Could i change 'System drive' to another partition?

I've been having numerous issues with my installation since 3 weeks ago when everything came crashing down. Tired of trying to fix everything, i decided to do a clean format. But i've got a question though.

I have 2 HDD. Main drive (OS) have 3 partitions and my storage drive.
Before this, my main drive consist of XP, Windows 7 and the other is just a small storage.

I just formatted my PC and decided to get rid of XP and use the space for my Windows 7 backup (as posted here.) Now in Disk Management, i see that the partition (previous XP) shows as 'system' (see attachment).

Could i still backup my Windows 7 on that partition? If not, how could i go about this?

1) Is XP still booting/starting-up or have you done the format already?

If you have formatted XP already you may not be able to boot to the Windows 7 partition so don't shut down the PC yet.

Basically when i wanted to re-install my Windows 7, there's a point where it asks which drive do i want to install it to. First, i 'format' my XP partition. After which, i format my Windows 7 partition and install it (Windows 7) on the same drive. I've restarted my PC numerous times the past few hours (updates).


2) Is there unused space on the "Disk 1, partition E:" that could be used?

Partition E is wayyyy too overpack (647 MB remaining).

Whether you formatted R or not, Win7 placed its boot files there when you reinstalled it to C, because C is Logical and boot files cannot be placed on a Logical partition.

I will give you the steps to fix this, but you need to decide if you'd like to have C in the first partition slot which is preferred for WIn7 since it is closer to where the disk reader parks. If so the steps given below to convert Logical to Primary and recover the System MBR into C should include Resizing C into deleted R space.

Download, burn to CD and boot free Partition Wizard bootable CD, select 1 for screen res, rightlick C>Modify>Convert to Primary, OK. Next rightlick C>Modify>Set to Active, OK, Apply steps.

If you want put C Win7 in the first partition space, next rightclick R>Delete, then rightclick C>Resize, slide left border all the way to the left over deleted R, then resize right border as desired, OK, Apply steps.

If you want to leave R where it is, rightclick R>Modify>Set to Inactive, OK, Apply step.

Now confirm from booted CD that C is Primary marked Active and if R still exists it is Inactive.

Win7 will not boot now. Boot the Win7 DVD Repair console, click through to Recovery Tools list to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots until Win7 starts.

@whs: Before all these crazy happenings, when i'm on 7, XP is D and 7 is C. After i format my XP partition, it doesn't have a drive name. So i name it R.

I'm sooo lost right now. Should i remove my 1TB (D) drive and reinstall XP to R? Now i can't play HD videos. No idea what's going on. :S

Yes. It just seems a little risky.

Firstly, i'm going to remove my D drive, then reinstall my XP to R. Hopefully this would fix it. If it doesn't, i'll be sure to use your method. Back in a bit.

What's risky?

PW hasn't failed in several hundred repartitioning operations we've helped with here. Just use the CD.

If you reinstall XP you'll need to add Win7 back to Dual Boot using EasyBCD 2.0. Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP