Removing a Boot file from a Partition that is NOT being used

Hi, I was having problems with VistaHP and thought that I could kill 2 birds
with one stone by adding a new Hard Drive and reinstalling Windows VistaHP.
For information purposes, the original HD was Partitioned into "C" (OS), "D"
data files, "E" (Photos) and "F" Extra storage (for future use).

In any event, I did not have the proper cables available so I REMOVED the
original HD and placed the new HD in my system and installed VistaHP and
Partitioned the new HD in to 4 Partitions also and installed all my software
programs, data files, apps, ...... on the new HD.

Everything appeared to be fine and a couple of weeks later, I placed the
orginal HD back in the system with the intentions of Re-Formatting the drive
for additional stirage (and using the new HD as the Primary Drive).

This went "semi-OK", I was able to reform and re-label most of the
Partitions on the original HD except for the Partition that contained Vista

and at the moment, when I go to My Computer I have Local Disk "C" (39.8GB
free of 82.7GB), Old C Drive "D" (13.4MB free of 125MB), "G" Data Files
(29.8GB free of 36.8GB), "H" Photos (181GB free of 194GB), "I" BU (82.5GB of
151GB), "P" Extra Space (352GB free of 352GB) and "Q" More Extra Space
(45.4GB free of 95.3GB).

My objective / what I would like to do, is DELETE and / or Re-Format the
"D" (Old C Drive) which I was able to get down to 125MB but as best as I can
tell, the Drive contains the following file 125.5MB with 107.8MB Used and
17.7MB Free and the following folders:

$RECYCLE.BIN, BOOT, System Volume.

I would appreciate you help in advising me HOW to Delete / Re-format this
“D� Partition which I believe is NOT needed since I WAS able to run VistaHP
on the new HD for a few weeks when the original HD was "out of the box" (and
the $RECYCLE.BIN, BOOT, System Volume

were NOT used and / or needed) or must I "start from scratch" and Re-Format
BOTH the original HD and the new HD and Re-Install Windows Vista again?

BTW, I order an upgrade copy of Windows7 and will be willing to wait a
couple of months for the release if W7 has the capability of doing what I
want (deleting / removing / reformatting /......the Old C Drive that still
contains a BOOT file which I believe is screwing this up)

Thank you for you help,

Bob

Hi Boblink

Delete all partitions on old drive, repartition to suit.

*WARNING ALL DATA WILL BE LOST.*


--
theog

Thanks for getting back to me theog, you wrote:

Delete all partitions on old drive, repartition to suit.

*WARNING ALL DATA WILL BE LOST.*

I believe but am sure that I tried this.
If I am not mistaken, I DELETED the Data Files, Photos, BU ,... Partitions
(the combined them into 2 Partitions (Extra Files and More Extra Files) but I
was only able to (I believe DELETE, it might have been re-format but I think
it was Delete) MOST of what was on the the Drive that contained the OS
(VistaHP) EXCEPT for the files that I listed.
This Drive only has 125MB so I am not concerned about obtaining more storage
space, I would like to make my system as clean and efficient as I can and
this Partition (D-Old C Drive) is COMPLETELY useless so I want to get rid of
it.
Thanks again theog,
Bob

Hi Boblink

If you delete all partitions on old drive, that will leave you one
partition.

WARNING ALL DATA WILL BE LOST.


--
theog

I w ish I could theog but Windows does NOT allow me to Delete the Partition
that USE to contain Windows VistaHD my guess is because it still contains a
BOOT File although the Boot file is NOT being used.
Any other thoughts / suggestions?
Thanks,
Bob

Hi, Boblink.

What tool are you using to delete partitions on the old HDD? Disk
Management should handle the job very nicely.

Just boot into Vista (on Disk 0, of course) and run Disk Management
(diskmgmt.msc). Check the Status column to be sure that both the System
volume and the Boot volume are on Disk 0. (If either are on Disk 1, then
STOP. You need to change your hardware setup or your BIOS settings.)

Then right-click on each volume on Disk 1 in turn and choose Delete Volume.
If you get an error message, post the EXACT text here.

After ALL volumes are deleted, the whole Disk 1 should show as Unallocated
Space - or Free Space. If that's not what you see, please post back and
tell us. A screenshot would be helpful.

Then do whatever you want with all of Disk 1. You can right-click in the
Free Space and create one or more partitions. You can assign them whatever
free letters you like, format them, label them, and use them as you choose.

> BTW, I order an upgrade copy of Windows7 and will be willing to wait a
> couple of months for the release if W7 has the capability of doing what I
> want (deleting / removing / reformatting /......the Old C Drive that
> still
> contains a BOOT file which I believe is screwing this up)

Every Windows since Win2K has had Disk Management and it has always been
able to delete and create partitions, so there's no need to wait for Win7.
And Disk Management does not care what is on a volume that you've told it to
delete - UNLESS you've CURRENTLY booted the computer from that volume, or
are CURRENTLY running the operating system on that HDD. And Disk
Management's Status column will tell you which is CURRENTLY the Boot volume
and System volume. If neither the current boot volume nor the current
system volume are on Disk 1, then Disk Management should be able to do
anything it wants to volumes on that HDD.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64

"Boblink" <Boblink@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F3152DE3-DE96-4067-A1EF-F30FD7A00542@microsoft.com...
> Hi, I was having problems with VistaHP and thought that I could kill 2
> birds
> with one stone by adding a new Hard Drive and reinstalling Windows
> VistaHP.
> For information purposes, the original HD was Partitioned into "C" (OS),
> "D"
> data files, "E" (Photos) and "F" Extra storage (for future use).
>
> In any event, I did not have the proper cables available so I REMOVED the
> original HD and placed the new HD in my system and installed VistaHP and
> Partitioned the new HD in to 4 Partitions also and installed all my
> software
> programs, data files, apps, ...... on the new HD.
>
> Everything appeared to be fine and a couple of weeks later, I placed the
> orginal HD back in the system with the intentions of Re-Formatting the
> drive
> for additional stirage (and using the new HD as the Primary Drive).
>
> This went "semi-OK", I was able to reform and re-label most of the
> Partitions on the original HD except for the Partition that contained
> Vista
>
> and at the moment, when I go to My Computer I have Local Disk "C" (39.8GB
> free of 82.7GB), Old C Drive "D" (13.4MB free of 125MB), "G" Data Files
> (29.8GB free of 36.8GB), "H" Photos (181GB free of 194GB), "I" BU (82.5GB
> of
> 151GB), "P" Extra Space (352GB free of 352GB) and "Q" More Extra Space
> (45.4GB free of 95.3GB).
>
> My objective / what I would like to do, is DELETE and / or Re-Format the
> "D" (Old C Drive) which I was able to get down to 125MB but as best as I
> can
> tell, the Drive contains the following file 125.5MB with 107.8MB Used and
> 17.7MB Free and the following folders:
>
> $RECYCLE.BIN, BOOT, System Volume.
>
> I would appreciate you help in advising me HOW to Delete / Re-format this
> “D� Partition which I believe is NOT needed since I WAS able to run
> VistaHP
> on the new HD for a few weeks when the original HD was "out of the box"
> (and
> the $RECYCLE.BIN, BOOT, System Volume
>
> were NOT used and / or needed) or must I "start from scratch" and
> Re-Format
> BOTH the original HD and the new HD and Re-Install Windows Vista again?
>
> BTW, I order an upgrade copy of Windows7 and will be willing to wait a
> couple of months for the release if W7 has the capability of doing what I
> want (deleting / removing / reformatting /......the Old C Drive that
> still
> contains a BOOT file which I believe is screwing this up)
>
> Thank you for you help,
>
> Bob

Thank you for your help RC, FYI I use Windows Diskmgmt.mcs and also I think
you might have identified the problem (why I am unable to DELETE the small
125MB folder), I primarily use Windows Diskmgmt.msc and use EaseUS Partition
Master 3.5 if I can't get it done with diskmgmt.msc. In any event, I think
you might have uncovered the problem (the reason why I am unable to Delete
the 125MB Folder). The new Disk Drive, which contains the ONLY version of
VistaHP on my system, is identified as Disk1 NOT Disk0 so it appears that I
will need to rename Disk0 (the original HD) Disk1 and rename Disk1 (the new
HD) Disk0.
Is this doable?
Let me point our=t again that the computer was able to operate properly with
Disk1 (the new HD) as the ONLY HD that was installed (I took Disk0, the
original HD OUT of the computer and did not place it back in for several
weeks so unless I am missing something, the system was able to run just fine
without Disk0.
Anyway, I am glad that you were able to uncover the problem, now let's see
if there is a solution or must I reformat BOTH Disk0 and Disk1 and reinstall
Windows VistaHP to straighten out this mess?
Thank you for your help RC,
Bob

::Hi Boblink::
:: ::
If Disk Management can not delete this partition, then this is your
boot partition


--
theog

Hi Bob,

Is your old HD the first HD in Bios boot order? If so:

Restart - select F2 ( or whatever your key press is for Bios or setup).

Make sure your NEW HD is first in Bios boot order - save changes and
exit.

Boot into Vista ( Disk Management should show a partition on your NEW
HD as "System")

You should then be able to use Disk Management to delete partitions on
the OLD HD.


Hope it helps

SIW2

Boblink;1119323 Wrote:
> Hi, I was having problems with VistaHP and thought that I could kill 2
> birds
> with one stone by adding a new Hard Drive and reinstalling Windows
> VistaHP.
> For information purposes, the original HD was Partitioned into "C"
> (OS), "D"
> data files, "E" (Photos) and "F" Extra storage (for future use).
>
> In any event, I did not have the proper cables available so I REMOVED
> the
> original HD and placed the new HD in my system and installed VistaHP
> and
> Partitioned the new HD in to 4 Partitions also and installed all my
> software
> programs, data files, apps, ...... on the new HD.
>
> Everything appeared to be fine and a couple of weeks later, I placed
> the
> orginal HD back in the system with the intentions of Re-Formatting the
> drive
> for additional stirage (and using the new HD as the Primary Drive).
>
> This went "semi-OK", I was able to reform and re-label most of the
> Partitions on the original HD except for the Partition that contained
> Vista
>
> and at the moment, when I go to My Computer I have Local Disk "C"
> (39.8GB
> free of 82.7GB), Old C Drive "D" (13.4MB free of 125MB), "G" Data Files
> (29.8GB free of 36.8GB), "H" Photos (181GB free of 194GB), "I" BU
> (82.5GB of
> 151GB), "P" Extra Space (352GB free of 352GB) and "Q" More Extra Space
> (45.4GB free of 95.3GB).
>
> My objective / what I would like to do, is DELETE and / or Re-Format
> the
> "D" (Old C Drive) which I was able to get down to 125MB but as best as
> I can
> tell, the Drive contains the following file 125.5MB with 107.8MB Used
> and
> 17.7MB Free and the following folders:
>
> $RECYCLE.BIN, BOOT, System Volume.
>
> I would appreciate you help in advising me HOW to Delete / Re-format
> this
> “D� Partition which I believe is NOT needed since I WAS able to run
> VistaHP
> on the new HD for a few weeks when the original HD was "out of the box"
> (and
> the $RECYCLE.BIN, BOOT, System Volume
>
> were NOT used and / or needed) or must I "start from scratch" and
> Re-Format
> BOTH the original HD and the new HD and Re-Install Windows Vista again?
>
> BTW, I order an upgrade copy of Windows7 and will be willing to wait a
> couple of months for the release if W7 has the capability of doing what
> I
> want (deleting / removing / reformatting /......the Old C Drive that
> still
> contains a BOOT file which I believe is screwing this up)
>
> Thank you for you help,
>
> Bob


--
SIW2

Hi S1W2, thank you for your POST, from my novice prospective, I think that
you have me on the right path but I am running into problems. When I go
Control Pannel-->Disk Manager, Disk0 (the original HD) is identified as a WDC
Device and Disk1 (the new HD) as a Hitachi device.
When I do into BIOS (Enter during start-up on my system) and go to
StartUp--->Primary Boot, the 1st Boot is CDDCDW, the 2nd Boot I changed to
Hitachi and the 3rd boot I have Hitachi again. BTW, their is only ONE option
for HD which is the 1st HD that is selected under Hard Disk Drive. The other
selections available are Hard Disk Drive (as mentioned above) where the 1st
Drive is Hitachi and the 2nd Drive is WDC.
Now when I re-boot mystem and go back to Disk Manager, Disk0 is STILL the
WDC Drive and Disk1 is the Hitachi Drive.
What am I doing WRONG?
Thanks,
Bob