HDD Partition issues

okrobie · 28 Feb 2016

Oh, please don't worry Teresa. First of all, they are not the same computers. Secondly, I am learning a lot. The one from a few days ago is complete and ready to use. I have been using a very nice WinPE ISO bootable USB stick. It has a tool which allows me to retrieve the Product Key. So there is no harm done if I mess up. I just start over. Back in the early 90's I bought a bunch of junk computers and I learned s much that I got a better job at my work. I'm retired now, but I need a hobby and I think I found it. Back in those days, it took all night to format a 5 Mb drive. I would hope it was finished when I got up. :)

Thanks for your interest and concern.

I have been using MiniTool, but I think I will try AOMEI because I'm having issues with MiniTool. I think I'll get my money back. I bought the Pro version for $59.00 and I'm not happy with it. Time to go to bed. Good Night. Jim

P.S. That other thread is marked solved.

okrobie · 29 Feb 2016

AOMEI is much better. It detected and reported bad sectors in the MBR, which MiniTool never mentioned. I sent them a request for a refund. I guess I'll throw a new drive in it today and start over. Regards, Jim

okrobie · 01 Mar 2016

Hi all, It's working. Replacing the HDD cleared up everything. It's now running Win 10 and liking it. There is just one tiny little problem... I have partitioned the drive the way topgundcp suggested, but even though I double checked in both MiniTool and AOMEI that the minor partitions are un-lettered, after it re-boots into Windows 10, drive letters have been assigned. The only problem with that is that the minor partitions then become visible to the user and you never know what kind of mischief they will get into. Thanks for your suggestions. Good morning, Jim

Edit: I tried re-booting immediately back into WinPE and found, with AOMEI, that the drive letters had returned.

okrobie · 02 Mar 2016

Thank you Teresa, you are very kind.

I would atill like to have some help with this drive letter issue. Thank you all, Jim

okrobie · 03 Mar 2016

I was told on another board that I should be installing Windows 10 into an un-allocated, un-formatted drive and that Windows will create all the partitions it needs. I tried it, and it worked up to a point, but I didn't get the 99Mb FAT32 or the 16Mb un-formatted partitions that topgundcp recommended. What are they for anyway topgundcp? Thanks, Jim

Here's the latest:

Word Man · 03 Mar 2016

okrobie said:

I was told on another board that I should be installing Windows 10 into an un-allocated, un-formatted drive and that Windows will create all the partitions it needs. I tried it, and it worked up to a point, but I didn't get the 99Mb FAT32 or the 16Mb un-formatted partitions that topgundcp recommended. What are they for anyway topgundcp? Thanks, Jim

Here's the latest:

Hi, Jim. Your screenshot shows Win10 has been installed to an MBR partitioned disk and is what's expected for a legacy booted Win10 install. The partition layout you describe from topgundcp would be for a UEFI booted install creating a GPT partitioned disk.

okrobie · 03 Mar 2016

Word Man said:

Hi, Jim. Your screenshot shows Win10 has been installed to an MBR partitioned disk and is what's expected for a legacy booted Win10 install. The partition layout you describe from topgundcp would be for a UEFI booted install creating a GPT partitioned disk.

OK, now we're getting somewhere. I've been running into those terms lately. Where can I get info on what UEFI and GPT mean? Thanks, Jim

Word Man · 03 Mar 2016

okrobie said:

OK, now we're getting somewhere. I've been running into those terms lately. Where can I get info on what UEFI and GPT mean? Thanks, Jim

Here's a few places to start. They are context specific and may seem dated (Win8 oriented) but the basics are covered and useful in what I believe your context is, Jim:

https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php?t..._BIOS_v/s_UEFI
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/.../hh825112.aspx
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/.../dn336946.aspx

Gotta run off to work. Hope this helps!

okrobie · 08 Mar 2016

Thank you Word Man, that was very informative.

After reading that, I decided to stop monkeying around and get serious. I went back to the beginning of the thread and read it this time. Starting with topgundcp, I repartitioned the HDD with the template he provided. I didn't have a recovery disk or a Macrium backup so I imported an ISO which I made bootable for USB with Rufus and put in the defaults for GPT partition scheme for UEFI and FAT32. I also went into my bios and disabled legacy booting.

So now I have a perfect GPT/UEFI installation of Windows 10. Thank you all for your patience with my bullheadedness. I certainly have learned a lot. I could have learned it a lot faster If I had paid attention to your wisdom and experience.

Thanks again, Jim

Word Man · 08 Mar 2016

That sounds great! Good job, Jim!:)