Double os on 1 hard drive

[whitewolf36]

I accidentally partitioned my 120gb hd and put windows xp prof on twice. Now when i boot my computer i have to pick which os i want to use. I dont want the new os on there. Any ideas on how to remove it without removing my other os and all my data? I tried to fdisk it, but it only showed just the c drive. I was afraid i would reformat the whole drive and not just the first os i dont want. I also have a slave drive attached that is actually my D drive. I put all my info on that drive just in case i have to lose my initial info on my 120gb hd. Will that info stay saved if i reformat my 120gb hd? I heard that it doesnt do the programs itself, and that it uses the info off the other drive to run programs. Okay, I'm a geek i guess. Maybe i just dont know what im talking about lol. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[Raptor]

Either format the partition you no longer want the Operating System on or uninstall the Operating System by booting in it and selecting it from the Add/Remove software list.

[whitewolf36]

Thats just it i dont know how to reformat it and keep my data on the rest of the hard drive. When it comes up to format it only shows the initial C drive. Will it just reformat part of the drive or all of it?

[Computer_Commando]

Right-click "My Computer", left-click "Manage"

Storage--Disk Management

See all your partitions and drives?  Format, delete or whatever.

[karen]

NEw problem arises!!! I cant get on my main c:drive now. It says to put cd rom in of operating system and hit r for repair. i tried to do that but it only repaired the partition i dont want. So now what???

[Raptor]

Tell us the steps you have taken.

Have you removed your Operating System?

[whitewolf36]

ok, i boot up my computer and i have to pick which operating  system winxp pro or winxp pro, the first 1 is the partition i dont want. now if i pick the second 1, which is the 1 i want, it says their is an error and to put my original cd in and type r to repair. so i went into bios loaded my cdrom as 1st boot, put winxp pro into cd rom and tried to repair. instead of giving me the c drive to repair it gave me the d drive my slave drive to repair. i did repair the  d and it checked my c drive anyways and it installed winxp pro again. It still did not fix my c drive though. when i go into the 1st c drive, their isnt anything in my control panel programs to remove. if i go into the 1st c drive partition and right click my computer then format will it reformat that partition and leave my second partition available? i cant get to my second partition drive and i dont have a recovery floopy either. How can i make a recovery floppy, or wont that work? I've confused myself on this 1 lol

[Raptor]

Let's summarize:

You are trying to:

• Remove the OS Windows XP from C: without formatting
  
• You are using D: (Partition or slave?) to boot from.
  

Why can you not move files from C: to the other drive temporarily?


As I understand, when you partition, you will loose all data on Hard Disk Drive you are trying to partition unless you did not activate all the space avaible yet?

[whitewolf36]

Okay, that was my question originally. I took everything from my c drive and put it on my d, slave drive. My question was i used the file and settings transfer wizard to put everything on my d slave drive. If i reformat my c drive will the programs that i transferred onto my d slave drive work? I heard that you cant transfer your programs to another drive just your files. However, when i look on my d slave drive, i see my halflife game and steam on it. I'm concerned about losing my game the most, because it is so complicated to redownload and install.

It now wont let me get into my main c drive. It says there is a error and hat i have to repair it. So if i cant get into my main drive, does that mean i have to reformat the whole c drive and possibly lose everything?
Why cant i just get rid of the partition i made in my c drive that i dont want?  No i am booting from my c drive, the new partition that i created. When i boot my computer up it gives me 2 choices to boot up to. 1 windows xp pro
2 windows xp pro, both are booting from my c drive. The new partition i created has all the files but nothing in add remove programs at all. Also the new partition has ethernet, video exclamation marks by it.i know i would have to reinstall video and ethernet but i still cant get to my main c drive.

[Raptor]

You will most likely have to reinstall the game if registry entries are deleted or important files were removed that were stored somewhere in a different folder on your C: disk (Don't ask what files, it differs per program)

However, there is a chance that the game will still respond. I formatted my C: disk and GTA:VC still worked. Which was installed on my E: disk (Physical disk, not a partition)

t now wont let me get into my main c drive. It says there is a error and hat i have to repair it. So if i cant get into my main drive, does that mean i have to reformat the whole c drive and possibly lose everything?

You will only have to format the C: partition. The other partitions will be untouched unless you decide to remove these partitions.

[whitewolf36]

Well, i got lazy and screwed up. Instead of disconnecting my slave drive i left it connected. I tried to reformat and install winxp pro on my c drive. Instead of formatting my c drive it reformatted the slave drive. Hence, all my backup data erased.   To top it off, it wont recognize my main 120gb hd, so now i have to disconnect the slave drive and see whats left on my main hd. Oh well, live and learn i guess. Tees me off though cuz i had a lot of software programs saved on it. Well, this teaches me a valuable lesson.   I should have known better. I'm really not a novice, but not an expert either. I've built around 9 computers and havent had any problems with any of them. This whole problem started because i wanted to add a slave drive to put all my software programs on it and free up my hd. Thanks for all your help though. I'll let you know if i have anything left on my 120gb hd .

[Raptor]

How did you manage to format your Slave Drive when it has an entirely different drive letter?

[Raptor]

How did you manage to format your Slave Drive when it has an entirely different drive letter?

[merlin_2]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;309000

[whitewolf36]

Dont ask me! It said i was reformatting my C: drive but it reformatted the D: slave drive instead. To top it all off, it also formatted my c: drive and made it so it wouldnt recognize my c: main drive. So, i went in and disconnected my slave drive and put everything back on my 120gb hd. I'm having my doubts if i will even reconnect my slave drive. I'm afraid to lose everything all over again. If i do reconnect the slave drive. Do i format and partition it, or just format the drive?

[Raptor]

If i do reconnect the slave drive. Do i format and partition it, or just format the drive?

Create partitions using the Windows XP CD, not Fdisk if you have been doing so.

[Computer_Commando]

Dont ask me! It said i was reformatting my C: drive but it reformatted the D: slave drive instead. To top it all off, it also formatted my c: drive and made it so it wouldnt recognize my c: main drive. So, i went in and disconnected my slave drive and put everything back on my 120gb hd. I'm having my doubts if i will even reconnect my slave drive. I'm afraid to lose everything all over again. If i do reconnect the slave drive. Do i format and partition it, or just format the drive?

Once things get this confused, it's best to start over.  There are physical drives and logical drives.  Stop calling the 120GB the C drive, it's the Master drive (Physical Drive 0).  It can have many partitions which may be called C, D, E, F...etc.  The other physical drive is the Slave drive (Physical Drive 1) and it can have multiple partitions, Q, R, S, T...etc.  Think of physical drives as a file cabinet and partitions as file drawers in the file cabinet.  Then, you label the file drawers, C, D, E, F, etc.
So...2 physical drives is 2 file cabinets.  Windows will be on partition C, which is usually the 1st partition on Physical Drive 0.  Windows allows you to define any available drive letter for any partition.

I have 5 partitions on Physical Drive 0, and 1 partition on Physical Drive 1.
C=Windows
D=Data
E=Downloads
F=Windows Swap & all temporary files.

[whitewolf36]

 I was referring the c: drive as the 12ogb hd so noone would get confused., between my main and my slave drive.  Heres a question for you. My slave drive has win xp pro on it, if i reconnect it will it cause confusion with my main hd or will it just be labeled my D: drive? Also if i back up all my data using the files and settings transfer wizard, and send it to my slave drive, will it mess up my main drive?

[merlin_2]

windows will move on a letter?...what is your cdrom/ dvd drive letters...Raptor Posted on: Oct 14th, 2004, 10:36am
Either format the partition you no longer want the Operating System on or uninstall the Operating System by booting in it and selecting it from the Add/Remove software list
 are you taking the advice....or reformat the hard drive using a win98 boot disk? clean slate...or back to square one.. forget the main drive<C> format the slave drive ....or tranfer files  from it to disk f/d cd/rw

[whitewolf36]

Okay , i'm going to reconnect my slave drive. I just want to back up some things off of my main drive onto slave drive. So, i guess i'll just reformat slave drive and store some things on it. Thanks for all your help.