Windows 7 How can I get my boot partition configured

[TK182]

I have a problem. On my hard disk I have 2 OS's intstalled, Vista and Win 7. The win 7 partition is a 50GB logical drive. Vista is a primary partition. I want to get rid of the vista partition and extend win 7 to that now available space. Problem is, only Vista is marked as 'System' and i'm scared that if i delete it, 7 wont boot.

Please advise me on how to still be able to boot into 7 with that extra bit of space. PS i didnt choose to make it a logical drive, happened on install i think.

Thanks

 

[ickymay]

looks like the boot manager files are on the 50gig C: drive so formatting the vista drive shouldnt affect boot

If your worried as insurance you could create a system recovery disk from the "backup and restore" link in control panel which will restore the boot manager files if they get lost

 

[tblount]

I have a problem. On my hard disk I have 2 OS's intstalled, Vista and Win 7. The win 7 partition is a 50GB logical drive. Vista is a primary partition. I want to get rid of the vista partition and extend win 7 to that now available space. Problem is, only Vista is marked as 'System' and i'm scared that if i delete it, 7 wont boot.

Please advise me on how to still be able to boot into 7 with that extra bit of space. PS i didnt choose to make it a logical drive, happened on install i think.

Thanks

Always backup your important data before messin' around with partitions.

You have to expand the partition with win 7.. but I haven't done it... so I'm not sure what kind of safeguards you'll have to deal with because I think partion managing programs try to protect mistakes overwriting data. I would format the partition first.. then a program that expands or removes a partition will probably more easily allow it.

Run fdisk and see what options you have ... be VERY careful.... your os may be running on the second partition and you wouldn't want to remove that one.

Google DiskPart if all else fails...

 

[TK182]

Always backup your important data before messin' around with partitions.

You have to expand the partition with win 7.. but I haven't done it... so I'm not sure what kind of safeguards you'll have to deal with because I think partion managing programs try to protect mistakes overwriting data. I would format the partition first.. then a program that expands or removes a partition will probably more easily allow it.

Run fdisk and see what options you have ... be VERY careful.... your os may be running on the second partition and you wouldn't want to remove that one.

Google DiskPart if all else fails...

I'm quite sure my OS is running of the second, smaller partition. See the image attached. Tune-Up Utils 2010 has a thorough defrag option which moves all movable files as far back as possible on the drive allowing shrinking atleast. If I was able to atleast move the Vista part to the end of the drive, i would be able to extend the 7 part up to that point, and i shouldnt lose data. i'll make a backup anyway just in case.

I dont trust third-party, non microsoft products anymore, ran into a bit of trouble a while back, almost lost everything

I doubt logical drives are bootable ??

All i would like for now is way to move the unallocated 19GB before the vista partition, unless theres another way?

Thanks so far

 

[tblount]

If I were goingt to try it I would probably google Diskpart and use it from the command line. That's the toy that comes with Windows to manage partitions. You may want to go to the thread about partition magic and ask people who like that program how to use it. It's menu driven.

 

[TK182]

If I were goingt to try it I would probably google Diskpart and use it from the command line. That's the toy that comes with Windows to manage partitions. You may want to go to the thread about partition magic and ask people who like that program how to use it. It's menu driven.

Disk part doesn't appear to have any moving capabilities, or copy. I'll have a look into Part magic and let you guys know. Thanks for everything

 

[tblount]

Disk part doesn't appear to have any moving capabilities, or copy. I'll have a look into Part magic and let you guys know. Thanks for everything

I thought you wanted to REmove. I've used it to make a partition, build a VHD in the partion... uses imagex to put the partition into a file... then removed the partition... so I'm pretty sure it will remove a partition.

 

[TK182]

I thought you wanted to REmove. I've used it to make a partition, build a VHD in the partion... uses imagex to put the partition into a file... then removed the partition... so I'm pretty sure it will remove a partition.

I can quite eaily remove the partition ... wait, i'll do that now then and repair if i have to, i'll let you guys know what happens. I have backups.

 

[tblount]

I can quite eaily remove the partition ... wait, i'll do that now then and repair if i have to, i'll let you guys know what happens. I have backups.

Great idea ! I'm glad you though of it!

You said you wanted to EXPAND a partition... it should expand if you remove the OTHER partition.

 

[Saltgrass]

I doubt logical drives are bootable ??

Since this appears to be true, there would need to be a way to convert a logical partition to a primary. Anyone know of one beside deleting and re-doing it?

 

[tblount]

Since this appears to be true, there would need to be a way to convert a logical partition to a primary. Anyone know of one beside deleting and re-doing it?

I admit I'm confused by the options of partitions... it looks like you can flip the active primary partition to the extended partition.. then remove the primary partition to give the extended partition all the disk space?

Why why why are partitions a good thing? If you need another partition, get another hard drive. I just sold a dozen on eBay for less than $20 each. The guy who "experimented" with diskpart would be hapy to pay $20 now to get his data back. I hope he finds the utilities that will restore deleted partitions. A while back, and even now, people are buying used hard drives on eBay, just to undelete the format and restore partitions and access the data The average person can do that. Many drives are dumped on eBay that aren't even formatted... and they have company records, credit card numbers and all kinds of information that make identify theift much easier than dumpster diving.

 

[TK182]

Ok, deleting the vista partition worked, but then 7 wouldnt boot. 7 recovery and i recovered the partition plus more which i thought was long gone. I havent got any free time for the next 18 hours or so but i have a new stategy. Properly format everything but the 7 partition(logical drive, not even really sure if i can extend it when the time comes, its disabled in the drop down...) create a new partition leaving about 8GB free space at the end of the drive. Then install vista basic(or another OS) because it seems i need a primary partition and i want to use as little space as possible. i want to avoid xp for the moment because the boot causes too many problems.

I'll take a conversion if i can get it.

Can't buy off ebay where i'm from, and besides i'd rather save a bit more and buy a new pc, i really need one.

Any suggestions? Thanks every one