Re: Deleting old system Partition

Hi, Kevin.

As Pegasus said, we need to know which partition does what in YOUR computer. And beware that the proper terminology for "system" and "boot" partitions are counterintuitive. They are reversed from common usage and the way most of us think of them. For the official explanation, see this KB article:
Definitions for system volume and boot volume
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470/EN-US/

Sadly, even though the KB claims to apply to Vista, it really is written with WinXP in mind. For example, it says the system volume contains "Ntldr, Boot.ini, and Ntdetect.com", which are all for earlier WinNT-based systems and are not used at all in Vista, except when dual-booting with WinXP or prior. For Vista, the corresponding files are "bootmgr" (no extension) and the \Boot folder, all with System and Hidden (and maybe Read-only) attributes. The "boot sector" also is different for WinXP and Vista; since this sector is not a file, it does not show up in a directory or folder listing, even as a hidden file, but it is a critical part of the system volume.

As many writers have pointed out, we BOOT from the System volume and keep the operating SYSTEM files in the Boot volume. :>( In most computers, running only a single operating system, Drive C: serves as BOTH system and boot volumes. But in a multi-boot computer, as the KB article says:
"There is only one system volume. However, there is one boot volume for each operating system in a multiboot system."

When you are booted into WinXP, WHICH volume is labeled "Boot"?
When you are booted into Vista, WHICH volume is labeled "Boot"?

Each of them should show the "System" label on the same volume. Don’t go by Drive Letters; these shift - sometimes unexpectedly. Go by Disk # (starting with zero) and Partition # (starting with one on each Disk). To cut down on the confusion, always assign a label (name) to each volume; this will be written to the HD and won't change when you reboot into another operating system.

Your solution MAY be as simple as using Disk Management to delete or reformat the WinXP boot volume. But if that is also your computer's system volume, then you will be in BIG trouble! So it is very important that you know which volume does which function in YOUR computer.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)

"Kevin" <Kevin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:9F0F1D1A-E3F7-4ABF-BA69-3EFA29529F08@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have just installed Vista Home Premium on an empty partition on my drive
(the existing one with xp on was too small and I wanted to make sure I liked
Vista before I deleted XP). I now want to delete the xp sytem partition as IM
happy with Vista and I want the machine to boot Vista without asking which
windows system I want to use, but the drive manager will not let me. Is there
a way I can reformat the old xp partition and end up with a usable partition?

.

Relevant Pages

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