Solved Want to move Boot partition to the beginning of the drive

[Nolly]

I had a disaster with my Laptop and to cut a long story short, I installed windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.
There was a recovery partition (D drive) which I forgot about. This was at the beginning of the drive. I have deleted this partition and I now have the following:

219.96 GB 78.13 GB 297.69 GB 398 MB
Unallocated Free space Boot (NTFS) Unallocated

This is as viewed from Disk Management. The 219.96 GB unallocated was the old D partition. I am assuming
that this space is at the beginning of the drive. I would like to move the Boot partition to the beginning of the drive. Cannot see how to do that.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[AddRAM]

Post a shot of Disk Management.

I would just reinstall Windows

219 GB is way too big for a Recovery partition.

 

[theog]

Can you post a screen shot of Disk management?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

 

[Nolly]

Post a shot of Disk Management.

I would just reinstall Windows

219 GB is way too big for a Recovery partition.

Thanks for your reply.

I will see if I can work out with what is installed so far, how to create a screenshot.

I have spent the last 3 days installing Windows and gathering the various drivers via my Desktop, copying them to a Flash Drive and then transferring them to this Laptop. Did not get the correct Drivers first time.

So why would I have to jump through hoops

This Laptop has a 640 GB Hard Disk Drive and was purchased new a number of years ago. The drive was partitioned by the manufacturer into two equal partitions. In the first partition (C) was a cut down version of Windows 7. In the other partition (D) was the recovery software which would put the C: partition back to what it was when purchased. There was an option to a free upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium which I opted for.

There was no CD/DVD sold with this Laptop.

 

[Nolly]

Screenshot

Theog, thanks for your reply.

OK, here is a screenshot of Disk Management for you and AddRAM to peruse. Please note that since my first post I have created a partition where D was and formatted it. So, we have a D partition as before but now it is empty.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Why 398MB unallocated? Is something shown to the left side? (next time show a largeer screenshot with more informstion).
What's on the 219GB partition? No signs seen yet of any recovery partition.

 

[gregrocker]

You should have deleted all partitions during the booted install, after backing up your data. You installed over the Data partition so you wiped out your data anyway if it wasn't backed up.

So I would start over and this time do it correctly following http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164.

Pay close attention to how drivers are handled in Win7 as they are not handled like you are doing now. This is not XP. This is a driver-complete OS. The instructions about drivers are printed in red so you cannot miss them.

 

[Kaktussoft]

You should have deleted all partitions during the booted install, after backing up your data. You installed over the Data partition so you wiped out your data anyway if it wasn't backed up.

So I would start over and this time do it correctly following http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164.

Pay close attention to how drivers are handled in Win7 as they are not handled like you are doing now. This is not XP. This is a driver-complete OS. The instructions about drivers are printed in red so you cannot miss them.

Disk C is boot/system so active. D isn't touched at all in the install process. Please explain what you mean Greg.

 

[gregrocker]

I meant that the partition labeled Data was formerly D and was carelessly installed upon and now therefore C. Apparently OP didn't even look at which partition was selected to install upon which should be the farthest left partition unless there is a small boot partition created first. It's also always best to delete all partitions to get the cleanest install.

If he's really attached to the install he did then he can boot free Partition Wizard boot CD to delete the first partition, then rightclick on new C to Resize, drag the left border all the way to the left, then drag the right border to where he wants it to save space for a storage partition, create and format it using same disk.
Partition Wizard Move/Resize Partition Video Help.
Partition Wizard Create Partition - Video Help

 

[Nolly]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing

I did not overwrite the Recovery partition. When I installed a fresh copy of Windows, I could see the Recovery partition and the files in it. That said, it was a waste of space (literally) as it would have taken me back to the state as if I had just purchased the Laptop. That is if I could get to it. The disaster I had preventing me booting the system or doing anything else.

What I should have done is to have reformatted the drive, created a partition and then reinstalled windows.

Having spent days to get a working system without CD/DVD with a complete set of drivers, I do not want to start again. I am completely up to date with all the Windows Updates.

I think the point of the question has been missed. Can I safely move the current C partition to the beginning of the drive?

I have a bigger screenshot of the Disk Management screen but it is not going to give you any further useful information.

Thanks for your response.

 

[gregrocker]

I didn't say you overwrote the Recovery Partition. You overwrote the Data partition which is why it is still labeled Data even though the new install took the C letter for it.

I just explained above how to retain the install you did. So I didn't miss the point at all, did I? You have the steps that just saved you $150 at a shop. Ask back any questions to get them done correctly. They must be followed precisely which is why a video is provided for each step.

You're welcome.

 

[Kaktussoft]

D is totally frees space isn't it? If so delete that partition with Parition Wizard. Delete the 78.13GB parition as well (it's not formatted btw). After that you only have C and system is still bootable.

After that you can extend C on the left size and/or right side. So you can make it larger or smaller. You even can change the position on disk.

How to Delete Partition with partition manager? Partition Wizard Help
How to resize Partition for Windows Server 2000/2003/2008 or Windows XP/7/Vista with partition magic manager software? Move/Resize Partition Help.

Free Partition Wizard Free download Magic Partition Manager Software, partition magic alternative, free partition magic, partition magic Windows 7 and server partition software - Partition Wizard Online

 

[Nolly]

gregrocker, I joined this Forum to ask for help and a number of members have responded. It was never my intention to insult anyone's intelligence. So, it looks like my analysis was wrong and for that I apologise

Thank you once again.

 

[Nolly]

Success

Kaktussoft, If I had followed gregrocker's advice, I would have no doubt resolved the issue that I was trying to fix. It would be defensive of me to go into the reasons why I did not and today is another day.

Looked at you advice and did the following.

a) Deleted the D partition
b) Rebooted
c) Moved/Resized Disk - Beginning of drive/half of available
d) Rebooted
e) Set Label of C partition to Win 7 (Was Data)
f) Rebooted

Thank you hero.

What a fantastic Partition Tool and free as well

Reminds me of the days of Partition Magix which I used with Win98 & XP.

 

[gregrocker]

Those are the steps and tool I gave you yesterday.

Please post back another screenshot of Disk Mgmt so we can check it over, as about half the times we ask there are problems.

 

[SIW2]

You could have deleted the first and second partitions, then just copied your windows partition into the unallocated space. PW will be fine for that and several other partition tools. Either way, same result in the end.

 

[Nolly]

View of Hard Drive using PW

OK, I am attaching a screenshot of what my Hard Drive looks like now when viewed with PW.

 

[gregrocker]

300 gb is wasted Unallocated space you can extend C into using Disk Mgmt or create a storage partition there

Many users wanting a smaller C backup image move their User folders to a separate data partition. This way if win7 becomes irreparable one can recover C using backup image and the data is safe and current in its own partition. This is detailed in reinstall tutorial below.

 

[Nolly]

Points understood

Thanks for the link to your article. I have read some of it and will look at it further when I have time.

Your points are understood and I will keep them in mind.

That said, I am happy with the point I am at. The near 300 GB of unallocated space will be used in the future but I have not made up my mind exactly how. I am sure the Laptop is faster since I installed Windows 7.

The way Toshiba partitioned the drive was bad. Why have almost 300 GB (half the space) dedicated to a recovery partition!

Having now solved the issue I am happy that this topic can be marked as solved. Do I mark it as solved or is someone else responsible for doing that?

 

[gregrocker]

As explained earlier that was not a Recov partition but your Data partition. I just explained in my last post why this config is popular now that backup imaging is being used widely by consumers.