[Sirius Black]

Ok, Ive run through the BIOS procedure and the system boots from the CD.
The screen says "Windows is loading files..." with a loading bar.
Once completed it goes to another screen under System Recovery Options with one of 2 options to select.
One is "Use recovery tools that can help fix problems starting Windows. Select an operating system to repair"
The other is "Restore your computer using a system image that you created earlier"
There is only one operating system option to choose from. It lists Windows 7 partition size is 953766MB on the (G:)Drive.
Selecting the first option takes me to these System Recovery options:
-Startup Repair.
-System Restore.
-System Image Recovery.
-Windows Memory Diagnostic.
-Command Prompt.

Selecting the other states that there are no images available.

Please advise.

[wannabe1]

It shows the OS installed on the G: partition? Pluto isn't large enough to hold an installed operating system.

Let's see if we can see what's in there. Open Control Panel, then Folder Options. Under the View tab, locate and remove the tick next to "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)", and apply the change. Take another look at Pluto in the Computer window. Does anything show up in there?

Let's also take a minute to grab your product key out of the registry. Download Magical Jelly Bean and run it on the machine. Write down any product keys it finds.

Let me know if you are able to view the contents of Pluto. Grab a screenshot if it does display it's contents.

[Sirius Black]

I have pulled the Windows key using the Magic Jelly Bean program. (Cool!)
Following the instructions relating to the Control Panel I am now able to see data listed on the (G) Pluto drive.
Screen shot is provided.

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[wannabe1]

This has been a little confusing, but the machine is, indeed, booting to Windows installed on the C: drive...as it should. Why the repair disk is seeing an installation on the G: and not on C: is beyond me at this point.

Are you positive you didn't get an operating system disk with the machine when you purchased it? The manufacturer is required to provide you with a disk or the options to create one at the time of purchase. If your machine came with the option to create a recovery disk or disk set, it should be somewhere in the Start Menu/All Programs list. Look in the Accessories folder, and from there, the System Tools folder. Then have a look in the Maintenance folder...see if there is anything there relating to creating a recovery disk (other than "Create a System Repair Disk). Having an operating system disk is going to be critical to doing what you wish to do as I'm not seeing a recovery partition.

Perhaps you know someone with a Retail version Windows 7 disk? If worst comes to worst, you can install using that disk with your product key.

[Sirius Black]

Ok, after scouring through all of our discs I did manage to find a disc that I believe came with this unit when it was purchased.
I have one other disc from HP for my laptop. It is an upgrade that later came with the purchase of the laptop to upgrade the operating system from Vista to Windows 7.
If all else fails will this one work along with my key that was pulled from the registry?
Anyway, the disc that I found is from a manufacture known as CyberPower? It sounds vaguely familiar. I cant be sure but it does sound like the brand of machine I ordered from the site and this machine is the only other PC we have that runs Windows 64bit OS.
I have attached an image of the disc.

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[wannabe1]

That looks like a recovery disk...

If you have all your data safely backed up on an external drive or one of the storage drives on the machine, all you should have to do is boot the machine with that disk and follow the prompts to do a destructive recovery. That will format the system drive and reinstall Windows...putting the machine back to factory settings.

[Sirius Black]

The Recovery Disk worked perfectly. The system has been reset to factory settings.
I have 2 questions. When the system performed the recovery it created a "Windows.old" folder that is huge! About 130gigs. I have no intention of ever using this or reverting back to the previous install. Is it ok to delete this folder?
Secondly, I have a hard drive that was installed before doing the restoration. Its a 3TB drive but appears to be showing up as a 700+Gig drive. I have formatted it but it still doesn't appear in its proper size.
Any thoughts on this?
Thanks

[wannabe1]

Can you get me a screenshot of the Disk Management window, please?

You can just delete the Windows.old folder. There should be nothing in there you need.

[Sirius Black]

I have attached the screen shot. When I first looked at this after the reset it was showing somewhere around 700+gigs only but now I can see 3 separate partitions (maybe due to updates?).
I have never used this drive. Its less than a week old.
I would like to use it as one big drive with a single partition but Ive been reading about issues with drives larger than 2 TB.
If my only option is to use it as a 2 partition drive thats fine.
Glad I can delete that other folder.

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[wannabe1]

Give this a shot...

Format the two remaining unallocated partitions on that drive. Then right click on the first partition and choose "Extend Volume"...when prompted, have it take the space from the second partition. If you are able to accomplish that, do it again, taking the space from the third partition.

[Sirius Black]

I formatted one of the partitions.
I now have 2 partitions that are available and one that is still unallocated.
Neither of the 2 formatted partitions will allow me to use the "Extend Volume" option. The option is unselectable.
The remaining unallocated partition will not allow me to select the "New Simple Volume" or any of the other similar options. The only options available are "Properties" and "Help".

Please advise.

[wannabe1]

When right clicking on the second or third partition of the drive, are you offered the option to "Delete the Volume"? Or is that grayed out, as well?

[Sirius Black]

The option to delete the volume is only offered on the partitions that have been formatted.
The unallocated partition doesnt have this option available.

[wannabe1]

I haven't had the pleasure of working on drives larger than 1TB...and it shows...

Format that last partition, then delete that volume and the others as well. Do you end up with a single, large unallocated space? If you do, format that and see what it reports for size.

[Sirius Black]

The 3rd partition (unallocated) will not allow me to format it. The options are greyed out.
When I deleted one of the 2 formatted partitions it becomes an unallocated partition and remains separate from the other 2.