Upgrade left first OS in the background

[jonny163]

Hey there,
My netbook originally ran XP and then I downloaded 7 from Windows and replaced it.
Something I noticed while dual booting 7 with Ubuntu is that my previous Windows OS, XP, is still partitioned. It is taking up 5.2GB of my very limited space.
My question is, is it safe to delete XP? Also, how would I go about this?

 

[wee]

Hey there,
My netbook originally ran XP and then I downloaded 7 from Windows and replaced it.
Something I noticed while dual booting 7 with Ubuntu is that my previous Windows OS, XP, is still partitioned. It is taking up 5.2GB of my very limited space.
My question is, is it safe to delete XP? Also, how would I go about this?

That is probably the original recovery partition for XP, give us a screen shot from gparted since you are a Ubuntu user and which Ubuntu you have installed. gparted can read all things MS where as the disk management wont tell exactly whats on a ext type partition.

 

[karlsnooks]

Hey there,
My netbook originally ran XP and then I downloaded 7 from Windows and replaced it.
Something I noticed while dual booting 7 with Ubuntu is that my previous Windows OS, XP, is still partitioned. It is taking up 5.2GB of my very limited space.
My question is, is it safe to delete XP? Also, how would I go about this?

WIN key | type DISKMGMT.MSC | Enter key

Use the Snipping Tool to take a snapshot of Disk Management output.
Attach the .png file from the snipping tool ( you use the "paper clip") to your next post.

The solution is very simple but that .png file is needed to give correct advice.

Also upgrade your ram to 2GB. You will be pleased.

I have an ASUS 1002HA/XP on which I did a 100% clean install of Win 7 even before ASUS released Win 7 drivers.

I have found Ubuntu dual-boot systems problematic and ended up removing Ubuntu since, in my opinion, Win 7 is a far superior OS.

 

[wee]

Hey there,
My netbook originally ran XP and then I downloaded 7 from Windows and replaced it.
Something I noticed while dual booting 7 with Ubuntu is that my previous Windows OS, XP, is still partitioned. It is taking up 5.2GB of my very limited space.
My question is, is it safe to delete XP? Also, how would I go about this?

WIN key | type DISKMGMT.MSC | Enter key

Use the Snipping Tool to take a snapshot of Disk Management output.
Attach the .png file from the snipping tool ( you use the "paper clip") to your next post.

The solution is very simple but that .png file is needed to give correct advice.

Also upgrade your ram to 2GB. You will be pleased.

I have an ASUS 1002HA/XP on which I did a 100% clean install of Win 7 even before ASUS released Win 7 drivers.

I have found Ubuntu dual-boot systems problematic and ended up removing Ubuntu since, in my opinion, Win 7 is a far superior OS.

Hey now, just kidding, to each their own, use what works for you.

 

[jonny163]

Ok, I have followed both pieces of advice and have the screenies below

Hope this helps :S
EDIT: also, lol at myself for having to look up how to run gparted
I have found that Ubuntu is perfectly civil with Windows 7 and vice versa. 7 is good because I know it and has slideshow backgrounds whereas I am just getting to know Ubuntu
And also, I hope to upgrade to 2gb RAM soon (when I can afford it)

 

[karlsnooks]

Go back into Diskmgmt.msc
Rt-click on the 4.89 GB partition
Format as NTFS

 

[jonny163]

Its okay to just wipe it? There won't be any repercussions for 7?

 

[karlsnooks]

If I understand you correctly, that is the XP remains.

If so, then I 100% guarantee that there will be no negative effects on Win 7.

 

[jonny163]

OK, thanks I will do that

EDIT: It only gives the options 'delete the volume' or 'help'

 

[jonny163]

Should I try to format it through gparted?

 

[gregrocker]

If the Disk Mgmt screenshot is to be believed, all the partitions are empty except C:

So you can delete any or all of them besides C: and repartition as you wish, and/or extend C:

To get the Linux corruption off, I would boot free Partition Wizard CD to rightclick>Wipe Partition to deep clean each of them.

PW works better with Win7 than Gparted.

 

[karlsnooks]

OK, thanks I will do that

EDIT: It only gives the options 'delete the volume' or 'help'

Delete the volume then see what you have for options.

 

[jonny163]

It gives me the option to create 'New' partition, what I want to do is to add it on to the ntfs Windows 7 partition but it doesn't allow me.

 

[gregrocker]

Again, according to your Disk Mgmt screenshot all partitions except C: are empty so they can be rightclick Deleted so that C: can be extended into the space by as much as you want.

If they are in fact not empty then Disk Mgmt is malfunctioning and needs to be verified with Partition Wizard which is compatible with Windows 7.

You want to use either Disk Mgmt (failsafe) or free Partition Wizard CD as Gparted is oldtech not reliable for Win7.

 

[karlsnooks]

jonny,
Follow Greg's advice. Delete all of those partitions which are not in use.
If I remember correctly, there are 3 partitions following your Win 7. Start with the one adjacent to the Win 7 partition. Delete volume, create a new partition, then click on the C partition and choose the option to expand. This will join the "empty" one on to your C. Now follow the same procedure for the other two empty partitions.

Wish I had an extra system around to create a disk layout similar to yours, then I could use Problem Step Recorder to show you graphically how to do this.

 

[jonny163]

But they aren't empty. I have a 160GB harddisk that is split into half C: for Windows 7 and half /home/ for Ubuntu.
I thought it was the case that Windows had trouble detecting anything Linux related? Isn't that why the other partitions are coming up empty in Disc Management?

EDIT: Going on what you are saying, I deleted the 4.89GB partition, it is now unallocated. Can I resize the Ubuntu partition (which is the other big partition) and then decrease the size of it at the end closest to the 7 partition and then increase the size of the 7 partition? (Sorry if that sounds complicated)
If this is too much trouble for you guys and my skills in explaining fail, then I can live with that space being empty. No big deal

 

[karlsnooks]

jonny,
to move partitions around you will need 3rd party software.

With Win 7 you can grow (to the right) a partition or you can shrink a partition.

If it was my system, I'd make sure that the system was set to boot to win 7
and then I'd delete and reformat everything other than Win 7, but I'm definitely not a fan of Ubuntu and Win 7 on the same computer.

You might find the command DISKPART interesting and informative.

Go to a command prompt, type DISKPART and hit enter.
Now type Help to get a list of diskpart commands.
List Disk
Select Disk
Detail Disk
List volume
Select volume
detail volume
list partition
select partition
detail partition

all of the above will be of interest you to understand what is where on your hard drive.

Getting Ubuntu and Win7 to run on the same machine isn't all that much. The utility of such is questionable in my opinion.

 

[jonny163]

As far as I can tell, Ubuntu's gparted (the first image I posted) tells you what's where on the hard drive. That third party software may be the way forward, however, I would feel uncomfortable using it.
I'm not going to be getting rid of Ubuntu, although all of your advice recommends it (I wonder why, with this being a 7 forum lol). I'm assuming that DISKPART is a Win7 command?

(Also, as I am running on a netbook, I have no disc drive. Nor do I have an external one :S)

 

[gregrocker]

The tool we use for repartitioning Win7 which never fails is free Partition Wizard bootable CD. It has a graphical interface with sliders so you could see a perfect representation of your partitions and literally slide one partition's border, then the other's border up to meet it where you want.

However, I am baffled that Win7 Disk Mgmt doesn't see your Ubuntu partition contents, so I would verify first that the booted PW CD can indeed see and Explore the contents of your Ubuntu partition before using it to resize, or find a way to use Gparted which is NOT recommended for Win7 however.

 

[jonny163]

I may have confused you, there is no problem with Ubuntu and Windows 7, they are living side by side very happily (besides DISKMGMT.msc not seeing the Ubuntu partition clearly - it does see it, but not the space taken up by files in my /home/ folder). The original problem was that I had upgraded from XP to 7 and I don't think my install was clean, leaving XP partitioned in the background. I don't think my install was clean because I downloaded 7 from the website and didn't install by CD as I have no disc drive.
I will try Partition Wizard Bootable Flashdrive and see what happens
And also stop any Ubuntu talk on the SEVEN forum