Dumping XP partition

[metalmania31]

Well, I used sisparV5 and that was the one of the easiest things to use. Worked like a charm. Ok new question. It removed the xp boot option but prior to my current windows 7 I had the beta windows 7 as a dual boot so consequently I now have 2 windows 7 boot options. How do I id the beta option and delete it.

 

[HMonk]

Does msconfig (<BOOT> tab) show both options having the same paths?

Monk

 

[Jonathan_King]

See this tutorial: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2288-operating-system-start-delete-os-list-boot.html

 

[metalmania31]

Actually nevermind I spoke too soon. I had to fix the boot files with my install disk. After that it boots directly to the log-in screen. Thanks for all the help people. Really appreciate it.

 

[gregrocker]

You delete your XP partition in Disk Mgmt yet? What do both partitions say in listings?

Still hard to believe that sispar works so well to do all those things at once, except deleting the old OS partition.

Do you need to recover the deleted partition's space into Win7 to move it into preferred lower HD address?

 

[metalmania31]

Yes I deleted. That's when I found out I had to fix the boot files. I then physically swapped the SATA cables and then loaded the install disk to fix the boot files and once that was successful I changed the boot order back to the HDD. The xp drive was now marked as unallocated space after I deleted the volume to make it all one again since I had 2 partitions on it originally. So now I have an extra 139G of storage. I'll attach a before and after. I don't know why it did it the way it did, sisparV5. It did mark my Win7 as active and I was able to boot into windows 7. But after I deleted my XP and the rebooted to my dismay I couldn't, which led to what I described above.

 

[metalmania31]

You know after doing this Greg I think the way you initially laid it out would have been the better method. Physically swap the drive sata cables and then boot with the install disk go into the cmd and set the active/inactive that you want and then reboot. Then boot back in from the disk again and fix the boot files with bootrec.exe /fixmbr and bootrec.exe /fixboot. Then reboot to make sure it works and reset the boot order.

 

[gregrocker]

Thanks for the feedback, MM. I am also reluctant to change the method that has worked to help remove over a hundred dual boots here since Win7 release.

Since I learned this method and much else from SIW2, I'm also eager to keep up with his own advancements like the Sispar tool. However it seems safer when helping others to stick with the Diskpart commands with repair afterward, or use outstanding Partition Wizard bootable CD for a graphical interface that makes resizing into deleted OS space easy, too.

Glad it worked out for you. Your new screenshot looks good. I try to stick with Logical partitions for data, since they can't later be accidentally marked Active to derail the MBR.