Trouble formating old Vista Install Partition

[g0dzilla]

Hello all,

I think my problem is similar to the one outlined in this thread :

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/36547-wont-let-me-delete-my-old-partition.html

But I want to make sure before I go and start messing with things...

----

Last week my vista64 installation became inoperable (due to what I suspect is an ongoing ram issue)

I ended up purchasing a new HD and a copy of Win7 to install on, boot and hopefully be able to recover all my old files. This worked perfectly. However I am now unable to reformat one of my old harddrives (the one with the old vista install on it)

I have already removed my old vista install from the boot menu using msconfig.

Ive attached a screenshot of what my disk management interface looks like below.

C: is my new Win7 installation
E: is my old Vista C:

If I enable hidden files I can see the boot files on the E drive and NOT on my new C drive...

As this is a fair bit over my head I want to make sure what I am doing is correct - I can follow directions of what to do. But like I said I want to make sure I'm not going to screw everything up in the process.

Thanks,

Scott

 

[gregrocker]

Mark Win7 active in Vista Disk Management, shut down, unplug Vista HD and set Win7 HD as first HD to boot in BIOS setup (after DVD) or just switch the Vista cable to Win7 HD.

Now boot the 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.

Once Win7 starts up you can plug back in the Vista HD to format it. If it interferes, boot the Win7 DVD/Repair CD to Clean the Vista HD: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html

If Vista DIsk Mgmt will not mark Win7 active, then also use the booted Win7 DVD/Repair CD: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71432-partition-mark-active.html

 

[g0dzilla]

My old vista installation is unbootable (blues screens before the login interface/even in safe mode) - would this be required to access disk management in vista or are you refering to something else?

Thanks,

Scott

 

[theog]

1) Boot DVD, & Press Shift+F10 (for command prompt)

2) Boot DVD, & http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/682-command-prompt-startup.html(for command prompt)

 

[OEM]

You should be able to do what is asked from within Windows 7 Disk management. Right click on the new Drive that Windows 7 is installed on and select mark as active.

What has happened is that your old vista disk contains the mbr or system store. The Se7en Drive needs to be the one marked as Active, Boot.

As greg has stated, disconnect the vista drive (drive1), boot from dvd with your windows 7 disc and choose repair/repair startup. Once thats done restart your pc with vista drive still disconnected and see if 7 loads. If so, shut down and reconnect your old vista drive, boot 7, go into disk management and right click and choose format.

 

[g0dzilla]

What happens if it doesnt load?

Will I possibly have to run repair successive times or will this lead to having to reinstall Win7?

~ Scott

 

[theog]

Follow Gregrocker advice, & startup repair.

Press the F8 key repeatedly at boot up or use the Startup disk.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html?ltr=S
Note: You may need to do startup repair 3 to 4 times.

 

[OEM]

What happens if it doesnt load?

Will I possibly have to run repair successive times or will this lead to having to reinstall Win7?

~ Scott

This should not be an issue as Microsoft finally got fixing boot issues done easily.

I don't believe you'll have to do this more than once, however I have no experence in needing to do this. I do know about the system store and understand the new way that Vista and Seven boots.

When you have the old vista drive disconnected and are running the repair boot wizzard from 7's DVD, it will simply see that the windows se7en drive does not contain the system store boot info and will make the corrections needed to boot.

This tutorial should help you...

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

 

[OEM]

Follow Gregrocker advice, & startup repair.

Press the F8 key repeatedly at boot up or use the Startup disk.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html?ltr=S
Note: You may need to do startup repair 3 to 4 times.

Darnit, you beat me too it! I too figured that Brink would have a tut on this.

Anyway, as long as the OP gets it solved, thats all that matters.

Thnx for posting

 

[g0dzilla]

Any idea how long the system repair will take - if its going to take a few hours I might have to wait until the weekend to try all this out.

~ Scott

 

[theog]

Any idea how long the system repair will take - if its going to take a few hours I might have to wait until the weekend to try all this out.

~ Scott

About 5 min each time.

 

[g0dzilla]

Awesome. Ill let you all know how it turns out later this evening then. Thanks for the help.

~ Scott

 

[gregrocker]

If Vista won't boot, unplug the Vista HD and switch its cable to Win7, or set Win7 HD as first HD to boot in BIOS setup - after DVD drive.

Now boot the Win7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html?ltr=S

When Win7 starts, you can plug Vista back in to format it from Win7 Disk Mgmt. If it interferes with booting, boot back into DVD/CD to Clean the HD using DISKPART from Command Line: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html

 

[g0dzilla]

Startup repair is giving me a message saying it cannot repair this computer automatically... citing that the boot manager is missing...

Any ideas?

~ Scott

 

[g0dzilla]

OOPS! looks like a false alarm...

Restarting it and running start up repair again has done something... it appears to be booting into Win7 right now /holds breath.

~ Scott

 

[theog]

That sounds good.

 

[g0dzilla]

It seems to have booted to Win7 properly... will try wiping the other drive now.

~ Scott

 

[g0dzilla]

Everything appears to be working great... re-hooked up the other HD and was able to format it in WIn7 Disk Management.

One thing of note... the newly reformatted drive is still tagged as "active" is this important?

Thanks all - despite that one hiccup... it was actually quite a bit easier than I expected.

~ Scott

 

[theog]

Check out those tutorials:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2668-partition-volume-delete.html?ltr=P
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2674-partition-volume-create-new.html?ltr=P

 

[g0dzilla]

Ah ha okay... What I had done was simply click "format" rather than deleting and creating a new simple volume on the drive - the active tag is now gone.

Thanks again,

Scott