📎 AI Summary:
The thread discusses a user seeking advice on removing a Vista partition after installing Windows 7 Beta, without a working DVD drive for traditional reinstall methods. The user is concerned about formatting the drive safely and whether doing so will prevent boot issues, as their W7 installation resides on a separate partition. Respondents suggest using command-line tools to format or partition the drive, with the user expressing uncertainty about the technical process and the potential risks to their system's bootability. Overall, the conversation centers on partition management and data recovery concerns in the context of a dual-boot setup.

skot0123

New Member
Joined
May 5, 2009
Messages
4
Thread Author #1
I have searched the trheads and have found similar questions but I have a somewhat unique problem, I think.

I had originally used Vista and then signed up for the W7 Beta. I installed it on a partition of my HD and set up dual boot. Sometime afterwards I tried to use an online data storage program and was greeted with the BSOD on Vista. After 1 1/2 hours on the phone with tech support we were finally able to get Vista to boot again. During this I was still able to boot via W7 though. Also during this time a gremlin found its way into my DVD RW drive and it has ceased to work (I believe to be software related). Since then I have again tried to use online backups and found the same problem as before. I haven't figured out what has caused that and gave up on fixing it and began using W7 as my main OS.

What I would like to do is remove Vista from my system all together and begin using W7 Beta alone. I have been running into some problems with storage space and would like to get rid of the Vista partition. The twist is that I don't have a DVD drive as it not only stopped burning but also stopped reading CDs or DVDs.

Is there a way to remove the Vista partition without a DVD to boot from from for W7?

Thanks and my apologies for potentially redundant question...I use this computer for work and am really scared that I am going to fry it and not have a way to recover since I have no dvd drive.
 

kevin from Chi-town

New Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2009
Messages
714
why don't you format the drive through command line. Are their any issues preventing you from doing this?
 

skot0123

New Member
Joined
May 5, 2009
Messages
4
Thread Author #3
I guess the easy answer would be that I don't know what that means or what it entails. Sorry, I may be in a little above my head here.

After doing a little research I understand a litle more about what you are talking about. My main question with this would be, will I be able to boot normally using W7 if I format the hard drive. Currently my partitions are as such:

Drive C: Status- Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition)
Drive G: Status- Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Logical Drive)
Drive I: Status- Healthy (Primary Partition)

I'm not sure what the above means specifically but thought it may help describe what I have. Drive G is the drive with W7 on it and Drive C is the one with Vista.
 

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