Drive letters...

[TheAnonymity]

After a recent HDD failure, my manufacturer sent me a new one, as my warranty is still valid. After I purchased the full version of Windows 7 Professional, I burned it onto a disk, and booted my computer from the CD rom drive. It's only an 80 GB hard drive, but I had 4 partitions. 1. (EISA Config), 2. (C:-Windows XP Professional) 3. (E:-Empty, reserved for win7), 4. (DellRestore).. after I booted from the CD ROM drive with my windows 7 installation disk inserted, I was asked which partition I would like to install 7 on. I chose E:, because it's the partition I was reserving for it. After installing windows 7, I realize my C: (Windows XP Pro) drive has been bumped to D:, and my CD-ROM drive is now E:, and win7 is on C:. I'm aware that this can cause problems when trying to install software or games from a disk, so I'd like to know how to fix it. Also, I should note, all of my Shortcuts which were in C:, which changed to D:, are now non-working, as they refer to a C: directory. Any advice in these matters would be appreciated. Thanks..

~TA

 

[Dinesh]

You should not face any issues in installing softwares. Earlier when I installed Window 7, its was on C drive. When I installed Windows XP as dual boot, it gained H drive letter. So whenever I install any software on XP, it directly goes into H:\Program Files.

You can change the drive letter by clicking Start and in the Start search box, type diskmgmt.msc and press enter. Right click the drive which you would like to change the drive letter and choose the available letter.
However, changing Drive letters can cause serious problems to either of the OS and may stop booting.

 

[Brink]

Hello TheAnonymity,

Whatever OS you boot to will show as the C: drive by default. It cannot be changed.

I'm not sure what shortcuts from where you are referring to. You cannot use shortcuts to run programs from the XP partition in Windows 7 if that is what you are trying to do though. If you have installed the programs in Windows 7, then they should be pointed to the C: drive as well. If, not then you may need to change the shortcut's properties target location, or reinstall the program.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[TheAnonymity]

Appreciated. Also, how safe would it be to just entirely delete my XP partition, and expand my 7 partition?

 

[Brink]

Since XP was installed first and most likely is the boot partition, you would have to repair the Windows 7 MBR file after deleting XP. If the XP partition is to the left of the Windows 7 partition in Disk Management, then you would need to use a program like GParted instead to extend Windows 7 into the now "Unallocated Space" from the deleted XP partition.

Be sure to backup anything that you do not want to lose to be safe though.

 

[TheAnonymity]

Hello TheAnonymity,

Whatever OS you boot to will show as the C: drive by default. It cannot be changed.

I'm not sure what shortcuts from where you are referring to. You cannot use shortcuts to run programs from the XP partition in Windows 7 if that is what you are trying to do though. If you have installed the programs in Windows 7, then they should be pointed to the C: drive as well. If, not then you may need to change the shortcut's properties target location, or reinstall the program.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Regarding your post, what I mean is:
When I boot onto XP, it shows the drive letter as D: still. All of my shortcuts in the XP partition are invalid because they refer to the C: partition, which my 7 installation is on.

 

[TheAnonymity]

This is a screenshot of my Disk Management..

 

[Brink]

You might see if only creating new shortcuts for each program directly from the program's exe file may work. If not, then you will need to reinstall each program in XP.


If you still wanted to delete the XP partition, you can. You will need to right click on the Windows 7 partition in Disk Management first, and mark it as "Active". Afterwards, you can delete the XP partiton, and use a program like Gparted to extend the Windows 7 partition into the now unallocated space.

 

[TheAnonymity]

I have Acronis Disk Director Suite. Will that work for expanding?

 

[Brink]

It should.

 

[TheAnonymity]

Thanks for the help.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome. Please let us know how it went for you.

 

[TheAnonymity]

Alright, had to get off before I could do anything. Now I'm going to proceed with the following...

1. Marking 7 partition as Active
2. Deleting XP partition
3. Extending 7 partition by unallocated space from deleted XP partition

I'm a bit paranoid, because of my last HDD failure. If anything gets messed up, I'll get my ass chewed out. With that being said, before I commence with operations 1, 2, and 3, I would like to know... What can go wrong, performing these three tasks?

 

[Brink]

A lot could go wrong if something gets messed up or a mistake was made. Be sure to backup anything that you do not want to lose to be safe.

 

[TheAnonymity]

What exactly can go wrong? I've already backed up my stuff, but I just don't want screw it up so I can't boot up my OS's again.

 

[Brink]

Well, delete the wrong partition, loss of power during the extending of the partition, etc...........

 

[TheAnonymity]

Haha, thats funny. Yeah, I'll be paying attention. And I've got quite a nice power supply. Anything else?

 

[gregrocker]

Your EISA partition is no longer useable and should be deleted along with your XP partition, then mark Windows 7 active and extend it into the deleted partitions' unallocated space. You can then recover Windows 7 boot by running Startup Repair from the Win7 installer three times.

Let's take it a step at a time. You will need to download and burn free Partition Wizard bootable disk: http://www.partitionwizard.com/

Then remove the EISA partition by booting into PW, right clicking it and deleting. If it is a locked EISA partition here is how to delete it: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/...en-recovery-or-diagnostic-partition-in-vista/

Now boot into Partition Wizard to right click XP partition and delete.

Now right click the Win7 partition and Mark Active, then rightclick Move/Resize and drag the left slider all the way over onto the deleted EISA and XP unallocated space.
Allow these operations to complete.

Now boot into the Win7 installer Repair console and run Startup Repair 3 times to fix multiple issues including rewriting your MBR.

You can now change your Win7 partition size, and/or create new partitions for storage and recovery in Disk Management.

When you have it set up as you like, use Win7 Backup Imaging to Create a Backup Image which you store externally (and in its own primary-formatted partition if you wish) so that reinstalls are never again necessary, just boot into the 7 installer Repair console and reimage your HDD or a replacement in 15 minutes.

 

[TheAnonymity]

Your EISA partition is no longer useable and should be deleted along with your XP partition, then mark Windows 7 active and extend it into the deleted partitions' unallocated space. You can then recover Windows 7 boot by running Startup Repair from the Win7 installer three times.

Let's take it a step at a time. You will need to download and burn free Partition Wizard bootable disk: Partition Wizard is a Windows based FREE Partition Manager. It works as partition magic and supports Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008 server and Windows 7. FREE for Home and Business user.

Then remove the EISA partition by booting into PW, right clicking it and deleting. If it is a locked EISA partition here is how to delete it: Delete and Remove to Unlock EISA Hidden Recovery or Diagnostic Partition in Vista My Digital Life

Now boot into Partition Wizard to right click XP partition and delete.

Now right click the Win7 partition and Mark Active, then rightclick Move/Resize and drag the left slider all the way over onto the deleted EISA and XP unallocated space.
Allow these operations to complete.

Now boot into the Win7 installer Repair console and run Startup Repair 3 times to fix multiple issues including rewriting your MBR.

You can now change your Win7 partition size, and/or create new partitions for storage and recovery in Disk Management.

When you have it set up as you like, use Win7 Backup Imaging to Create a Backup Image which you store externally (and in its own primary-formatted partition if you wish) so that reinstalls are never again necessary, just boot into the 7 installer Repair console and reimage your HDD or a replacement in 15 minutes.

Very descriptive. I still need to restore the MBR even if my 7 partition says-
(Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)?

 

[gregrocker]

Very descriptive. I still need to restore the MBR even if my 7 partition says-
(Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)?

You may not need to, but I always include booting from WIn7 installer to run Startup Repair in case you can't boot up after deleting an EISA sitting on the boot sector of the HDD.

EISA is a wild card - only about 5 out of 50 who have recently used this method successfully had an EISA.

I will be here for another two hours tonight if you need assist.