Partition help.

G

Gr8Gambit

New Member
I got a new hard drive. Upon installing windows it asked if i wanted to make a partition to install it on. I decided to (made a 3 GB partition). When windows was installing it wasn't reading some files on the SP2 disc and when I got onto the desktop many applications were missing.
I decided to reinstall and hopefully the installation would work. It did, but I installed it on a separte partition, the remaining 200 some GB's of the drive (now E: drive). Now whenever I turn on the computer I get asked what OS I want to run. I deleted the first XP version I installed (which was on the C: drive), but it's still recognized upon boot. I tried to delete the E: partition but it won't let me since it's the primary partition.
I don't want to have to choose which OS to run every time I boot, even though if I chose the first one it wouldn't load cause no files are present. I'd be willing to erase everything and start all over again from scratch if that's possible. Thanks

CN: how to delete a primary partition (microsoft webpage was no help)
 
No need to wipe everything, although you can delete the primary partition via the Windows CD.

To get rid of the boot menu, go to Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Startup and Recovery -> Settings. Select the OS you want to boot, and untick the 'Time to display list of Operating systems' option. Alternatively, you can click on Edit and remove the entry for the OS you don't want.
 
The XP installer will do that when booting from the installation disk. Upon choosing the install now instead of recovery console option you look for the "L" to delete the current installation. That will take you to another screen to then press "D" after highlighting the current E installation.

If you are unable to delete the installation there you can manually delete it using one of two methods. With a 98 or ME start up floppy you simply type in fdisk at the dos prompt to have that detect the partition and remove. That will also depend on the size of the hard drive. The other option is to use a Linux partitioning tool like Qpart or the Gnome Partition Edition. The last will remove any partition with any OS on it. Both of those are free utilities.

GPart 0.1h is available for Windows at http://tucows.com/preview/8292 If you need a burning software to burn the iso image to a cd-r BurnOn is a freeware found at http://www.burnworld.com/burnoncddvd/

When booting with GPart the existing hard drives and partitions will be shown. Simply choose the "E" partition and click on the delete button. Afterwards click on the Apply button to see the partition removed. You can also create one single primary partition right after for a fresh installation of XP.
 
As long as you never develop any bad sectors you shouldn't see any problems with any drive. Hard and cold starts are more likely to see any damages done. That's when you hit the reset button while Windows is up and running or not letting the system warm up a little when going to load large apps. When trying out different Linux distros you will see that alot! :P
 
Ok, I was able to delete the multiple OS boot option by deleting the lines in the boot.ini. I still wasn't allowed to delete the primary partition in windows and with the installation cd it wasn't working either. I was fiddling around and found out if I have the cd-rom boot first and then the hd, the installation files won't be put on the partition, so I was allowed to delete it. before the cd would put some installation files on the primary partition and it wouldn't let me press D and then L on it. Everythings good now. Thanks.
 
If your board has the F8 boot menu available ar post time you don't have worry about having the hard drive as the first listed in the bios boot device order. That will bring the temporary option to boot from a cd or dvd drive or even another hard drive if one is installed.

You can boot from the XP disk and choose to delete or create a partition there to install Windows on. Or you can easily use the GPart 0.1h mentioned earlier. That will detect and delete any partition regardless of the operating system on it. It will also create new ones to the size you want. You can alos choose the type of partition. But you will still need the installation tools for formatting any new ones created.
 
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