I installed Win 7 32 bit and posted several comments about this step in the install process. These comments are about the same area but with the 64 bit version. In both versions at the custom install stepduring installation,I deleted the current partitions for disk 0 where I install the operating system and programs. For 32 bit Win 7 created Partition 1 with 200 MB for Bitlocker plus Partition 2 for the operating system. I did not note the descriptionfor disk 2 (Data Drive)asI did not change it. For the 64 bit system the display was distinctly different and follows: Disk 0 Unallocated space 0 MB; Partition 1 100 MB; Partition 2 149GB; Disk 0 Unallocated 0 MB Disk 1 Partition 1 298.1 GB. I beleive that there are several inconsistencies in the 64 bit bersion. Why show 0 MB unallocated space? Why show Disk 0 twice and not disk 0 and disk 1?Also I do not believe that I formatted partition 1 after I created the new partitions. I did a double take when the install process began to execute after the partition creation. I know I formatted the partitions under the 32 bit version. I do not know if I had to format the partition.

Assuming the same physical spindle for each install, in the Win7 32 bit case, you chose to only allocate part of the spindle to the opsys, so it also spontaneously created the 100mb partition for boot, and it is the smaller one that is active. In the 64 bit case, you chose to allocate the entire unallocated space to the opsys, so boot is put on the opsys partition, and, of course, since you allocated the entire free space, there are 0 mb left over. This is not a difference of 32bit vs 64bit, but of how much of the spindles unallocated space you assign to the opsys. It formats it automatically if it was created from unallocated space. The only reason for manually formatting a space before you hit next is to eliminate any old windows on an extant partition, so you don't wind up with an "old windows folder". Hope that helps!Kris

Hi Thanks for the reply but I do not think that your response was entirely accurate and I also may not have explained it correctly. There are two physical drives. Drive 0 is about 150 GB and drive 1 is about 300 GB. Drive 0 is for operating system and programs while disk 1 is for my data (makes very easy backup). Disk 0 partitions are deleted/created/formatted for each install of the os. Disk 1 is never deleted/created/formatted unless I encounter some error with my data files. I let the system choose the partition size for disk 0and it automatically allocates the space for the system and primary partitions on disk 0.So the questions are for the unallocated space - why display it and also why twice.Then there is a difference in the system partition (bitlocker) size:64 bit (100 MB) and 32 bit (200 MB). Why the difference?

Hi Thanks for the reply but I do not think that your response was entirely accurate and I also may not have explained it correctly. There are two physical drives. Drive 0 is about 150 GB and drive 1 is about 300 GB. Drive 0 is for operating system and programs while disk 1 is for my data (makes very easy backup). Disk 0 partitions are deleted/created/formatted for each install of the os. Disk 1 is never deleted/created/formatted unless I encounter some error with my data files. I let the system choose the partition size for disk 0and it automatically allocates the space for the system and primary partitions on disk 0. So the questions are for the unallocated space - why display it and also why twice. Then there is a difference in the system partition (bitlocker) size:64 bit (100 MB) and 32 bit (200 MB). Why the difference? Displaying it twice is probably an error. I have had 32bit create both 200mb boot partitions, and 100mb boot partitions. Once it did not create one at all but put the BOOT folder on the opsys partition. I have found no reason for the difference though I haven't looked very hard. I always allocate a 25.6GB opsys partition. I have 7 other partitions and a number of chunks of unallocated space. Kris

Hi KrisWhen I installed Vista or XP thenI have a small number of MBs (usually less than 10) as unallocated space. I do not remember any unallocated on disk 0 for Win 7 32 bit version. Sure lots of inconsistencies in the drive space allocation.Bob