Formatting hard drive containing old OS

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  1. Night Hawk
    Posts : 8,375
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
       New #11

    You don't want the zip file version of GParted for sure! That's more for the advanced user to run from the drive not burn to disk as with the iso image. For saving the 7 installation already on and seeing that drive made bootable there's another option.

    First to preserve the Vista drive plus still have the 7 mbr entries present for a dual boot simply unplug the host Vista drive and perform an upgrade repair install on 7 with that being the default boot device being the only hard drive plugged in.

    Once 7 is up and running you replug the Vista drive and see that back as the default. The repair of 7 will still load up when selected at startup even while the second drive is now bootable. You have two sets of mbr entries as well as boot files for 7!

    You haven't done anything else to the Vista drive(host) as far as any further changes while having repaired 7. The BCD Editor.exe file you can download separately can be used to set 7 as the default without losing the new 7 boot splash screen. System Tools - BCD Editor

    If you already have the EasyBCD tool on then you already the 7 boot screen changed to the Vista. With this method both drives however are bootable on their own just as if you had originally performed a stand alone install for each.
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  3. infernalcolonel
    Posts : 7
    windows 7 rc1
    Thread Starter
       New #12

    I want to get rid of Vista for a couple reasons. One, when I installed 7 I moved some of the folders around using the "location" tab under properties, including the desktop folder, and it's acting screwy. But that's just a fraction of the problem...it's running terribly and arbitrarily shuts down periodically for no reason...it doesn't even give me a warning or shutdown screen. It just powers down. This doesn't happen to me in 7.

    So I was wanting a new install, and wondering if I even need Vista anymore. I'm also using the 32-bit version of Vista (64 on 7), but I just doubled my RAM to 4 GB and want to be able to actually use all of it, which I read won't work with the 32-bit version.

    I still have the Vista key since it's stuck to the bottom of my laptop. So I could just boot up a Vista iso and use that key, right?

    OK...so "unplug the drive." Umm...I'm not too familiar with working on laptops...just open the bottom and disconnect the plug? When I boot back up like that to do startup repair...do I need the 7 DVD in the drive and boot off of that, or just boot off the HDD?

    Will the RAID 0 striping idea work, or is that a dumb idea?

    Sorry for all the questions; thanks again for all the help, folks. :)
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  4. antalgebra
    Posts : 147
    Windows 7 64bit Ultimate Build 7268.0.090701-1900
       New #13

    I'm still not seeing why he can't just Axe Vista, this is exactly what I did when i installed 7... used it for a while, then deleted the old one. I do see some possible complications, but nothing that running a repair wouldn't be able to solve without a problem...
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  6. SIW2
    Posts : 16,155
    7 X64
       New #14

    You can use the key on the laptop with a Vista disc if you want to install it in future - should be fine for x64 Vista as well - shouldn't be too hard to get hold of the install media.

    I am using Vista x64 - clean installed with SP2 included in the media.

    Depending on the OEM , you may need to phone them to get that key activated. ( That is not dependent on the bit version of Vista you install - some oem's just do that).

    Ant - the slight complication is the current 7 install ( that he wants to keep) is on an extended partition. It cannot be marked Active and cannot be the system partition.

    If he wants the 7 boot files and the 7 o/s on that HD - he needs to make it a Primary partition.
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  7. antalgebra
    Posts : 147
    Windows 7 64bit Ultimate Build 7268.0.090701-1900
       New #15

    SIW2 said:
    You can use the key on the laptop with a Vista disc if you want to install it in future - should be fine for x64 Vista as well.

    Depending on the OEM , you may need to phone them to get that key activated. ( That is not dependent on the bit version of Vista you install - some oem's just do that).

    Ant - the slight complication is the current 7 install ( that he wants to keep) is on an extended partition. It cannot be marked Active and cannot be the system partition.

    If he wants the 7 boot files and the 7 o/s on that HD - he needs to make it a Primary partition.

    I'm not seeing where the Win7 200Meg system partition went though? W7 should have created one, and taken dominance, as long as it was the last OS installed, all the others would essentially be 'extended', thus not relying on Vista at all... Also, if he uses the 7 disc to delete the partition, it will automatically ignore the system one it created.

    this is how I udnerstand it, unless I missed something above?
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  8. antalgebra
    Posts : 147
    Windows 7 64bit Ultimate Build 7268.0.090701-1900
       New #16

    Oh wait, I gottit... he wants to MOVE the install to the other HD, right? ok, if I got this now, I think there was a simliar discussion with a program to do just that... give me just a sec

    Edit: Ok, N/M on this post, please see my last one, got this mixed up with another... Im just being a yogurt here...
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  10. SIW2
    Posts : 16,155
    7 X64
       New #17

    I believe he would like to keep 7 on the same HD it is on now.

    He wants to delete the partition(s) on the Vista HD.

    The snag with that is the 7 boot files are on the Vista partition.

    Usually , it would be relatively straightforward to recreate the 7 boot files on the 7 hd, and write the mbr and bootsector code onto it.

    Usually, he could then make 7 the first HD in BIOS boot order and delete the partition(s) on the Vista HD.

    Unusually, the entire 7 hd is an Extended partition - you cannot make it into an Active, System partition as is.

    He can either have the 7 boot files on a separate HD from the 7 o/s files,

    OR make the 7 HD into a Primary and follow the usual method - to get the 7 boot files and the 7 o/s files are on the same HD
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  11. antalgebra
    Posts : 147
    Windows 7 64bit Ultimate Build 7268.0.090701-1900
       New #18

    SIW2 said:

    Unusually, the entire 7 hd is an Extended partition - you cannot make it into an Active, System partition as is - therefore you would not then be able to boot at all.

    This is where we kinda hit a cross road...

    Colonel, could you do me a huge favor, boot from your Win7 DVD, and let us know what win7 lists as the 'system partition'?
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  12. antalgebra
    Posts : 147
    Windows 7 64bit Ultimate Build 7268.0.090701-1900
       New #19

    antalgebra said:
    This is where we kinda hit a cross road...

    Colonel, could you do me a huge favor, boot from your Win7 DVD, and let us know what win7 lists as the 'system partition'?

    actually, easier way, just click start and type 'partition' and let us know which 'status' is listed as the system.
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  13. SIW2
    Posts : 16,155
    7 X64
       New #20

    Here's the screenshot of Colonel's Disk Management:

    http://g.imagehost.org/0602/disk_mgmt_screenshot.jpg
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