Deleting second partition that contains Vista

You need to be aware that if you delete the C: Vista partition, I don't think you will be able to boot. That partition is the only one that has the "System and Active" on it. You could change some other things around and make it work, but why bother. Delete it from Disk 0 and reclaim that space. Leave both the Vista and 7 on the Disk 1. You can reclaim space using Best Free Partition Manager Freeware and free partition magic for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista and Windows XP 32 bit & 64 bit. MiniTool Free Partition Manager Software Home Edition.

You would need to do several things BEFORE deleting Vista. == Using Partition Wizard again to change Win 7 to a Primary Partition Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD == You need to create a "System Reserved" partition on Disk 1. System Reserved : Create Using Disk Management This will boot your PC since you will be deleting the Vista partition. == When the time comes, just come back if you need additional help.

First problem is that Win7 is not booting as C which it should always do if correctly installed from boot and not from another OS. You can leave it this way if you want or Clean Install Windows 7 doing it correctly from boot, deleting all other unwanted partitions using the Drive Options in Steps 7/8 before creating New as you wish. To remove Vista would also make the Recovery partition inoperable so you'd want to make your Vista Recovery disks, test the Dell Hardware Diagnostics from F12 Menu choosing Utility partition, then keep only the small OEM partition at the beginning of HD if they will run.

Second, Win7 is on a Logical partition which cannot now receive boot files. You can remedy this by converting Win7 partition to Primary, then marking it Active to run Startup Repairs to move the boot files to 7 so it boots itself. You can then either add Vista to a Dual Boot menu using EasyBCD, or when ready delete it's partition to resize Win7 into it's preferred space. Since Recovery will not run after this you can also delete it, but I would save the Dell OEM partition if it will now run Dell bootable Diagnostics by tapping the f12 key at boot to choose Utility Partition and run all tests.

To do these steps you should use Windows Image Burner to burn to CD the boot disk for Partition Wizard which has helped do these operations tens of thousands of times here without fail, while all others can fail with data loss.

Unplug all other HD's, boot PW disk, rightclick 7 partition, Modify>Set to Primary, click OK to set the Win7 partition as Primary.

Then rightclick Win7 partition, Modify>Set to Active, click OK, to Set Active the Win7 partition with Partition Wizard - Video Help.

Next click on Win7 HD to highlight it on map, from Disk tab Select Rebuild MBR, click OK, to Rebuild MBR - Video Help. Apply all steps.

Now reboot into the Win 7 installation media or System Repair Disk to run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times until Win7 starts and holds the System Active flags.

You can then plug back in the other disks, making sure WIn7 HD remains set first to boot in BIOS setup, then if you want to start Vista boot it's HD using the Dell F12 key at boot. If you don't like this arrangement, install EasyBCD to Win7 to add Vista to a Windows Dual Boot menu. EasyBCD (click Download - no Name or Email required)

If Vista still boots with a Dual Boot menu which won't any longer boot Win7, delete the Win7 listing in Vista msconfig>Boot tab and use one of the methods above to boot. Your HD's now can come and go without any interdependency.

When ready to delete Vista and Recovery use Partition Wizard to Resize Partition - Video Help dragging the slider all the way to the left to take up the deleted Vista and Recovery space. This space is preferred since it has faster reads toward the left side of disk so I would not waste it on Legacy partitions you won't use and only save the OEM partition if it will run Diagnostics which is valuable.