Dumping XP partition

Ok so I've read a few threads and I didn't find my particular situation so basically I have 2 separate HDD's. Disk 0 hosting Win XP pro as my active primary and Disk 1 hosting my Windows 7. I've attached a snipped image. How do I go about safely formatting the XP disk? Is there a thread I didn't see that lays out the guidelines?

Jonathan_King said:

Go ahead and delete the XP partition. If you have any problems, I'm sure a startup repair will take care of it.

If the startup repair does not detect your Windows 7 installation, mark the partition as active and try again.

It won't let me.

You need to mark XP inactive to delete it, then mark Win7 active in order to recover the System MBR into its partition using Startup Repair from DVD/Repair CD.

Set Win7 first HD to boot (after DVD drive) in BIOS setup.

Now Boot the Win7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD, press Shift F10 to open a Command Line, type:

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK 0 (confirm this is XP HD # from list)
LIST PARTITION
SELECT PARTITION 1 (confirm from list this is XP partition #)
INACTIVE
SELECT DISK 1 (confirm this is Win7 HD # from list)
LIST PARTITION
SELECT PARTITION 1 (confirm from list this is Win7 partition #)
ACTIVE
EXIT

Now boot back into Win7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD, click through to Recovery Tools list to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots to write the System MBR to Win7 partition until Win7 starts.

You can now delete XP partition in Disk Management.

SELECT PARTITION 1 (confirm from list this is XP partition #)
INACTIVE
DELETE

Didn't that already delete it?

You may want to set Disk 1 as first in bios boot order after following Greg's instructions.

Hi Si-

I was editing when you posted, checking which DELETE would work just following INACTIVE. Decided it was better to let him delete it later to avoid piling up.

Would your Sispar batch file work for this?

Would sure save a lot of typing.

gregrocker said:

You need to mark XP inactive to delete it, mark Win7 active in order to recover the System MBR into its partition, plus mark H: inactive to avoid confusing Startup Repair.

Boot the Win7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD, press Shift F10 to open a Command Line, type:

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK 0 (confirm this is XP HD # from list)
LIST PARTITION
SELECT PARTITION 1 (confirm from list this is XP partition #)
INACTIVE
SELECT DISK 1 (confirm this is Win7 HD # from list)
LIST PARTITION
SELECT PARTITION 1 (confirm from list this is Win7 partition #)
ACTIVE
SELECT DISK 2 (confirm this is H: HD # from list)
LIST PARTITION
SELECT PARTITION 1 (confirm from list this is H: partition #)
INACTIVE
EXIT

Now boot back into Win7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD, click through to Recovery Tools list to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots to write the System MBR to Win7 partition until Win7 starts.

You can now delete XP partition in Disk Management.

H: is just my USB flash drive I can just unplug that and that should take care of that right? So do I need to physically swap the hdd sata connections on the MB? And do I do this after the boot record is repaired?

You can either swap the XP and Win7 HD's cables, or enter BIOS setup (by tapping the F key given on first bootup screen) to change boot order so that Win7 HD is the first hard drive to boot, after DVD drive.

The benefit of swapping cables (while powered down, of course) is that your data drive becomes second in position to OS drive which is a better config in the long run.

Or you can remove the XP HD if you no longer want it.

gregrocker said:

You can either swap the XP and Win7 HD's cables, or enter BIOS setup (by tapping the F key given on first bootup screen) to change boot order so that Win7 HD is the first hard drive to boot, after DVD drive.

The benefit of swapping cables (while powered down, of course) is that your data drive becomes second in position to OS drive which is a better config in the long run.

Or you can remove the XP HD if you no longer want it.

Ok I wasn't clear about when to do it. Swap it after the procedure or before?

Since you need to have Win7 set to boot first by the time you run Startup Repair, I would do it first.

Just remember if you swap the cables that your drive numbers will change, so make sure you mark the correct drives inactive (XP) and active (Win7). This is another reason I left out the Diskpart delete command for XP.