can i format my drive containing vista now ??

[bankerrahul]

hi all...
i have 3 partition in my pc...
C drive contains vista home basic...D drive contains some data and E drive contains new win7 7260
now...i am not using vista anymore..so can i format my c drive directly...
and one more thing..i have lenovo y510 laptop...and it has a one key recovery option...so if i format my c drive....will i be able to use that one key recovery feature in future ???
and apart from 3 partition...i have one more partition which is hidden...in computer management tool...it shows "OEM".
so what do you say ??? is it safe to format my C drive now to get more hdd space ??? but please...i should be able to use "one key recovery"...so reply wisely..please

 

[bum]

If you haven't messed with the hidden OEM partition, you'll be able to restore C drive to the way it was delivered from the factory.

I should add that if you created new partitions, you may have problems. If you do, you'll have to delete those created partitions before restoring.

 

[bankerrahul]

please admins....please help me out soon

 

[Lordbob75]

please admins....please help me out soon

Don't expect help from just the admins, we all help out here.
Did you even read Bum's reply?

The OEM partition is your recovery partition put there by the Manufacturer. This will restore the computer to default settings and programs (OS included) if you want. Don't delete it unless you are sure.

If you no longer use Vista and want it gone, then go ahead and delete it. No problem. Just use delete partition (from computer management) and then extend the Seven (or whatever partition) into that free space.

~Lordbob

 

[bankerrahul]

Don't expect help from just the admins, we all help out here.
Did you even read Bum's reply?

The OEM partition is your recovery partition put there by the Manufacturer. This will restore the computer to default settings and programs (OS included) if you want. Don't delete it unless you are sure.

If you no longer use Vista and want it gone, then go ahead and delete it. No problem. Just use delete partition (from computer management) and then extend the Seven (or whatever partition) into that free space.

~Lordbob

sorry dude i wasnt meaning that but actually i was not sure and i am very afraid that i might lose my vista one key recovery...because you know...it is the best feature of my laptop..and if something happens to that ...
and please..believe me...i didnt mean that at all...i apologizw for those words...
but i am very worried about this issue...on one side...i want to free some space and on the other hand i am afraid to lose one key recovery....
so please....help me soon...i am asking you all once again..should i format my C drive now ?
thanks to all

 

[bankerrahul]

and also want to add one more thing...my vista is an original one....so please...i dont want to take any risk..please reply
thanks

 

[Lordbob75]

As I said above: If you keep the OEM recovery partition, you can do WHATEVER you want to the other partitions with no danger. But if you want to restore, you will need to create a new partition to restore to.

~Lordbob

 

[bankerrahul]

As I said above: If you keep the OEM recovery partition, you can do WHATEVER you want to the other partitions with no danger. But if you want to restore, you will need to create a new partition to restore to.

~Lordbob

ok thanks i hope it works.... thanks so much
but i tell you....i am afraid so much for the first time

 

[Frostbite]

Then I would recommend you take a full system backup before you start. I know I will. Use a imaging software like Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost.

 

[bankerrahul]

and one more question...if i format c drive directly...will it be also deleted from the os selection boot menu ???

 

[bankerrahul]

if not...how to do that ??

 

[SquonkSC]

if not...how to do that ??

Hi,

There's is two things you definitely have to check before you go ahead with formatting the C: !!

You have to check in diskmanagement or acronis etc... which drive is active.

And more importantly where are the windows boot files?!!

Put your system to show hidden and system files, and look for the "ntldr" and the "ntdetect.com".
The bootsqm.dat (bootorder file) could be on the other partition.

If the ntldr and ntdetect.com are on the C:, formatting it would also kill your windows 7.

Then you have to copy those two files to your Win7 drive (along with the bootsqm.dat)
Then you have to get a partioner like acronis disk director or any other partioner to set the drive to active.

So be very carefull what you do.

Backup you important stuff first. And don't forget your favourites, your emailaccounts and addressbook, files saved to the desktop, etc.

People tend to forget those.

Good luck
When you

 

[bankerrahul]

Hi,

There's is two things you definitely have to check before you go ahead with formatting the C: !!

You have to check in diskmanagement or acronis etc... which drive is active.

And more importantly where are the windows boot files?!!

Put your system to show hidden and system files, and look for the "ntldr" and the "ntdetect.com".
The bootsqm.dat (bootorder file) could be on the other partition.

If the ntldr and ntdetect.com are on the C:, formatting it would also kill your windows 7.

Then you have to copy those two files to your Win7 drive (along with the bootsqm.dat)
Then you have to get a partioner like acronis disk director or any other partioner to set the drive to active.

So be very carefull what you do.

Backup you important stuff first. And don't forget your favourites, your emailaccounts and addressbook, files saved to the desktop, etc.

People tend to forget those.

Good luck
When you

thanks so much for a helpful information...but can you tell me where will i find those boot files ?? i mean in which folder will i get those files ??

 

[go away]

if u format by using boot able disk it will be deleted for your boot screen . dont fear just try on your own, if u make a mistake also u will learn some thing from that. good luck.....................

 

[bankerrahul]

if u format by using boot able disk it will be deleted for your boot screen . dont fear just try on your own, if u make a mistake also u will learn some thing from that. good luck.....................

sorry dude...but my dvd drive is not working

 

[SquonkSC]

thanks so much for a helpful information...but can you tell me where will i find those boot files ?? i mean in which folder will i get those files ??

Bootfiles are always in the root of the drive, never in a folder.

Example: C:\ntdlr or D:\ntdlr

I have to add that if you are not sure of what you are doing, don't do it!

You can mess things up pretty bad.

Ask for a more technical friend in your neighbourhood to help you.

Good luck

 

[go away]

i think u should make your DVD drive ok then you should
do all your works.....

 

[jasjeet]

Bootfiles are always in the root of the drive, never in a folder.

Example: C:\ntdlr or D:\ntdlr

I have to add that if you are not sure of what you are doing, don't do it!

You can mess things up pretty bad.

Ask for a more technical friend in your neighbourhood to help you.

Good luck

cant you just repair 7 afterwards, im sure thats what i did last time i removed vista from the dualboot.

 

[Lordbob75]

and one more question...if i format c drive directly...will it be also deleted from the os selection boot menu ???

Yes, as long as the mbr is changed.

~Lordbob

 

[sjaak327]

cant you just repair 7 afterwards, im sure thats what i did last time i removed vista from the dualboot.

yeah you can very easily, but you need the DVD, and the OP doesn't have a working DVD, another thing that might work in this case is Vistape, which is basically vista on a stick, that can be used to repair a system in this way, of course to create it you need either a Vista DVD or... the Vista Waik, which you can download as iso from Microsoft free of charge.

VistaPE —


Anyway to quickly indentify the drive that has the boot partition, simple do the following:

go to start menu, and enter the following in the search pane:

diskmgmt.msc and press enter

This will get you the disk management mmc console, the partition that has the boot files + menu, will be labeled boot.

I am a bit surprised that until squonksc nobody mentioned the boot files, as the chance that they are on the Vista partition is great, since I asssume vista was installed first.