Re: Deleting old system Partition

Hi, Kevin.

No, you did not give the information I asked for.

But the steps Pegasus outlined should accomplish what you want to do. And it's a more elegant solution than I would have thought of. ;<)

Let us know how this works out for you so that we will have a better idea of what to advise the next user with a similar question. In a newsgroup, we all learn from each other.

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:2B572CDD-1A9F-4A9F-81ED-882BF14F96DA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hopefully this is the information you require. In my computer I have 2 drives
the first contains 2 partitions

System (F).
a system active primary partition (the one I wish to reformat/or delete so
I can use it for future storage)14.65gb

Music.(G)
Primary Partition 219.11GB

The other disk contains 3 Partitions

Games (C)
97.66 GB Primary Partition

Vista(H)
Healthy (Boot Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition) 97.66 GB

Documents (D)
Primary Partition 37.57 GB
"R. C. White" wrote:

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

"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

  • Re: Dual Boot Instructions
    ... I ended up reinstalling Vista, ... The boot SECTOR is not the bootLOADER. ... finds the partition table for that HDD and sees that the first partition is ... violated, we no longer can simply install WinXP, install Vista and ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.hardware_devices)
  • Re: how to change out system disk?
    ... Inaccessible_Boot_Device, when trying to boot from the new HD, but sometimes ... WinXP booted, you can still run Word, Quicken or whatever without having to ... following the primary partition and the first logical drive ). ... > logical drives in a single extended partition. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: Dual booting
    ... of Microsoft's dual boot scenario. ... The extended partition is not assigned a drive letter, ... BIOS reserves letters A and B for floppy drives, ... If WinXP Setup ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: How do I solve this boot.ini problem with WinXP?
    ... I've redone it all and I've made a bit of progress but, alas, WinXP still ... I copied those two files from the CD into the root of the 2K partition by ... Win2K didn't object. ... full boot menu in the DOS-like screen. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers)
  • Re: Installing 7 and drive Letters
    ... Now Vista and Win 7 both recognize Partition names and letters as the same. ... I forgot how to change how many seconds you have to select Vista or Win 7 on Boot. ... So if you've used Vista to assign the letter E: to the first partition on your second HDD, you can point Setup to that partition. ... "drives" are assigned LETTERS. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup)
Loading