Can i delete C and System Reserved partitions only among other partitions when installing Windows?

[Amal Vincent]

1. I am going to delete only C drive and System reserved memory during installation of Windows 7. After that i am planning to create a new partition of C. I am not deleting E and D drives as it contains some files. Am i doing anything wrong? Should i delete both D and E drives for a clean installation, because these partitions are from the old copy of Windows or will i be able to delete C drive and System Reserved Memory only. And then create a new partion of C and install windows 7 on it.

2.Also i have some unallocated space of 15.6 GB. Can i add this to my newly created C partition?

 

[Josiah23]

Welcome to Windows Central!

Yes you can just delete your C drive and System reserve memory if your reinstalling a Windows OS.

Now, are you asking if you can keep the files from your E and D drive? You can perform a "clean installation" from just deleting your C drive and the rest of the drives won't be affected from it.


Edited: Yes, you can create a partition from any drive and put Windows 7 onto it.

 

[Amal Vincent]

I was asking that can i delete the existing C partition and system reserved memory and create a new C partition and install windows on it. will the non-formatting of D and E drives will cause any errors in future because both are partitions from the previously installed windows?

2nd question is can i add these 15.6 gb of unallocated space to the new C partition that i am going to create

I thought that i need to delete all partitions and create new partitions for all drive, because i am installing a new copy of windows right. And if i delete only C drive and didn't delete E and D drive they wont show on the newly installed windows.
Is this concept wrong?
sorry if this question was stupid. I have no experience with the installation windows. so can you please help

 

[Josiah23]

1) Usually it will NOT cause any sort of errors, but that depends on A) if your D and E drives have software from another OS which doesn't support or are compatible with the new OS.

B) They're formatted for Windows pre-installation, as long as you've been using these drives for Windows before installing your new OS it should work just fine.


2) In theory, yes you should be able to put that 15.6gb of unallocated space to your new C drive partition, if it doesn't let you then try using Partition Wizard.

3) They should show IF they support Windows and/or if you've already had them formatted to be usable with Windows. For instance a Mac HDD won't be accessible on a Windows OS without special software or a correct format like NTFS/FAT32.

Be sure to post back and give us the news

 

[Drael646464]

It is rarer for other windows drives from older installations to cause problems, but if your boot stuff goes bad, sometimes automatic repair can "pick the wrong windows". Pretty uncommon though.

IDK about 7, but in 10, it can format the drives for you. And delete partitions. During the installation process.

 

[Amal Vincent]

Yes Josiah23