Change my Windows 7 drive to System Partition?

diomedes · 08 Dec 2010

So, previously I was running Xp, and somehow it was in a state of decline and decided to move on to Windows 7. I had an alternate internal HD, so I formatted that and installed Windows 7 apparently without issue. Currently I have 2 internals with 2 (more or less) functional OS. BIOS allows me to chose the one to run. However, my unstable XP drive (I'm unsure if the disk or the windows system is causing the instability) is still considered the System partition. I'd like to format it to remove the old XP completely. I'd like to find a way to make the partition that runs Windows 7 the System partition.

This became clear to me when the old drive crapped out and in BIOS i received the cannot find NTLDR (it could not detect that drive, and relied on it's boot files to start up any OS, at least that is my understanding). That old XP drive displays very odd behaviors, and sometimes windows 7 loses detection of it in explorer.

However, when in Windows7, it will not allow me to format the XP drive. Both in explorer and Disk Managment the option is not allowed. Now, how can I change my partition that Windows 7 runs from to be the main system to avoid further problems? And will any further problems go away if I find a way to format and remove the XP system, or is the disk that contains the XP system somehow damaged? Should I go and replace that drive entirely?

Also, my partition containing Windows 7 is also labeled "Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition" in disk management. I've never seen those status descriptions, are they bad?

Thanks for the help.

Arc · 09 Dec 2010

Can you post a screenshot of the disk management window to make the situation clear to us ?

Usually the system partition in windows 7 is the hidden 100 MB system Reserved partition which includes the bootloader in it . Probably it is in your XP partition now . And there should be another question ... which one is the active partition .

Some utilities like Windows 7 installation Disk, Gparted Live CD and Partition Wizard bootable CD can manage the situation, but first of all, the situation isto be clear with the support of a screenshot of disk management window.

diomedes · 09 Dec 2010

Sure, here....
E: is the problematic XP partition
C: is where Windows 7 is running from
D: is just a storage partition, nothing important

Arc · 09 Dec 2010

The most efficient way to recover the situation is to remove (unplug) the disk 2 and then preform a Clean Install Windows 7 , so that it is installed appropriately , with the system reserved partition . Just back your data (that is in C) up before doing it .

If you dont want to do a clean install , unplug disk 2 and then boot from windows 7 dvd . Run Startup Repair for three times with restarts . If it boots up after that with disk 2 still unplugged , you have solved your problem .

Now if you want, you can format your disk 2 . Post back with results .

Bare Foot Kid · 09 Dec 2010

Hello diomedes, welcome to Seven Forums!

The easiest way to do this would be to disconnect the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) that contains XP and in the BIOS set the Windows 7 HDD as the second boot device after the CD-ROM then boot the Windows 7 DVD or a created repair CD and run the startup repairs discussed in this tutorial at the link below to create the boot files to the Windows 7 partition.

Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times

diomedes · 09 Dec 2010

Well, it was early on in the process, so re-installing is not a big setback, I did not start installing apps into the Win7 i created. Doing that now, so far everything makes sense and works.

My pc states specifically states that it *supports* 64 bit. Does that actually mean it is 64 bit? Or that I can run windows 7 64 bit on it? In most of the properties when in windows explorer i look up the specs on it, it does not state anything about 64 bit. But in BIOS when i was messing around in the F2 menu it said it was supported.

I set the current installation for 64 bit, could someone confirm? It is not however a powerful computer, which would generally match the specs for 64 bit (sorry, I did not get the data, which I should have, it's installing now).

edit:
here are the stats
Intel Pentium E2140 @1.6Ghz
1.08 single channel DDR2 256mhz
Conroe motherboard

well, the 64 bit works, but I think it lags here and there. Should I go back again and re-install 32 bit again?

Lunarpancake · 09 Dec 2010

when it says it supports 64 bit that means you have the option of running 64bit if you choose. You can still install 32bit (x86) OS's on it too.

I believe the recommended system specs for windows 7 x86 vs x64 are the same with the exception of supported amount of ram. You should be fine!

diomedes · 09 Dec 2010

I think I recall reading somewhere that about 4Gb of ram is required for 64bit windows 7? I have a measly 1 GB of ram. Is that really ok?

Arc · 09 Dec 2010

You can use either version (32 bit or 64 bit ) of Windows 7 Home Premium with your existing license . To run 64 bit properly, you ill need at least 4 GBs of RAM .

If you want to install 32 bit after installing 64 bit , you have to do a clean install with 32 bit OS .

diomedes · 09 Dec 2010

Ok, well the system runs ok for now. Can I just go out and buy some extra Ram and plug it in, while I let it run in less than ideal circumstances for a couple days? Is it that simple? Also, my version of Windows 7 is the Ultimate. I do not know if that changes anything.