to format or not to format

hello guys. been out of the loop for a bit until recently when i decided to install vista 64.

i had an xp-pro 32bit running and got tired of it one day that i decided to upgrade to a vista 64bit (yes, this was the plan!) however, turns out vista installed as a separate OS on a different drive! hence i am able to dual boot now.

not bad as i am able to go back to my previous OS as the need arises, or should any disaster/problems arise with vista 64bit.

for the past week, i think we (me and my wife) have been content with our new OS that i think we can part with the xp OS and reclaim at least 150gb of hard disk space that the os resides on.

to explain further, i have my disk config below. with the xp os residing on drive d.



so main question is: with my current disk configuration, will i be able to safely format the drive that my xp os is residing in?

i am just afraid that, although my vista os was installed on a different drive, boot files and whatever may have been written on the xp-os drive, mainly because it is on disk0.

any inputs will really be appreciated. thanks in advance.

 

Which volume has XP on it?

As long as you have migrated and saved any data from the XP install, you should be able to delete it, and either create a new partition in its place, or expand your Vista install into the free space.

 

xp is on DISK0

 

Even if some of the boot files get deleted, you should be able to repair the installation with Startup repair option (Vista installation DVD).

 

or you could keep both XP ans Vista in a Dual Boot Mode

 

reason i want to get rid of xp os is that id be able to use the drive it is residing on.

 

ok then format the drive and after that if vista refuses to boot then you can repair the bootloader using Vista Boot DVD

for more on how to repair the bootloader check out the following thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=312488

 

You want to physically remove it from your PC, or you simply want to reclaim its space?
In the latter case, you might find it profitable to remove all user data and programs from the XP partition in order to shrink it to a few GB only and then shrink the partition to 10-12 GB (you might need a boot files defragger, such as the PerfectDisk demo for that).
You might then join the remaining space (93-12)+21=104 GB to create another (but I'd suggest two) usable data partitions.

You could also rig the double boot in such a way that you will boot directly in Vista without having to wait, and use a special key to make the menu appear at start up. Having a dobule boot in thi s way could come in handy in case of major problems to the main OS. You could use XP to rescue your data and repair your files.

 

EDIT: one more thing. Why do you have a 21 GB unallocated space on disk0?
Could that be a recovery or rescue partition that is not recognized by Windows?

real EDIT: whoops, I made a brand new post.
I'm getting old...

 

reclaim space.

thanks for all your input guys.. im planning on doing disk images of the xp and vista os after i get my 1tb external drive.

any suggestions on an external drive?

 

I would back up the data to a external drive and wipe out everything and then do a fresh install. If you are not using an older autocad or photoshop version then there really is no need to have both on there. I just dont see the reason to have two OS's that will do the same exact thing. Anyhow they are both awesome and have really liked both.

 

+1

Honestly that is what I would do. I know you could easily repair the boot manager and what not but I always seem to screw some crap up in the end.

If your OS is relatively new, just do a full reformat (make sure you back up your data first... ) and then install whichever OS you wanted.

 

Just thinking - Vista should be able to reduce the size of your XP partition and add that to another drive.
That way you could reduce your XP partition to say 40GB and still keep it.