7,thats it,DON'T OVERWRITE YOUR CURRENT OS AS WINDOWS 7 HAS SOME CONFLICTS WITH COMPATIBILTY,IT HAS TO BE A CLEAN INSTALL,AS LONG AS YOURE PARTITION IS VISIBLE THEN IT SHOULD WORK,BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING,CAN YOU, OR HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO MAKE A COMPLETE REINSTALL OF YOUR PREINSTALLED VISTA?? AS LONG AS YOU DONT REMOVE THE EISA THEN YOU WILL BE FINE,

[gazzoid]

wow, im amazed to, all that memory,basicly they are telling you there preinstalled or nowt,sound like youve been ripped off,if i had all those gb's is be peeved at not being able to play with,dont see how it would effect your recovery,ive reinstalled mine 4 times already,sounds like they want you only to upgrade, change through the place you bought it,they may have set it up as non compressed files and folders,like you can chose when you format an external,and i know windows 7 wont boot from an external,ive tried,if you wanna reinstall vista first reinstall and make sure you allow compressed files and folders when you format partitions,sorry bout that,id be gutted