The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 4 (of 5) - How to delete the first partition?

How to delete the first partition?

I have a hard disk with two partitions
firsr partition c:\windows Me
second partition d:\windows Xp Home
the files of dual boot system (MBR,boot.ini,ntdetect.com) are installed on the
c:\windows Me partition.
I want to delete the first partition c:\windows Me
in order to keep only the second d:\windows Xp
as c:\Windows Xp Home
I'm going to follow the steps below
1st step:I'm installing (Norton)Partition Magic 7.0 on the d:\Windows Xp partition
2nd step:I'm deleting the c:\windows Me partition and I'm expanding the second partition (using the Partition Magic) to cover fully the space of the first partition in order to
have a hard disk c:\Windows Xp Home
The question is:will the system be able to boot after all these changes?
Will fix the problem running Setup from cd ?
I'm very scared of it.
***Sorry for my poor English

Babis Ioannatos
Tuesday, April 20, 2004

I don't think you will be able to boot after deleting the boot partition.

First why use Partition Magic for such a simple task as deleting? Just right click on the "My Computer" icon and select manage. Then choose disk managment. Voila a Partition Magic like interface for simple disk managment. Easier would be to type diskmgmt.msc in the start menu -> run

Secondly, I don't know if it works but when booting Windows XP CD you are able to enter the resque mode and that resque mode has an cmd tool called "fixmbr" and "fixboot"

For more information type recovery console in Windows help

Fixboot
Writes a new partition boot sector to the system partition. The fixboot command is only available when you are using the Windows 2000 Recovery Console, which can be started from the Windows 2000 Setup program.

fixboot [drive]

Fixmbr
Writes a new master boot record to a hard drive. The fixmbr command is only available when you are using the Windows 2000 Recovery Console, which can be started from the Windows 2000 Setup program.

fixmbr [device_name]

nobody
Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Yeah your boot.ini file is going to be all whacky, but you can go in and change that on the d:\partition right befoe you repartition. You can also get into the the XP "recovery console" and make those changes through the bootcfg program. Here is a link in how to use it:

http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBI/tip4300/rh4392.htm

Matt Watson
Tuesday, April 20, 2004

I don't think deleting your boot partition and reordering the drives in this manner is practical. There are absolute references to drive D in the registry for XP Home and the installed programs. Just moving XP to C , which is the net result of want you're trying to do, won't end well.

If you really want everything on C then a reinstall is your best option. Another possibility if you want a bigger XP partition would be to delete almost everything on C except boot files in the root, resize it to be as small as possible and then grow D to take up the remaining space.

Doug
Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Doug - Partition Magic comes with a tool (or at leased used to, I have an earlier version) with which you can move applications, so what the OP is trying to do is okay in that sense. The program (Magic Mover I think it is called) scans ini files and the registry and so on, and changes all the references to point to he new position. A pretty cool tool, to be honest.

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

partition Magic 8 has something called drive mapper, that will change the references aftet you delete the C paritition. I don't know of version 7 has the same.However, I know that you can't change the drive letter of the drive you installed win2K on, and that even if you delete the C partiton the 2K partition remains D when you are in windows, though it will be C to DOS. I presume XP works the same way.

Why don't you delete everything on the C partition, ensure it is the same file system as D and then mergie the 2 (if you are using Partition Magic 8). Then you can simply fix the MBR from the CD.

Stephen Jones
Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Hi guys

thanks a lot for your assistance but I have some
comments additionally
1st: I can't use Disk Management in Xp because
the <delete> option is not active (fade)
2nd:I have to repeat that the boot.ini file is in the
first partition c:\windows Me and formatting in
NTFS and merging afterwards the two partitions
will be lost.
3nd:Partition Magic 7.0 has the DriveMapper
program to correct the refferences from D:\....
to C:\...
4th:I believe that running from CD the Setup will
create from the begining the MBR.This is it's job
by definition.
5th:My fear is perhaps the Setup won't recognise
(or see) the already installed Windows Xp and try
to install a new one or ask me to proceed in a
clean installation formatting first the Disk

Thanks all of you anyway

Babis Ioannatos
Wednesday, April 21, 2004

You should pick the option in Windows XP Setup to repair an existing installation. I've done this before with Windows NT setup and it does work.

John Topley (www.johntopley.com)
Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Update

I sent an e-mail to Jerold Schulman (guru in windows matters) http://www.jsiinc.com
and he answered definitely :it won't boot because
the windows Xp are installed on D:\, on the contrary it would boot if they were like below
1st partition c:\windows Xp
2nd partition d:\windows Me due to references.

Babis Ioannatos
Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Nobody said it would boot until you restore the boot sector.

Stephen Jones
Wednesday, April 21, 2004