Question: Clean install of Windows Vista - Blu-ray Forum

BLUCanadian · 03-03-2010, 01:51 PM

Hey guys,
Im planning on wiping my laptop clean and re-installing Windows Vista.
I have a sony vaio laptop that has been a little sluggish lately and I hope this will help a bit.
As far as I can tell, all that is required is for me to back-up my important data and then pop in the installation disc and proceed with the installation which will wipe clean my current installation and re-install. Is this the correct way to do this? Will I have any problems with my laptop accessories not working (such as the mouse pad, speakers or usb drives??)
I basically want everything gone besides a minty fresh copy of windows... hopefully this will not include all the crap sony originally threw on the machine!!
Thanks!

mikejet · 03-03-2010, 01:57 PM

The drivers and everything else should be fine. Before a full install though have you cleaned it up of all the junk and done a defrag?

sfmarine · 03-03-2010, 02:07 PM

It depends on the machine...You may have to install some drivers but all in all, you should be fine. It's fairly easy to do a reformat. I hate all the crap they throw on there too.

Polygon · 03-03-2010, 02:12 PM

Well, if it's a restore disk it will restore your laptop to the state it was in when you bought it. However, if it's just a Windows install disk, which is how I restore customers computers, it will only install the divers that Vista has. You will have to go to Sony's site to download the drivers for your laptop.

So, if you restore and drivers are missing, just head over to Sony's site and download the drivers. It isn't very hard. After you get everything installed and updated I suggest you do a defrag as well. A good program for that is Defraggler, and it's free.

BLUCanadian · 03-03-2010, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikejet

Before a full install though have you cleaned it up of all the junk and done a defrag?

wont all files, setting, folders be deleted with the re-install?? Why is it important to do a defrag before the re-install??

brettallica · 03-03-2010, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polygon

Well, if it's a restore disk it will restore your laptop to the state it was in when you bought it. However, if it's just a Windows install disk, which is how I restore customers computers, it will only install the divers that Vista has. You will have to go to Sony's site to download the drivers for your laptop.

So, if you restore and drivers are missing, just head over to Sony's site and download the drivers. It isn't very hard. After you get everything installed and updated I suggest you do a defrag as well. A good program for that is Defraggler, and it's free.

Listen to Polygon. He is correct here. If it's just an install disc, then you will likely need to go to Sony's website and download the drivers yourself in order to get everything fully functional again. There's a good chance that most of your computer will work from simply an install disc, but also a good chance that some stuff won't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLUCanadian

wont all files, setting, folders be deleted with the re-install?? Why is it important to do a defrag before the re-install??

Just be sure to select the "format" option before you proceed with the installation. This will wipe the drive clean.

repete66211 · 03-03-2010, 06:46 PM

My video card crapped out not too long ago. I thought it might be a problem with Vista so I reinstalled it. (What can I say? I'm an idiot.) I had about 50GB of space before the reinstall and 5GB of space after. Defrag does nothing to free up space. I thought the reinstall would just replace everything, but it appears to have duplicated. Not to hijack the thread, but what does one do in such a situation?

Hammie · 03-03-2010, 07:04 PM

A defrag will not free up space, however, if you use something like CCleaner, that will delete a bunch of the junk that has accumulated over the years. I would then use JKDfrag or DeFraggler after going a cleaning of your hard drive.

Defragging will help put files together so they run a little smoother and possibly faster since the HD arm will not have to go all over the hard drive for files.

Before you do the reinstall path, I would do the following and see if it helps first:

1.) Go into Control Panel/Programs and delete any and all unwanted programs
2.) Reboot
3.) Run CCLeaner. This will allow you to clean both your registry and rouge files on your hard drive.
4.) reboot.
5.) run CCLeaner again.
6.) run defraggler.

I do this weekly minus steps 3 and 4. I would only recommend this the first time.

If this doesn't help with the speed, then you can proceed with the re-install.

@repete -- Not sure what happened, but it sounds like you did not choose the reformat step when you reinstalled your OS. You may have to do it again but this time make sure you choose to fo the reformat option. This is usually only an option when you boot from CD. This is also allow you to delete any OEM and other partitions the computer manufacturer has added. Dell take about 10-15GB from a hard drive to store their restore files. When I recently upgraded to Windows 7, I wiped out the 12GB Dell partition as well as the 3GB OEM partition. Now I have my full 150GB hard drive.

repete66211 · 03-03-2010, 07:14 PM

Thanks a million hammie!

05-05-2010, 04:59 PM

hi guys am new here , forums looking code, hope to find out some good info

Rike255 · 05-05-2010, 07:12 PM

Thread title is a contradiction of terms.

03-03-2010, 01:51 PM	#1
BLUCanadian Blu-ray Guru Member since:May 2008 Location:T. 4K collection:4 Blu-ray collection:4 Trading Score:223	Question: Clean install of Windows Vista Hey guys, Im planning on wiping my laptop clean and re-installing Windows Vista. I have a sony vaio laptop that has been a little sluggish lately and I hope this will help a bit. As far as I can tell, all that is required is for me to back-up my important data and then pop in the installation disc and proceed with the installation which will wipe clean my current installation and re-install. Is this the correct way to do this? Will I have any problems with my laptop accessories not working (such as the mouse pad, speakers or usb drives??) I basically want everything gone besides a minty fresh copy of windows... hopefully this will not include all the crap sony originally threw on the machine!! Thanks!

03-03-2010, 07:04 PM	#8
Hammie Blu-ray Champion Top ranked HT gallery Top contributor Member since:May 2008 Location:Washington, DC Metro Home Theater Gallery:53 Blu-ray collection:545 DVD collection:12 Trading Score:12	A defrag will not free up space, however, if you use something like CCleaner, that will delete a bunch of the junk that has accumulated over the years. I would then use JKDfrag or DeFraggler after going a cleaning of your hard drive. Defragging will help put files together so they run a little smoother and possibly faster since the HD arm will not have to go all over the hard drive for files. Before you do the reinstall path, I would do the following and see if it helps first: 1.) Go into Control Panel/Programs and delete any and all unwanted programs 2.) Reboot 3.) Run CCLeaner. This will allow you to clean both your registry and rouge files on your hard drive. 4.) reboot. 5.) run CCLeaner again. 6.) run defraggler. I do this weekly minus steps 3 and 4. I would only recommend this the first time. If this doesn't help with the speed, then you can proceed with the re-install. @repete -- Not sure what happened, but it sounds like you did not choose the reformat step when you reinstalled your OS. You may have to do it again but this time make sure you choose to fo the reformat option. This is usually only an option when you boot from CD. This is also allow you to delete any OEM and other partitions the computer manufacturer has added. Dell take about 10-15GB from a hard drive to store their restore files. When I recently upgraded to Windows 7, I wiped out the 12GB Dell partition as well as the 3GB OEM partition. Now I have my full 150GB hard drive. Last edited by Hammie; 03-03-2010 at 07:57 PM.

05-05-2010, 04:59 PM	#10
sndrsndvz Guest	new here hi guys am new here , forums looking code, hope to find out some good info

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03-03-2010, 01:57 PM	#2
mikejet Banned Member since:Sep 2008 Location:Los Angeles, CA Blu-ray reviews:5 Trading Score:29	The drivers and everything else should be fine. Before a full install though have you cleaned it up of all the junk and done a defrag?

03-03-2010, 02:07 PM	#3
sfmarine Blu-ray Archduke Top contributor Member since:Apr 2008 Location:The Swan Station aDdIcTeD 2 LOST PSN:U5MC51473 Home Theater Gallery:18 4K collection:930 Blu-ray collection:2311 DVD collection:276 MA collection:461 Digital collection:492 iTunes collection:534 Blu-ray reviews: 7 Trading Score:43	It depends on the machine...You may have to install some drivers but all in all, you should be fine. It's fairly easy to do a reformat. I hate all the crap they throw on there too.

03-03-2010, 02:12 PM	#4
Polygon Active Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2009 Location:Utah Home Theater Gallery:19 Blu-ray collection:140 DVD collection:672 Blu-ray reviews:40 Trading Score:2	Well, if it's a restore disk it will restore your laptop to the state it was in when you bought it. However, if it's just a Windows install disk, which is how I restore customers computers, it will only install the divers that Vista has. You will have to go to Sony's site to download the drivers for your laptop. So, if you restore and drivers are missing, just head over to Sony's site and download the drivers. It isn't very hard. After you get everything installed and updated I suggest you do a defrag as well. A good program for that is Defraggler, and it's free.

03-03-2010, 06:46 PM	#7
repete66211 Blu-ray Samurai Top contributor Member since:Jan 2009 Location:Kansas City area Home Theater Gallery:10 Blu-ray collection:196 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:3	My video card crapped out not too long ago. I thought it might be a problem with Vista so I reinstalled it. (What can I say? I'm an idiot.) I had about 50GB of space before the reinstall and 5GB of space after. Defrag does nothing to free up space. I thought the reinstall would just replace everything, but it appears to have duplicated. Not to hijack the thread, but what does one do in such a situation?

03-03-2010, 07:14 PM	#9
repete66211 Blu-ray Samurai Top contributor Member since:Jan 2009 Location:Kansas City area Home Theater Gallery:10 Blu-ray collection:196 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:3	Thanks a million hammie!

05-05-2010, 07:12 PM	#11
Rike255 Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Jul 2007 Location:AB, Canada PSNetwork: Rike255 Home Theater Gallery:44 Blu-ray collection:57	Thread title is a contradiction of terms.

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