lol..
thanks for your prompt and courteous reply. It was none of the below!
IF your HD was already partitioned, and you repartitioned the HD with
a single partition of the entire size of the HD, all is well.
HOWEVER, if you had LInux on that partition, it is probably gone.
IF you had a version of Windows on that partition, it is probably
gone.
IF you FAILED to delete the partition on the HD you installed Vista
on, you may have problems if a version of Windows was already
installed.
It is a bad idea to install two versions of Windows on the same
partition.
For the future, NO version of Windows since Windows XP will create a
partition (or more than one partition) without user input. Obviously,
this is for safety reasons.
IF he deleted, then created the partition, then formatted it.
Since I've never done it automatically, I'm not so sure this is true.
NO PROBLEM, IF he followed this order: "delete, create, format"
IF he didnt delete the existing partition first, he may have managed
to install Vista on a raw drive, not a good idea.
Hopefully, you didn't do it in that order.
Correct order is "delete the partition, create a new one (or more than
one new one), THEN format the partition(s)."
IF you format, then delete the partition, NONE will be created by you.
All that would have been accomplished is that you formatted the
existing partition, then deleted it, leaving you with a raw
unpartitoned HD. IT is possible to install a Windows OS on a raw
disk, but not advisable.
Windows installation program will NOT (automatically) create even ONE
partition without your input, much less more than one. Additionally,
you must point the installler to the partition you want to install the
OS on.
To create more than a single partition on a HD, leave free space from
which to carve a second (or third) partiion. To partition a second
drive, partition it. (so silly to think that the installler would
partition a HD without your input).
If one creates a single partition using all freespace on a HD,
secondary or tertiary partitions will not be able to be created
without third-party tools until one is at the Windows desktop.
Hopefully, this has not confused you even further.
