Remove an OS from multi-boot

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ed H
  • Start date Start date
E

Ed H

Hey:

MY HDD lists the order of my partitions as D:, C:, and E:. I have Vista 64
set up on C: and 32-bit on E: to experiment with each. D: is a recovery
partition. I'm thinking of removing the data from E: and deleting it and
then "Stretching" C: back to it's original size. Best way to do this?

Thank you,
Ed
 
Hey:

MY HDD lists the order of my partitions as D:, C:, and E:. I have Vista 64
set up on C: and 32-bit on E: to experiment with each. D: is a recovery
partition. I'm thinking of removing the data from E: and deleting it and
then "Stretching" C: back to it's original size. Best way to do this?

Thank you,
Ed
Click to expand...

I think that C and E would need to be contiguous. To increase the size
of the C partition the space next to it has to be free. It doesn't
sound like this is the case.

If your drive is partitioned as follows: C partion - | D partion - | E
partion

Format E, copy or move D contents to E. Through Computer
Management>Storage>Disk Management, delete the D drive, delete the
partition and extended the C drive (as I recall, the presentation in
the extend a drive dialog was confusing, but just next, next, take the
defaults and finish).

If there is nothing between C and E, then you simply delete the E
drive, delete the partitin and extend the C drive.

I hope this helps.

-solon fox
 
Yes my order is D, C, E. I want to delete E and expand C. I believe Vista
disk management can handle that, that's what I believe. Just wanted to be
sure and not have a boot issue.
Thanks,
Ed


Hey:

MY HDD lists the order of my partitions as D:, C:, and E:. I have Vista 64
set up on C: and 32-bit on E: to experiment with each. D: is a recovery
partition. I'm thinking of removing the data from E: and deleting it and
then "Stretching" C: back to it's original size. Best way to do this?

Thank you,
Ed
Click to expand...

I think that C and E would need to be contiguous. To increase the size
of the C partition the space next to it has to be free. It doesn't
sound like this is the case.

If your drive is partitioned as follows: C partion - | D partion - | E
partion

Format E, copy or move D contents to E. Through Computer
Management>Storage>Disk Management, delete the D drive, delete the
partition and extended the C drive (as I recall, the presentation in
the extend a drive dialog was confusing, but just next, next, take the
defaults and finish).

If there is nothing between C and E, then you simply delete the E
drive, delete the partitin and extend the C drive.

I hope this helps.

-solon fox
 
Thank you Solon Fox, that was easy, no issues and no third party software,
that's what I believed.

Ed


Hey:

MY HDD lists the order of my partitions as D:, C:, and E:. I have Vista 64
set up on C: and 32-bit on E: to experiment with each. D: is a recovery
partition. I'm thinking of removing the data from E: and deleting it and
then "Stretching" C: back to it's original size. Best way to do this?

Thank you,
Ed
Click to expand...

I think that C and E would need to be contiguous. To increase the size
of the C partition the space next to it has to be free. It doesn't
sound like this is the case.

If your drive is partitioned as follows: C partion - | D partion - | E
partion

Format E, copy or move D contents to E. Through Computer
Management>Storage>Disk Management, delete the D drive, delete the
partition and extended the C drive (as I recall, the presentation in
the extend a drive dialog was confusing, but just next, next, take the
defaults and finish).

If there is nothing between C and E, then you simply delete the E
drive, delete the partitin and extend the C drive.

I hope this helps.

-solon fox
 
Done already? That was fast!

Vista Disk Management is pretty rudimentary, but you don't need third
party software to remove a partition and extend a drive to contiguous
space. I learned how to do it only a few weeks ago.

-solon fox
 
I don't know what "order" you're referring to unless it's what's showing in one
of the Disk Management windows, which is sorted alphabetically. Your C drive
(Drive #0) is most probably the system drive, so that is active partition and it
contains the boot manager for both installed OSs.

Before or after you successfully delete the E partition and resize the C
partition, you'll have to modify the boot manager in order to remove the dual
boot menu. Vista has a built in command line tool which can be hard to use. This
task can be done more easily with 3rd party GUI utilities. You may want to look
into these freeware utilities:

EasyBCD
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,66204-order,1-page,1/description.html

VistaBootPro
http://www.vistabootpro.org/
 
You can remove the Earlier Version of Windows entry in the boot menu with
VistaBoot Pro. After that you will not see a boot menu since it does not
appear when only one OS entry is present. Follow the advice of others here
in using Disk Management. Next time you do this sort of thing don't do it
with partitions on the same drive. I use my eSATA port on the back of my
computer for mounting bootable drives for second or third operating systems
when I am testing. Unlike usb and firewire ports, eSATA ports work just
fine for mounting bootable drives without having to mess with the internal
partitions.
 
Colin Barnhorst said:
I use my eSATA port on the back of my computer for mounting bootable drives
for second or third
operating systems when I am testing. Unlike usb and
firewire ports, eSATA ports work just fine for mounting
bootable drives without having to mess with the internal partitions.
Click to expand...


Does your PC have an eSATA port and controller on the
motherboard, or do you have a SATA/eSATA adapter, or
do you have a PCIe eSATA card for the eSATA port and
controller?

*TimDaniels*
 
Colin Barnhorst said:
I use my eSATA port on the back of my computer for
mounting bootable drives for second or third operating
systems when I am testing. Unlike usb and firewire ports,
eSATA ports work just fine for mounting bootable drives
without having to mess with the internal partitions.
Click to expand...


Does your PC have an eSATA port and controller on the
motherboard, or do you have a SATA/eSATA adapter, or
do you have a PCIe eSATA card for the eSATA port and
controller?

*TimDaniels*
 
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