Partition Drive, Install Win7, Transfer Files Over?

[Saad073]

I currently have Windows 7 installed on my HDD, but I recently found out that the guy who did it for me installed a software-activated RC build instead of a genuine retail build like I asked him to! I realized that once I started to see those frustrating Windows Genuine Advantage popups and when I asked for help people told me the OS build number was from the RC. Total rip off.

I bought a genuine Windows 7 disc myself but currently I don't have an external HDD to backup my files. Plus I'm pretty sure my registry is full of errors thanks to that jerkoff installing those terrible activation mods, so I would rather start things fresh with a clean install.

So could I technically create a new partition, install my genuine Windows 7, and then transfer my files from the old partition to the new one? I've never tried it before so I'm not sure if there would be any major issues or if there is any software that can do it for me.

Thanks in advance!

 

[evilgenius134]

When you install Win7 and select 'Custom Install', it will keep all the files that exist currently and move then to a folder on the drive called windows.old on the new install allowing you to restore them, albeit manually, and delete ones you don't want.

 

[thlillyr]

A more sure way of doing it is manualy reasizing the partition first before the install. This can be done with some free software from download.com like Easues partion master or if your build isn't messed up to bad windows can do it for you using the disk managment utility. Then you can install your fresh copy of windows 7 parallel to the bad one albeit on sepreat partitions. To windows 7 they might as well be installed on sepreate HDDS. Once you've copy and pasted over all your files just use the same program to erase the bad partitions and expand your desired partition to full HDD size.

 

[Saad073]

When you install Win7 and select 'Custom Install', it will keep all the files that exist currently and move then to a folder on the drive called windows.old on the new install allowing you to restore them, albeit manually, and delete ones you don't want.

Oh okay. That is a lot easier then. Will it keep all of the User files, or does it just save installed programs?

A more sure way of doing it is manualy reasizing the partition first before the install. This can be done with some free software from download.com like Easues partion master or if your build isn't messed up to bad windows can do it for you using the disk managment utility. Then you can install your fresh copy of windows 7 parallel to the bad one albeit on sepreat partitions. To windows 7 they might as well be installed on sepreate HDDS. Once you've copy and pasted over all your files just use the same program to erase the bad partitions and expand your desired partition to full HDD size.

This is what I was initially planning to do. It seems like it would be easier, but I've had a few issues while manually expanding partitions that would cause one to not boot. I think I'll sick with evilgenius134's suggestion. Thanks!