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#17
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Free up the vista partition space
The full description in disk manager for disk 0 is:
No Letter - 7.81 GB Healthy (OEM partition ) C: 33.36 GB NTFS Healthy (system, Active, Primary Partition) Has XP system D: 33.35 GB NTFS Healthy ( Boot, Page File Crash Dump Primary Partition) Has Win7 system The D partition has got a Boot folder in it the C: does not. I can not get into the OEM partition at all as it does not show up on "Computer" So do you confirm I can empty C: which I think I would prefer to do by deleteing files rather than risk a more powerful approach? Mervyn "R. C. White" wrote in message ecom... Hi, Mervyn. RC - sorry to have offended you No offense taken. I'm just trying to be sure whether (a) I explained something wrongly, or (b) my explanation was not understood. Now it sounds like there was a little of both. It would be much easier if I could actually watch over your shoulder and see what's on your screen. ;^} there is apparently another small partition without any drive letter called "OEM partition" which seems to only give me a nice "Acer" picture before getting to windows. Aha! And does THAT unlettered partition have the "System" label in Disk Management? I don't recall that you've mentioned that partition before in this thread. I've never had an Acer or any other brand-name computer since about 1989. I buy the motherboard, CPU and other components and assemble the system myself. Many newsgroup messages from users of HP, Dell and other systems have mentioned such a hidden partition, often called a "recovery partition", but I've never dealt with one myself so I often forget about it until reminded. If the Acer partition is your System Partition, then THAT is where bootmgr and the hidden \Boot folder should be. Changes here affect your boot-up process. Changes to files in other partitions will have no effect. Only those in the System Partition matter. To repeat myself: Boot-up ALWAYS starts in the SYSTEM PARTITION. From there, it branches to the BOOT VOLUME - wherever that may be. Please run Disk Management again in Win7. In the Graphical View, please note ALL the partitions on Disk 0, and ALL the partitions on Disk 1. Note the "drive" letters AND the NAMES that you've assigned to each of them, as well as the size of each. And, most important, see which has the System status in the Volume Listing above? Win7 computer management the Boot is in D. The XP installation remains in C. Based on this, it appears that ALL you have to do to free up space on your Drive C: (first partition on your first hard disk) is to delete C:\Windows, WinXP's Boot Folder. Which is what I said in my latest post: I THINK all you have to do is boot into Win7 and Delete C:\Windows Let us know how this works out for you. RC -- R. C. White, CPA San Marcos, TX Microsoft Windows MVP Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64 "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... RC - sorry to have offended you - I did read your post very carefully but I am still hesitant at taking further action because last time I lost everything! So this time I booted from the Win7 into the D Drive and according to the Win7 computer management the Boot is in D. The XP installation remains in C. Both C and D are called primary partitions and also part of my confusion is that there is apparently another small partition without any drive letter called "OEM partition" which seems to only give me a nice "Acer" picture before getting to windows. Are you saying I can format this C: partition with the status as described or should I just delete the files? I guess I still don't completely understand whether the MBR are files which can be seen in explorer or are hidden sectors on one of the partitions? Mervyn "R. C. White" wrote in message ecom... Hi, again, Mervyn. You mean that I wasted all the time I spent typing that yesterday? You just ignored it all? :( Go back and read at least some of it. Especially those paragraphs near the end that start: If you installed Win7 by booting from the Win7 DVD-ROM... and: But if you installed Win7 by booting into Vista... You didn't tell us which method you used, so we don't know which letter refers to which partition. That final paragraph might be the most important To see what letters your current OS has installed, use Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc). And look in the Status column to see which volumes have the System and Boot labels. Please do that - in Win7 AND in Vista - and then post back and tell us: In Vista, which volume has the System label, and which has the Boot label? In Win7, which volume has the System label, and which has the Boot label? What is the NAME and the LETTER of each of those volumes? I THINK all you have to do is boot into Win7 and Delete C:\Windows - but I can't be sure because I don't know the answers to those questions. But - Win7 will not delete its OWN boot folder, so the worse that can happen is an error message refusing to do that. In which case, all you have to do is delete C:\Windows. But you should understand WHY this is true. RC "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... Panic Over! I have taken the easy option of installing XP and then "upgraded" to Win7 as my DVD would not boot. This time the boot record appears to be in D: together with Win7. I say appears because I cannot see any mention of it in C: which now contains the much smaller XP installation and plenty of spare space. So I am back to - how can I make sure the boot record is in D: and to get rid of the XP in C: as I am technically not allowed to have this copy. What I really would like to do when all is over is to take a disk image of D: with the assurance that I can restore my system completely if I get another total failure. I want C: to be totally for user files backed up seperately! Again thanks for everyone who is helping. "R. C. White" wrote in message ... Hi, Mervyn. The Windows startup procedure is quite simple - but it confuses many users. Boot-up ALWAYS starts in the SYSTEM PARTITION. From there, it branches to the BOOT VOLUME - wherever that may be. That's it! The confusion comes in the many meanings of simple English words. :( The computer BOOTS from the SYSTEM partition and keeps its operating SYSTEM files in the BOOT Volume. For definitions of these terms, see KB 314470: Definitions for system volume and boot volume http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470/EN-US/ In the typical system, the first partition on the first HDD serves as BOTH the System Partition and the Boot Volume for the only Windows installation. That's what you probably had before installing Win7. When you installed Win7, you created a new second partition to serve as the Boot Volume for Win7, but it continued to use the first partition as the System Partition. (Vista probably calls that second partition Drive D:; Win7 may or may not agree.) Setup updated the startup files on that first partition to give you the option of booting Vista or Win7. When you used the downloaded third-party "partition manager" to wipe that first partition, it also wiped out those critical startup files. NO operating system will obey an order to delete its own Boot Volume or boot folder (\Windows) or the System Partition. That's like ordering it to commit suicide or saw off the limb that it's sitting on, and it won't obey. That's why you had to use a separate "partition manager" to do the job without booting into Windows at all. But Vista will happily delete Win7's boot folder - and vice versa. So the simplest way for you to delete Vista would have been to boot into Win7 and delete X:\Windows (with X: denoting the letter that Win7 uses for the System Partition - see the next paragraphs). This would remove all the Vista operating system files, while leaving the startup files intact on the System Partition. If you installed Win7 by booting from the Win7 DVD-ROM, it would have assigned C: to its own Boot Volume - the new second partition - and would refer to the first partition as D:, but Vista would still call that first partition C:. So you could now boot into Win7 (on your new Drive C and delete D:\Windows to remove Vista but leave the startup files on D: intact. But if you installed Win7 by booting into Vista and running Win7 Setup from the Vista desktop, it would have used the same letters that Vista had assigned; Win7 would see Vista in C:\Windows and Win7 in D:\Windows. So now you could boot into Win7 on D: and delete C:\Windows to remove Vista without disturbing the startup files. To see what letters your current OS has installed, use Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc). And look in the Status column to see which volumes have the System and Boot labels. Like I said: Simple - but confusing. :^} RC "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... Having upgraded from Vista to W7 I now have 2 partitions and neither OS will allow me to delete or format the vista partition. I am running a bit short on space so how do I get rid of the vista partition - Can I simply just delete the files on this partition? I don't want vista ever again! Mervyn |
#18
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Free up the vista partition space
On Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:22:07 -0600, "R. C. White"
wrote: Hi, Mervyn. RC - sorry to have offended you there is apparently another small partition without any drive letter called "OEM partition" which seems to only give me a nice "Acer" picture before getting to windows. Aha! And does THAT unlettered partition have the "System" label in Disk Management? Hi R. C. and Mervyn The small partition is an Acer recovery partition. Acer does not provide "recovery" disks as they used to. Instead there's a custom partition (usually labeled "PQSERVICE") that's a HPFS rather than NTFS format and should be HIDDEN. It contains the custom Windows install files. Pressing ALT-F10 during startup launches a re-install routine from that hidden patition. Obviously, it should not be messed with. It is NOT the System partition and is only ever accessed after pressing ALT-F10. |
#19
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Free up the vista partition space
Hi, Mervyn.
OK! Now we're getting somewhere. We FINALLY know which is the System Partition! ;) The D partition has got a Boot folder in it the C: does not. You still haven't told us the NAMES of those partitions. You probably haven't named them, which is why you are still using - and being confused by - drive LETTERS. If you could reboot into WinXP, you would see that its partition (Drive C:? The letter might change, but it would still be the second partition, the one after the no-letter partition.) would then have the Boot label - that status is for whichever partition has the OS that is CURRENTLY RUNNING, And Drive C: would still have the System status, because that doesn't depend on which OS is running. So do you confirm I can empty C: which I think I would prefer to do by deleteing files rather than risk a more powerful approach? YES! Well, don't "empty" C:, because that will wipe out the hidden, system file "bootmgr" and \Boot folder - and without those, you won't be able to boot anything. DELETE C:\WINDOWS!!! That won't wipe out those hidden files, or any of your data files or program files in C:\Program Files. But it will delete your entire WinXP Boot Folder tree, which is C:\Windows and all its subfolders and the files in them - probably a gigabyte or more of them. My latest WinXP's \Windows folder has nearly 2 GB in almost 12,000 files and 2,000 folders. (If you don't show much more free space on C: after this, you might need to empty the Recycle Bin.) Then post back and tell us what happened. RC -- R. C. White, CPA San Marcos, TX Microsoft Windows MVP Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64 "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... The full description in disk manager for disk 0 is: No Letter - 7.81 GB Healthy (OEM partition ) C: 33.36 GB NTFS Healthy (system, Active, Primary Partition) Has XP system D: 33.35 GB NTFS Healthy ( Boot, Page File Crash Dump Primary Partition) Has Win7 system The D partition has got a Boot folder in it the C: does not. I can not get into the OEM partition at all as it does not show up on "Computer" So do you confirm I can empty C: which I think I would prefer to do by deleteing files rather than risk a more powerful approach? Mervyn "R. C. White" wrote in message ecom... Hi, Mervyn. RC - sorry to have offended you No offense taken. I'm just trying to be sure whether (a) I explained something wrongly, or (b) my explanation was not understood. Now it sounds like there was a little of both. It would be much easier if I could actually watch over your shoulder and see what's on your screen. ;^} there is apparently another small partition without any drive letter called "OEM partition" which seems to only give me a nice "Acer" picture before getting to windows. Aha! And does THAT unlettered partition have the "System" label in Disk Management? I don't recall that you've mentioned that partition before in this thread. I've never had an Acer or any other brand-name computer since about 1989. I buy the motherboard, CPU and other components and assemble the system myself. Many newsgroup messages from users of HP, Dell and other systems have mentioned such a hidden partition, often called a "recovery partition", but I've never dealt with one myself so I often forget about it until reminded. If the Acer partition is your System Partition, then THAT is where bootmgr and the hidden \Boot folder should be. Changes here affect your boot-up process. Changes to files in other partitions will have no effect. Only those in the System Partition matter. To repeat myself: Boot-up ALWAYS starts in the SYSTEM PARTITION. From there, it branches to the BOOT VOLUME - wherever that may be. Please run Disk Management again in Win7. In the Graphical View, please note ALL the partitions on Disk 0, and ALL the partitions on Disk 1. Note the "drive" letters AND the NAMES that you've assigned to each of them, as well as the size of each. And, most important, see which has the System status in the Volume Listing above? Win7 computer management the Boot is in D. The XP installation remains in C. Based on this, it appears that ALL you have to do to free up space on your Drive C: (first partition on your first hard disk) is to delete C:\Windows, WinXP's Boot Folder. Which is what I said in my latest post: I THINK all you have to do is boot into Win7 and Delete C:\Windows Let us know how this works out for you. RC "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... RC - sorry to have offended you - I did read your post very carefully but I am still hesitant at taking further action because last time I lost everything! So this time I booted from the Win7 into the D Drive and according to the Win7 computer management the Boot is in D. The XP installation remains in C. Both C and D are called primary partitions and also part of my confusion is that there is apparently another small partition without any drive letter called "OEM partition" which seems to only give me a nice "Acer" picture before getting to windows. Are you saying I can format this C: partition with the status as described or should I just delete the files? I guess I still don't completely understand whether the MBR are files which can be seen in explorer or are hidden sectors on one of the partitions? Mervyn "R. C. White" wrote in message ecom... Hi, again, Mervyn. You mean that I wasted all the time I spent typing that yesterday? You just ignored it all? :( Go back and read at least some of it. Especially those paragraphs near the end that start: If you installed Win7 by booting from the Win7 DVD-ROM... and: But if you installed Win7 by booting into Vista... You didn't tell us which method you used, so we don't know which letter refers to which partition. That final paragraph might be the most important To see what letters your current OS has installed, use Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc). And look in the Status column to see which volumes have the System and Boot labels. Please do that - in Win7 AND in Vista - and then post back and tell us: In Vista, which volume has the System label, and which has the Boot label? In Win7, which volume has the System label, and which has the Boot label? What is the NAME and the LETTER of each of those volumes? I THINK all you have to do is boot into Win7 and Delete C:\Windows - but I can't be sure because I don't know the answers to those questions. But - Win7 will not delete its OWN boot folder, so the worse that can happen is an error message refusing to do that. In which case, all you have to do is delete C:\Windows. But you should understand WHY this is true. RC "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... Panic Over! I have taken the easy option of installing XP and then "upgraded" to Win7 as my DVD would not boot. This time the boot record appears to be in D: together with Win7. I say appears because I cannot see any mention of it in C: which now contains the much smaller XP installation and plenty of spare space. So I am back to - how can I make sure the boot record is in D: and to get rid of the XP in C: as I am technically not allowed to have this copy. What I really would like to do when all is over is to take a disk image of D: with the assurance that I can restore my system completely if I get another total failure. I want C: to be totally for user files backed up seperately! Again thanks for everyone who is helping. "R. C. White" wrote in message ... Hi, Mervyn. The Windows startup procedure is quite simple - but it confuses many users. Boot-up ALWAYS starts in the SYSTEM PARTITION. From there, it branches to the BOOT VOLUME - wherever that may be. That's it! The confusion comes in the many meanings of simple English words. :( The computer BOOTS from the SYSTEM partition and keeps its operating SYSTEM files in the BOOT Volume. For definitions of these terms, see KB 314470: Definitions for system volume and boot volume http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470/EN-US/ In the typical system, the first partition on the first HDD serves as BOTH the System Partition and the Boot Volume for the only Windows installation. That's what you probably had before installing Win7. When you installed Win7, you created a new second partition to serve as the Boot Volume for Win7, but it continued to use the first partition as the System Partition. (Vista probably calls that second partition Drive D:; Win7 may or may not agree.) Setup updated the startup files on that first partition to give you the option of booting Vista or Win7. When you used the downloaded third-party "partition manager" to wipe that first partition, it also wiped out those critical startup files. NO operating system will obey an order to delete its own Boot Volume or boot folder (\Windows) or the System Partition. That's like ordering it to commit suicide or saw off the limb that it's sitting on, and it won't obey. That's why you had to use a separate "partition manager" to do the job without booting into Windows at all. But Vista will happily delete Win7's boot folder - and vice versa. So the simplest way for you to delete Vista would have been to boot into Win7 and delete X:\Windows (with X: denoting the letter that Win7 uses for the System Partition - see the next paragraphs). This would remove all the Vista operating system files, while leaving the startup files intact on the System Partition. If you installed Win7 by booting from the Win7 DVD-ROM, it would have assigned C: to its own Boot Volume - the new second partition - and would refer to the first partition as D:, but Vista would still call that first partition C:. So you could now boot into Win7 (on your new Drive C and delete D:\Windows to remove Vista but leave the startup files on D: intact. But if you installed Win7 by booting into Vista and running Win7 Setup from the Vista desktop, it would have used the same letters that Vista had assigned; Win7 would see Vista in C:\Windows and Win7 in D:\Windows. So now you could boot into Win7 on D: and delete C:\Windows to remove Vista without disturbing the startup files. To see what letters your current OS has installed, use Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc). And look in the Status column to see which volumes have the System and Boot labels. Like I said: Simple - but confusing. :^} RC "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... Having upgraded from Vista to W7 I now have 2 partitions and neither OS will allow me to delete or format the vista partition. I am running a bit short on space so how do I get rid of the vista partition - Can I simply just delete the files on this partition? I don't want vista ever again! Mervyn |
#20
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Free up the vista partition space
Hi, OSIRIS.
Thanks for that information. It confirms what I thought I understood after Mervyn's latest post, in which he told us that the first partition AFTER the unlettered partition has the System status. RC -- R. C. White, CPA San Marcos, TX Microsoft Windows MVP Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64 "OSIRIS" wrote in message ... On Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:22:07 -0600, "R. C. White" wrote: Hi, Mervyn. RC - sorry to have offended you there is apparently another small partition without any drive letter called "OEM partition" which seems to only give me a nice "Acer" picture before getting to windows. Aha! And does THAT unlettered partition have the "System" label in Disk Management? Hi R. C. and Mervyn The small partition is an Acer recovery partition. Acer does not provide "recovery" disks as they used to. Instead there's a custom partition (usually labeled "PQSERVICE") that's a HPFS rather than NTFS format and should be HIDDEN. It contains the custom Windows install files. Pressing ALT-F10 during startup launches a re-install routine from that hidden patition. Obviously, it should not be messed with. It is NOT the System partition and is only ever accessed after pressing ALT-F10. |
#21
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Free up the vista partition space
All and especially RC - I now have an almost empty C: drive without windows
XP and the booting is fine straight into Win7 after giving it a zero delay on the boot options. The objective has been met - I have some space and the next thing I will do is create a disk image and boot disk just in case this ever happens again. Thanks to all Mervyn "R. C. White" wrote in message ... Hi, Mervyn. OK! Now we're getting somewhere. We FINALLY know which is the System Partition! ;) The D partition has got a Boot folder in it the C: does not. You still haven't told us the NAMES of those partitions. You probably haven't named them, which is why you are still using - and being confused by - drive LETTERS. If you could reboot into WinXP, you would see that its partition (Drive C:? The letter might change, but it would still be the second partition, the one after the no-letter partition.) would then have the Boot label - that status is for whichever partition has the OS that is CURRENTLY RUNNING, And Drive C: would still have the System status, because that doesn't depend on which OS is running. So do you confirm I can empty C: which I think I would prefer to do by deleteing files rather than risk a more powerful approach? YES! Well, don't "empty" C:, because that will wipe out the hidden, system file "bootmgr" and \Boot folder - and without those, you won't be able to boot anything. DELETE C:\WINDOWS!!! That won't wipe out those hidden files, or any of your data files or program files in C:\Program Files. But it will delete your entire WinXP Boot Folder tree, which is C:\Windows and all its subfolders and the files in them - probably a gigabyte or more of them. My latest WinXP's \Windows folder has nearly 2 GB in almost 12,000 files and 2,000 folders. (If you don't show much more free space on C: after this, you might need to empty the Recycle Bin.) Then post back and tell us what happened. RC -- R. C. White, CPA San Marcos, TX Microsoft Windows MVP Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64 "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... The full description in disk manager for disk 0 is: No Letter - 7.81 GB Healthy (OEM partition ) C: 33.36 GB NTFS Healthy (system, Active, Primary Partition) Has XP system D: 33.35 GB NTFS Healthy ( Boot, Page File Crash Dump Primary Partition) Has Win7 system The D partition has got a Boot folder in it the C: does not. I can not get into the OEM partition at all as it does not show up on "Computer" So do you confirm I can empty C: which I think I would prefer to do by deleteing files rather than risk a more powerful approach? Mervyn "R. C. White" wrote in message ecom... Hi, Mervyn. RC - sorry to have offended you No offense taken. I'm just trying to be sure whether (a) I explained something wrongly, or (b) my explanation was not understood. Now it sounds like there was a little of both. It would be much easier if I could actually watch over your shoulder and see what's on your screen. ;^} there is apparently another small partition without any drive letter called "OEM partition" which seems to only give me a nice "Acer" picture before getting to windows. Aha! And does THAT unlettered partition have the "System" label in Disk Management? I don't recall that you've mentioned that partition before in this thread. I've never had an Acer or any other brand-name computer since about 1989. I buy the motherboard, CPU and other components and assemble the system myself. Many newsgroup messages from users of HP, Dell and other systems have mentioned such a hidden partition, often called a "recovery partition", but I've never dealt with one myself so I often forget about it until reminded. If the Acer partition is your System Partition, then THAT is where bootmgr and the hidden \Boot folder should be. Changes here affect your boot-up process. Changes to files in other partitions will have no effect. Only those in the System Partition matter. To repeat myself: Boot-up ALWAYS starts in the SYSTEM PARTITION. From there, it branches to the BOOT VOLUME - wherever that may be. Please run Disk Management again in Win7. In the Graphical View, please note ALL the partitions on Disk 0, and ALL the partitions on Disk 1. Note the "drive" letters AND the NAMES that you've assigned to each of them, as well as the size of each. And, most important, see which has the System status in the Volume Listing above? Win7 computer management the Boot is in D. The XP installation remains in C. Based on this, it appears that ALL you have to do to free up space on your Drive C: (first partition on your first hard disk) is to delete C:\Windows, WinXP's Boot Folder. Which is what I said in my latest post: I THINK all you have to do is boot into Win7 and Delete C:\Windows Let us know how this works out for you. RC "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... RC - sorry to have offended you - I did read your post very carefully but I am still hesitant at taking further action because last time I lost everything! So this time I booted from the Win7 into the D Drive and according to the Win7 computer management the Boot is in D. The XP installation remains in C. Both C and D are called primary partitions and also part of my confusion is that there is apparently another small partition without any drive letter called "OEM partition" which seems to only give me a nice "Acer" picture before getting to windows. Are you saying I can format this C: partition with the status as described or should I just delete the files? I guess I still don't completely understand whether the MBR are files which can be seen in explorer or are hidden sectors on one of the partitions? Mervyn "R. C. White" wrote in message ecom... Hi, again, Mervyn. You mean that I wasted all the time I spent typing that yesterday? You just ignored it all? :( Go back and read at least some of it. Especially those paragraphs near the end that start: If you installed Win7 by booting from the Win7 DVD-ROM... and: But if you installed Win7 by booting into Vista... You didn't tell us which method you used, so we don't know which letter refers to which partition. That final paragraph might be the most important To see what letters your current OS has installed, use Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc). And look in the Status column to see which volumes have the System and Boot labels. Please do that - in Win7 AND in Vista - and then post back and tell us: In Vista, which volume has the System label, and which has the Boot label? In Win7, which volume has the System label, and which has the Boot label? What is the NAME and the LETTER of each of those volumes? I THINK all you have to do is boot into Win7 and Delete C:\Windows - but I can't be sure because I don't know the answers to those questions. But - Win7 will not delete its OWN boot folder, so the worse that can happen is an error message refusing to do that. In which case, all you have to do is delete C:\Windows. But you should understand WHY this is true. RC "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... Panic Over! I have taken the easy option of installing XP and then "upgraded" to Win7 as my DVD would not boot. This time the boot record appears to be in D: together with Win7. I say appears because I cannot see any mention of it in C: which now contains the much smaller XP installation and plenty of spare space. So I am back to - how can I make sure the boot record is in D: and to get rid of the XP in C: as I am technically not allowed to have this copy. What I really would like to do when all is over is to take a disk image of D: with the assurance that I can restore my system completely if I get another total failure. I want C: to be totally for user files backed up seperately! Again thanks for everyone who is helping. "R. C. White" wrote in message ... Hi, Mervyn. The Windows startup procedure is quite simple - but it confuses many users. Boot-up ALWAYS starts in the SYSTEM PARTITION. From there, it branches to the BOOT VOLUME - wherever that may be. That's it! The confusion comes in the many meanings of simple English words. :( The computer BOOTS from the SYSTEM partition and keeps its operating SYSTEM files in the BOOT Volume. For definitions of these terms, see KB 314470: Definitions for system volume and boot volume http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470/EN-US/ In the typical system, the first partition on the first HDD serves as BOTH the System Partition and the Boot Volume for the only Windows installation. That's what you probably had before installing Win7. When you installed Win7, you created a new second partition to serve as the Boot Volume for Win7, but it continued to use the first partition as the System Partition. (Vista probably calls that second partition Drive D:; Win7 may or may not agree.) Setup updated the startup files on that first partition to give you the option of booting Vista or Win7. When you used the downloaded third-party "partition manager" to wipe that first partition, it also wiped out those critical startup files. NO operating system will obey an order to delete its own Boot Volume or boot folder (\Windows) or the System Partition. That's like ordering it to commit suicide or saw off the limb that it's sitting on, and it won't obey. That's why you had to use a separate "partition manager" to do the job without booting into Windows at all. But Vista will happily delete Win7's boot folder - and vice versa. So the simplest way for you to delete Vista would have been to boot into Win7 and delete X:\Windows (with X: denoting the letter that Win7 uses for the System Partition - see the next paragraphs). This would remove all the Vista operating system files, while leaving the startup files intact on the System Partition. If you installed Win7 by booting from the Win7 DVD-ROM, it would have assigned C: to its own Boot Volume - the new second partition - and would refer to the first partition as D:, but Vista would still call that first partition C:. So you could now boot into Win7 (on your new Drive C and delete D:\Windows to remove Vista but leave the startup files on D: intact. But if you installed Win7 by booting into Vista and running Win7 Setup from the Vista desktop, it would have used the same letters that Vista had assigned; Win7 would see Vista in C:\Windows and Win7 in D:\Windows. So now you could boot into Win7 on D: and delete C:\Windows to remove Vista without disturbing the startup files. To see what letters your current OS has installed, use Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc). And look in the Status column to see which volumes have the System and Boot labels. Like I said: Simple - but confusing. :^} RC "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... Having upgraded from Vista to W7 I now have 2 partitions and neither OS will allow me to delete or format the vista partition. I am running a bit short on space so how do I get rid of the vista partition - Can I simply just delete the files on this partition? I don't want vista ever again! Mervyn |
#22
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Free up the vista partition space
Hi, Mervyn.
Congratulations! It's been a bumpy ride, but I'm glad you got here. ;) Thanks for the feedback. Enjoy! You've earned it. RC -- R. C. White, CPA San Marcos, TX Microsoft Windows MVP Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64 "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... All and especially RC - I now have an almost empty C: drive without windows XP and the booting is fine straight into Win7 after giving it a zero delay on the boot options. The objective has been met - I have some space and the next thing I will do is create a disk image and boot disk just in case this ever happens again. Thanks to all Mervyn "R. C. White" wrote in message ... Hi, Mervyn. OK! Now we're getting somewhere. We FINALLY know which is the System Partition! ;) The D partition has got a Boot folder in it the C: does not. You still haven't told us the NAMES of those partitions. You probably haven't named them, which is why you are still using - and being confused by - drive LETTERS. If you could reboot into WinXP, you would see that its partition (Drive C:? The letter might change, but it would still be the second partition, the one after the no-letter partition.) would then have the Boot label - that status is for whichever partition has the OS that is CURRENTLY RUNNING, And Drive C: would still have the System status, because that doesn't depend on which OS is running. So do you confirm I can empty C: which I think I would prefer to do by deleteing files rather than risk a more powerful approach? YES! Well, don't "empty" C:, because that will wipe out the hidden, system file "bootmgr" and \Boot folder - and without those, you won't be able to boot anything. DELETE C:\WINDOWS!!! That won't wipe out those hidden files, or any of your data files or program files in C:\Program Files. But it will delete your entire WinXP Boot Folder tree, which is C:\Windows and all its subfolders and the files in them - probably a gigabyte or more of them. My latest WinXP's \Windows folder has nearly 2 GB in almost 12,000 files and 2,000 folders. (If you don't show much more free space on C: after this, you might need to empty the Recycle Bin.) Then post back and tell us what happened. RC "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... The full description in disk manager for disk 0 is: No Letter - 7.81 GB Healthy (OEM partition ) C: 33.36 GB NTFS Healthy (system, Active, Primary Partition) Has XP system D: 33.35 GB NTFS Healthy ( Boot, Page File Crash Dump Primary Partition) Has Win7 system The D partition has got a Boot folder in it the C: does not. I can not get into the OEM partition at all as it does not show up on "Computer" So do you confirm I can empty C: which I think I would prefer to do by deleteing files rather than risk a more powerful approach? Mervyn "R. C. White" wrote in message ecom... Hi, Mervyn. RC - sorry to have offended you No offense taken. I'm just trying to be sure whether (a) I explained something wrongly, or (b) my explanation was not understood. Now it sounds like there was a little of both. It would be much easier if I could actually watch over your shoulder and see what's on your screen. ;^} there is apparently another small partition without any drive letter called "OEM partition" which seems to only give me a nice "Acer" picture before getting to windows. Aha! And does THAT unlettered partition have the "System" label in Disk Management? I don't recall that you've mentioned that partition before in this thread. I've never had an Acer or any other brand-name computer since about 1989. I buy the motherboard, CPU and other components and assemble the system myself. Many newsgroup messages from users of HP, Dell and other systems have mentioned such a hidden partition, often called a "recovery partition", but I've never dealt with one myself so I often forget about it until reminded. If the Acer partition is your System Partition, then THAT is where bootmgr and the hidden \Boot folder should be. Changes here affect your boot-up process. Changes to files in other partitions will have no effect. Only those in the System Partition matter. To repeat myself: Boot-up ALWAYS starts in the SYSTEM PARTITION. From there, it branches to the BOOT VOLUME - wherever that may be. Please run Disk Management again in Win7. In the Graphical View, please note ALL the partitions on Disk 0, and ALL the partitions on Disk 1. Note the "drive" letters AND the NAMES that you've assigned to each of them, as well as the size of each. And, most important, see which has the System status in the Volume Listing above? Win7 computer management the Boot is in D. The XP installation remains in C. Based on this, it appears that ALL you have to do to free up space on your Drive C: (first partition on your first hard disk) is to delete C:\Windows, WinXP's Boot Folder. Which is what I said in my latest post: I THINK all you have to do is boot into Win7 and Delete C:\Windows Let us know how this works out for you. RC "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... RC - sorry to have offended you - I did read your post very carefully but I am still hesitant at taking further action because last time I lost everything! So this time I booted from the Win7 into the D Drive and according to the Win7 computer management the Boot is in D. The XP installation remains in C. Both C and D are called primary partitions and also part of my confusion is that there is apparently another small partition without any drive letter called "OEM partition" which seems to only give me a nice "Acer" picture before getting to windows. Are you saying I can format this C: partition with the status as described or should I just delete the files? I guess I still don't completely understand whether the MBR are files which can be seen in explorer or are hidden sectors on one of the partitions? Mervyn "R. C. White" wrote in message ecom... Hi, again, Mervyn. You mean that I wasted all the time I spent typing that yesterday? You just ignored it all? :( Go back and read at least some of it. Especially those paragraphs near the end that start: If you installed Win7 by booting from the Win7 DVD-ROM... and: But if you installed Win7 by booting into Vista... You didn't tell us which method you used, so we don't know which letter refers to which partition. That final paragraph might be the most important To see what letters your current OS has installed, use Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc). And look in the Status column to see which volumes have the System and Boot labels. Please do that - in Win7 AND in Vista - and then post back and tell us: In Vista, which volume has the System label, and which has the Boot label? In Win7, which volume has the System label, and which has the Boot label? What is the NAME and the LETTER of each of those volumes? I THINK all you have to do is boot into Win7 and Delete C:\Windows - but I can't be sure because I don't know the answers to those questions. But - Win7 will not delete its OWN boot folder, so the worse that can happen is an error message refusing to do that. In which case, all you have to do is delete C:\Windows. But you should understand WHY this is true. RC "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... Panic Over! I have taken the easy option of installing XP and then "upgraded" to Win7 as my DVD would not boot. This time the boot record appears to be in D: together with Win7. I say appears because I cannot see any mention of it in C: which now contains the much smaller XP installation and plenty of spare space. So I am back to - how can I make sure the boot record is in D: and to get rid of the XP in C: as I am technically not allowed to have this copy. What I really would like to do when all is over is to take a disk image of D: with the assurance that I can restore my system completely if I get another total failure. I want C: to be totally for user files backed up seperately! Again thanks for everyone who is helping. "R. C. White" wrote in message ... Hi, Mervyn. The Windows startup procedure is quite simple - but it confuses many users. Boot-up ALWAYS starts in the SYSTEM PARTITION. From there, it branches to the BOOT VOLUME - wherever that may be. That's it! The confusion comes in the many meanings of simple English words. :( The computer BOOTS from the SYSTEM partition and keeps its operating SYSTEM files in the BOOT Volume. For definitions of these terms, see KB 314470: Definitions for system volume and boot volume http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470/EN-US/ In the typical system, the first partition on the first HDD serves as BOTH the System Partition and the Boot Volume for the only Windows installation. That's what you probably had before installing Win7. When you installed Win7, you created a new second partition to serve as the Boot Volume for Win7, but it continued to use the first partition as the System Partition. (Vista probably calls that second partition Drive D:; Win7 may or may not agree.) Setup updated the startup files on that first partition to give you the option of booting Vista or Win7. When you used the downloaded third-party "partition manager" to wipe that first partition, it also wiped out those critical startup files. NO operating system will obey an order to delete its own Boot Volume or boot folder (\Windows) or the System Partition. That's like ordering it to commit suicide or saw off the limb that it's sitting on, and it won't obey. That's why you had to use a separate "partition manager" to do the job without booting into Windows at all. But Vista will happily delete Win7's boot folder - and vice versa. So the simplest way for you to delete Vista would have been to boot into Win7 and delete X:\Windows (with X: denoting the letter that Win7 uses for the System Partition - see the next paragraphs). This would remove all the Vista operating system files, while leaving the startup files intact on the System Partition. If you installed Win7 by booting from the Win7 DVD-ROM, it would have assigned C: to its own Boot Volume - the new second partition - and would refer to the first partition as D:, but Vista would still call that first partition C:. So you could now boot into Win7 (on your new Drive C and delete D:\Windows to remove Vista but leave the startup files on D: intact. But if you installed Win7 by booting into Vista and running Win7 Setup from the Vista desktop, it would have used the same letters that Vista had assigned; Win7 would see Vista in C:\Windows and Win7 in D:\Windows. So now you could boot into Win7 on D: and delete C:\Windows to remove Vista without disturbing the startup files. To see what letters your current OS has installed, use Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc). And look in the Status column to see which volumes have the System and Boot labels. Like I said: Simple - but confusing. :^} RC "Mervyn Thomas" wrote in message ... Having upgraded from Vista to W7 I now have 2 partitions and neither OS will allow me to delete or format the vista partition. I am running a bit short on space so how do I get rid of the vista partition - Can I simply just delete the files on this partition? I don't want vista ever again! Mervyn |
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