How to format drive (windows xp) on dual boot system (windows 7 pro)

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  1. Posts : 9
    windows 7 64 bit and windows xp
       #1

    How to format drive (windows xp) on dual boot system (windows 7 pro)


    I am not sure how to do this. I originally had XP and added another drive installing windows 7 professional (64 bit) and have a dual boot system. I transferred or saved all of the data from the XP drive and want to format it, however it will not allow me to format it.
    I boot up on drive C: which is w7 but can select to boot up on drive D: which is XP.
    I have attached screen shot of the disk manager, but
    Disk 0 is D: is NTFS Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition) which is the windows XP drive.
    Disk 1 is C: is NTFS Healthy (Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition) which is the w7p drive.

    Not sure how to do this without loosing the w7p drive. I thought about unplugging the w7p drive and booting from the w7p disk, but not sure how that would work when plugging the original w7p drive back in.

    Thanks.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails How to format drive (windows xp) on dual boot system (windows 7 pro)-disk-manager042916.jpg  
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  2. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #2

    I'd guess your problem is that you want to boot from C and format D, but Windows frowns at that when it sees that D contains your system files.

    This probably happened because you left the XP drive connected when you installed Windows 7 to the other drive.

    I also suspect that if you disconnect the D drive you can't boot at all from C. Is that correct? That would also be because your system files are on D.

    If your system files were on C, I think you could then boot from C with D disconnected.

    And you should also then be able to boot from C and format D.

    You can use an application like BCDedit to copy system files from C to D.

    Or you may be able to do it by disconnecting D and running system repair from a Windows install DVD--you may have to run it several times.

    Others may have more ideas. That's my best guess just looking at the pic you posted.
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  3. Posts : 9
    windows 7 64 bit and windows xp
    Thread Starter
       #3

    I also suspect that if you disconnect the D drive you can't boot at all from C. Is that correct? Yes that is correct.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 6,330
    Multi-Boot W7_Pro_x64 W8.1_Pro_x64 W10_Pro_x64 +Linux_VMs +Chromium_VM
       #4

    I think your easiest way to fix this to use EasyBCD and move the boot code to the Disk 1 HD using this tutorial:
    Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD

    When you installed Win 7 you had the Win XP HD (Disk 0) connected, right ?
    If so, that's why Win 7 updated and used the bootloader you already had installed on the XP drive.

    When installing an OS it's best to disconnect all HD/SSD that are not used to install TO.
    You should only have connected the drive you are installing TO, and the device you are installing FROM (DVD,flash stick,etc.).
    Then the install will put a bootloader on the drive where windows is installed.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 9
    windows 7 64 bit and windows xp
    Thread Starter
       #5

    How to format drive (windows xp) on dual boot system (windows 7 pro)


    I had to search for the EasyBCD, but now have it. It is version 2.3. The tutorial was for a different version, however I think that I know what to select, but wanted to make sure with your advice. See screen shots. How to format drive (windows xp) on dual boot system (windows 7 pro)-screenshoteasybcd.jpg

    How to format drive (windows xp) on dual boot system (windows 7 pro)-screenshoteasybcd2.jpg

    How to format drive (windows xp) on dual boot system (windows 7 pro)-screenshoteasybcd3.jpg

    Thanks again.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 6,330
    Multi-Boot W7_Pro_x64 W8.1_Pro_x64 W10_Pro_x64 +Linux_VMs +Chromium_VM
       #6

    No, you clicked the Advanced Settings button.

    You need to
    1) click the BCD Backup/Repair button
    2) click the Change boot drive radio button
    3) click the Perform Action button

    How to format drive (windows xp) on dual boot system (windows 7 pro)-easeus_backup_03.png

    That will open a window where you make sure the C drive is selected, and then click OK.

      My Computer


  7. Posts : 9
    windows 7 64 bit and windows xp
    Thread Starter
       #7

    formatting successful however data already used?


    I did what you said and still could not format D:. The disk manager info looked the same as before.

    Disk 0 is D: is NTFS Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition) which is the windows XP drive.
    Disk 1 is C: is NTFS Healthy (Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition) which is the w7p drive.

    So here is what I did. I rebooted and looked at the MSI bios, and noticed that even though Disk 1 is selected to boot as before, there was another section that you could also select the priority of the the hard drives, see the bottom of the photo included.



    After doing that I was able to format D:, however I am puzzled after formatting it from the DOS prompt that it shows that there are 158 MB that are used, out of 1TB. Any idea what that is about?


    How to format drive (windows xp) on dual boot system (windows 7 pro)-nkmypc-04.jpg
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 6,330
    Multi-Boot W7_Pro_x64 W8.1_Pro_x64 W10_Pro_x64 +Linux_VMs +Chromium_VM
       #8

    Post a maximized/resized screen print of Disk Management using these instructions:
    Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 9
    windows 7 64 bit and windows xp
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Okay, here is the screen shot.

    How to format drive (windows xp) on dual boot system (windows 7 pro)-diskmgt1.png
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 9
    windows 7 64 bit and windows xp
    Thread Starter
       #10

    and here is the properties of D:
    How to format drive (windows xp) on dual boot system (windows 7 pro)-fromateddproperties1.png
      My Computer


 
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