[Zardon]

Yeah Oldbuzzard I use a Supertalent 4gb patriot xporter XT 4GB drive with Windows 7 64bit (really fast USB drive) - cuts the time down dramatically (must be half the time or even less) as you say. I didn't use that MS tool however to 'create' the bootable ISO, great find - have snagged it as it seems to be much simpler than the method I used in the past.

[vicsrealms]

Windows 7 corrected a lot of my problems on my system. The 64-bit version of Vista would continuously lock up my browsers and I could not get them to shut down in the task manager. Vista would also not shut down at all. Windows 7 corrected all those problems and my system even feels faster. I don't particularly like the interface, I'm hoping to find a classic version of the desktop. Although, I haven't had a lot of time on it. Borderlands is taking up a lot of my attention.

[OldBuzzard]

I just did a test on making the flash media.

15 mins. to copy to a Genaric 4GB Flash Drive from Microcenter. Don't know how fast it is, but it's fast enough for Vista to use it for RAMBOOST.

8 mins. to copy to a Genaric Class 4 SDHC Card from Microcenter.

I know that the Class 4 SDHC can be read from a lot faster than the USB stick, so if you have a card reader, it should cut down on install time even more than the USB stick.

[Zardon]

yeah - its a real time saver for someone who does this regularly. Myself and stuart have been using USB flash for installing operating systems for a very long time, and they have always been quite painful to make - very impressed to see microsoft making a tool like that. They get kudos for having the initiative.

Huge time saver for us as we probably install Windows operating systems 10 times a week or more - its tedious at the best of times.

[OldBuzzard]

Originally Posted by vicsrealms

... I'm hoping to find a classic version of the desktop. ...

1. Right click on the desktop

2. Click on PERSONALISE

2. Scroll down to the bottom, and under "Basic and High Contrast Themes", you will find the "Windows Classic" theme.

[Just Learnin']

Originally Posted by Zardon

Really? thats rather unusual - I know 59hz is generally an additional option with the Nvidia drivers but I have always had 60hz as well. One of my media PCs has a GTX275 in it and I love Nvidia's edge enhancement and noise reduction options - they really work great with my Neo 600hz Plasma.

The 60Hz option is there as well as the do not scale option but when selected and applied they go through the motions but don't stick. It just reverts back to the 59Hz when 60Hz is selected and it reverts back to "use my displays built in scaling" when any other option is picked as well.

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=Windows+7+59Hz+&btnG=Goog le+Search&meta=&aq=null&oq=

[Zardon]

that link isn't working unfortunately man.

I just checked my driver and it says 60hz ok, and the plasma is showing 60 hz as well. very strange - is this a common nvidia issue on forums or just something you are noticing yourself?

[Just Learnin']

It is a common issue: Windows 7 59Hz - Google Search=

I managed a workaround for the 59Hz issue but not for the scaling.

Sorry about the link, I will fix it.

[Zardon]

very very interesting man, I wasn't aware of this, shall do some investigating.

[Zardon]

Originally Posted by OldBuzzard

I just did a test on making the flash media.

15 mins. to copy to a Genaric 4GB Flash Drive from Microcenter. Don't know how fast it is, but it's fast enough for Vista to use it for RAMBOOST.

8 mins. to copy to a Genaric Class 4 SDHC Card from Microcenter.

I know that the Class 4 SDHC can be read from a lot faster than the USB stick, so if you have a card reader, it should cut down on install time even more than the USB stick.

seems to be a few issues with the windows tool in recognising all the Windows 7 ISO files - it won't recognise our own Windows 7 ISOS for instance.

For those who want to a create a bootable USB flash drive manually you can do it this way. It is a little time consuming but you only need to do it once, so I don't see an issue

Step 1: Format the Drive

The steps here are to use the command line to format the disk properly using the diskpart utility. [Be warned: this will erase everything on your drive. Be careful.]

1. Plug in your USB Flash Drive
2. Open a command prompt as administrator (Right click on Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt and select “Run as administrator”
3. Find the drive number of your USB Drive by typing the following into the Command Prompt window:
   diskpart
   list disk
   The number of your USB drive will listed. You’ll need this for the next step. I’ll assume that the USB flash drive is disk 1.
4. Format the drive by typing the next instructions into the same window. Replace the number “1” with the number of your disk below.
   select disk 1
   clean
   create partition primary
   select partition 1
   active
   format fs=NTFS
   assign
   exit
   When that is done you’ll have a formatted USB flash drive ready to be made bootable.

Step 2: Make the Drive Bootable

Next we’ll use the bootsect utility that comes on the Vista or Windows 7 disk to make the flash drive bootable. In the same command window that you were using in Step 1:

1. Insert your Windows Vista / 7 DVD into your drive.
2. Change directory to the DVD’s boot directory where bootsect lives:
   d:
   cd d:\boot
3. Use bootsect to set the USB as a bootable NTFS drive prepared for a Vista/7 image. I’m assuming that your USB flash drive has been labeled disk G:\ by the computer:
   bootsect /nt60 g:
4. You can now close the command prompt window, we’re done here.

Step 3: Copy the installation DVD to the USB drive
The easiest way is to use Windows explorer to copy all of the files on your DVD on to the formatted flash drive. After you’ve copied all of the files the disk you are ready to go.
Step 4: Set your BIOS to boot from USB
This is where you’re on your own since every computer is different. Most BIOS’s allow you to hit a key at boot and select a boot option.