Getting Windows 7 to Utilize All of my RAM?

[shinderhizzle84]

Hey all. So I've got an Early 2011 13" Macbook Pro. Today I bought 8 GB worth of RAM and installed it onto my computer without any problems. But when I went into the resource monitor in Windows 7, it said that approximately 6 GB of this newly installed RAM was "Hardware Reserved" and that it was only using 2 GB of my RAM...which is exactly what it had before.

Is there a way to get Windows 7 to be able to utilize all of this extra seemingly unnecessarily-reserved RAM? I don't want to have wasted 60 bucks on RAM for absolutely nothing...

Or does "hardware reserved' mean something totally else? I use Windows 7 almost exclusively for gaming, and I do that a lot. I bought the 8 GB of RAM because for some reason Windows 7 used to only use 2 of my 4 GB of available RAM since I believe that 2 were always automatically assigned to the video card. I bought this so I could have more RAM at my disposal so that my computer wouldn't be so terrible while running highly-intensive games. Is there a way to get Windows 7 to utilize all of this extra currently-wasted RAM so that my computer can get a much-needed boost?

 

[throAU]

You'll need a 64 bit copy of Windows.

If you have a legit license key, I believe you are entitled to obtain the 64 bit media and use your key.

 

[charlieegan3]

You'll need a 64 bit copy of Windows.

If you have a legit license key, I believe you are entitled to obtain the 64 bit media and use your key.

you're right about the need for 64bit, however he might not be able to get the 64bit for free, this depends on how he got his windows copy, (OEM, Free upgrade from vista etc etc)

 

[shinderhizzle84]

You'll need a 64 bit copy of Windows.

If you have a legit license key, I believe you are entitled to obtain the 64 bit media and use your key.

Craaaaap. Okay, thanks for the info. I get my copies of Windows from my cousin, who works for Microsoft--he gets an employee discount and he gets it for me for significantly cheaper. I guess I'm going to have to ask him to ship me a copy of a 64 bit version

Out of curiosity, is there a way to save all of my files and information and whatnot and just, sort of like, upgrade to windows 7 64 bit? Or am I going to have to reinstall all of my games and backup all of my schoolwork and saved game files?

 

[throAU]

x86 to x64 is a reinstall, however if you run windows backup on your current install you can restore back into your new install.

minus applications....

for data though windows backup is fairly painless.

 

[shinderhizzle84]

x86 to x64 is a reinstall, however if you run windows backup on your current install you can restore back into your new install.

minus applications....

for data though windows backup is fairly painless.

By data, do you just mean things like System Preferences? Or do you also mean things like documents, movies, and photos? I really need to be able to backup all of my documents and photos, at the very least.

I guess I'll run the tool and see what options it gives me. Thanks for the help, people.

 

[shinderhizzle84]

Okay, so here's a serious problem:

I did some digging around my house and found a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit that my cousin had sent me a while back. It still works and I set about sending myself emails with all of my important documents and photos.

So I backed up all of my important documents and then booted up Mac OS X and deleted my partition. But now, when I try to create a new partition, I get the Boot Camp Assistant error of "The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved".

Now I googled that error and apparently I have to RE-INSTALL MAC OS X. What the hell, Apple? This is a huge issue because I haven't been able to locate my Apple Install Disk for over a year, despite having looked for it several times.

What the hell am I supposed to do now? I can't re-format my disc because I don't have my Mac OS X install disc and I need to put Windows on this computer because I have a lot of files and whatnot that only work on Windows applications. Am I royally screwed or is there an easier fix to this?

 

[throAU]

By data, do you just mean things like System Preferences? Or do you also mean things like documents, movies, and photos? I really need to be able to backup all of my documents and photos, at the very least.

I guess I'll run the tool and see what options it gives me. Thanks for the help, people.

By data i mean:
documents
user preferences
browser favorites
(if an app is well behaved and stores under your profile) - application data


only the application files themselves should need to be reinstalled.

another way to do it is to use "Windows easy transfer" (type that into search) and export all your data to another disk, then import it back in on your new install.


edit:
if you need to reinstall OS X I would:

- consider upgrading to lion (and burn a copy of the disc image inside the installer) OR
- grab a copy of your friend's disk (they aren't copy protected in any way)
- download an ISO of your current version from your favorite torrent site.

you have a license to run the software, you just lost your media. the media isn't the main thing you purchased when you got OS X, it was a license for the software... so installing from someone else's media is still legit.

 

[azribohari]

i installed a 64 bit windows 7 on my mac mini 2011. i have 4GB of RAM but 1880 are hardware reserved. i tried the 'msconfig' thingy but it doesnt work. what should i do now?

 

[esbreidenbach]

Hardware Reserved RAM

I encountered the exact same problem as the first post. I purchased the 8GB of RAM because I planned to run Windows 7.

Here is the kicker: If I run Win7 under Parallels, only 1.2 GB of my 4.0 GB allocated RAM is hardware reserved. If I run Win7 under BootCamp, 5.9 GB out of the total 8GB RAM is hardware reserved.

I understand that Win7 can only utilize 4GB, but this still does not explain the numbers very well. I am thinking something went wrong during the initial installation of Windows. Apple has not had an answer.

 

[Renzatic]

Craaaaap. Okay, thanks for the info. I get my copies of Windows from my cousin, who works for Microsoft--he gets an employee discount and he gets it for me for significantly cheaper. I guess I'm going to have to ask him to ship me a copy of a 64 bit version

You don't have to get him to ship you out a copy on disc unless you want it for backup purposes. MS provides an easy way to grab images of their OSes. All you have to do is provide a legit key after you install, and you're set.

Go to town.