remove dual boot

[Ed Mc]

I have 2 hard drives in the same computer.
Each has it's own copy of XP installed. It's a
dual boot system. I would like to erase one drive
and just use the disk for storage. Is this a
simple task? My main disk is formatted NTFS. The
one I want to erase is FAT32. Could someone give
me a step by step procedure? Google gives answers
for dual boot with different OS's. Thanks for any
help.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have 2 hard drives in the same computer. Each has it's own copy of
XP installed. It's a dual boot system. I would like to erase one drive and
just use the disk for storage. Is this a simple task? My main disk is
formatted NTFS. The one I want to erase is FAT32. Could someone give me a
step by step procedure? Google gives answers for dual boot with different
OS's. Thanks for any help.

You need to supply much more information, e.g.
- What is the drive letter for the unwanted installation? C:? D:? Other?
- Which partition is active? C:? D:? Other? The command
diskmgmt.msc will show you.
- Where do the hidden boot files reside? C:? D:? Other?
Their names are c:\ntldr, c:\ntdetect.com, c:\boot.ini
(or d:\ntldr, d:\ntdetect.com, d:\boot.ini, etc).
- Do you have a floppy disk drive?

 

[Ed Mc]

You need to supply much more information, e.g.
- What is the drive letter for the unwanted installation? C:? D:? Other?
- Which partition is active? C:? D:? Other? The command
diskmgmt.msc will show you.
- Where do the hidden boot files reside? C:? D:? Other?
Their names are c:\ntldr, c:\ntdetect.com, c:\boot.ini
(or d:\ntldr, d:\ntdetect.com, d:\boot.ini, etc).
- Do you have a floppy disk drive?

the unwanted drive is E. I can only find
boot.ini backup located on C and E drives. Can't
find the other files. I have "Show hidden files "
checked. The E drive is active. (C is "system"). I
do have a floppy drive. Thanks for help.

 

[Guest]

I have 2 hard drives in the same computer.
Each has it's own copy of XP installed. It's a
dual boot system. I would like to erase one drive
and just use the disk for storage. Is this a
simple task? My main disk is formatted NTFS. The
one I want to erase is FAT32. Could someone give
me a step by step procedure? Google gives answers
for dual boot with different OS's. Thanks for any
help.

We need more info more than this, what the two operating system are?.
My guess you run out of space and you want to format your Recovery
Partition, Am I right?.
HTH.
nass

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have 2 hard drives in the same computer.
Each has it's own copy of XP installed. It's a
dual boot system. I would like to erase one drive
and just use the disk for storage. Is this a
simple task?

Sure.


My main disk is formatted NTFS. The
one I want to erase is FAT32. Could someone give
me a step by step procedure? G

1. Boot to the main NTFS drive.
2. Right-click on My Computer and choose Manage.
3. Click Disk Management.
4. In the lower pane, right-click on the drive you want to "delete"
and choose format.

Be aware that that causes the loss of everything on the drive, so if
there's anything you need, back it up first.

Then you will also want to disable the choice of booting to that
drive. Run MSCONFIG, go to the boot.ini tab, and click "Check all boot
paths."

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

the unwanted drive is E. I can only find boot.ini backup located on C
and E drives. Can't find the other files. I have "Show hidden files "
checked. The E drive is active. (C is "system"). I do have a floppy drive.
Thanks for help.

We're getting a little closer. The boot files are, of course,
on your hard disk. If they weren't then Windows would
not boot! To locate them, do this:
- Click Start/Run/cmd {OK}
- Type these commands:
attrib c:\nt*.*{Enter}
attrib c:\*.ini{Enter}
attrib e:\nt*.*{Enter}
attrib e:\*.ini{Enter}
type c:\boot.ini
type e:\boot.ini
- Report all the results.

 

[Guest]

1. Boot to the main NTFS drive.
2. Right-click on My Computer and choose Manage.
3. Click Disk Management.
4. In the lower pane, right-click on the drive you want to "delete"
and choose format.

Be aware that that causes the loss of everything on the drive, so if
there's anything you need, back it up first.

Then you will also want to disable the choice of booting to that
drive. Run MSCONFIG, go to the boot.ini tab, and click "Check all boot
paths."

|Ed if you have problems with removing the boot menu on startup which is
often the case use bootcfg. Goto the command prompt and type bootcfg /? this
will list all the options that command offers. I'm not sure it deletes the
o.s itself though but a good format will do that as somebody mentioned
before. good luck

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

1. Boot to the main NTFS drive.
2. Right-click on My Computer and choose Manage.
3. Click Disk Management.
4. In the lower pane, right-click on the drive you want to "delete"
and choose format.

Be aware that that causes the loss of everything on the drive, so if
there's anything you need, back it up first.

Then you will also want to disable the choice of booting to that
drive. Run MSCONFIG, go to the boot.ini tab, and click "Check all boot
paths."

I think this poster's problem requires a little more attention
because it appears that the installation he wishes to remove
happens to reside on the active volume. Formatting it without
taking prior precautions might make the machine unbootable.

 

[Ed Mc]

We're getting a little closer. The boot files are, of course,
on your hard disk. If they weren't then Windows would
not boot! To locate them, do this:
- Click Start/Run/cmd {OK}
- Type these commands:
attrib c:\nt*.*{Enter}
attrib c:\*.ini{Enter}
attrib e:\nt*.*{Enter}
attrib e:\*.ini{Enter}
type c:\boot.ini
type e:\boot.ini
- Report all the results.

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>attrib c:\nt*.*
A SHR C:\NTDETECT.COM
A SHR C:\ntldr

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>c:\*.ini
The system cannot find the path specified.

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>attrib c:\*.ini
SH C:\boot.ini

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>attrib e:\nt*.*
File not found - E:\nt*.*

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>attrib e:\*.ini
File not found - E:\*.ini

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>type c:\boot.ini
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows XP Home Edition"
/noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="xp2" /?

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>type e:\boot.ini
The system cannot find the file specified.

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>

Does this help?

 

[JS]

One thing you can try first is to disconnect the cable to the second drive
and see if you are able to boot from the drive you wish to keep Windows on.
If you can accomplish this (boot to Windows) without problems then you know
it's safe to delete the contents of the second drive.

As to how to delete/repartition the second drive I wait until you report
back.

JS

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

We're getting a little closer. The boot files are, of course,
on your hard disk. If they weren't then Windows would
not boot! To locate them, do this:
- Click Start/Run/cmd {OK}
- Type these commands:
attrib c:\nt*.*{Enter}
attrib c:\*.ini{Enter}
attrib e:\nt*.*{Enter}
attrib e:\*.ini{Enter}
type c:\boot.ini
type e:\boot.ini
- Report all the results.

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>attrib c:\nt*.*
A SHR C:\NTDETECT.COM
A SHR C:\ntldr

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>c:\*.ini
The system cannot find the path specified.

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>attrib c:\*.ini
SH C:\boot.ini

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>attrib e:\nt*.*
File not found - E:\nt*.*

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>attrib e:\*.ini
File not found - E:\*.ini

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>type c:\boot.ini
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition"
/noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="xp2" /?

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>type e:\boot.ini
The system cannot find the file specified.

C:\Documents and Settings\Edward>

Does this help?

Yes, it helps, although the answers you supply appear to
be at variance with your previous report that drive E: is
the active partition. You should now take up JS's suggestion
and disconnect the cable to the disk where partition E:
resides and report if WinXP Home still boots normally.

 

[JS]

I also should mention to check you applications load OK while your at it.
I think Pegasus and I are basically thinking along similar lines so I follow
that post as well.

Idea is that if the drive you want to keep XP on (I'll call it the main
drive) is OK then I'd take a slower and probably over cautious approach in
that my next step would then be to disconnect the main drive, connect the
drive the you want to remove Windows from (it should now be the only drive
connected) and boot from the Windows CD and do basically a clean install but
when you reach the point about choosing the location to install you will
select 'D' option to delete the partition. The reason I choose the long way
is that there is no way you can accidentally delete Windows on the drive you
wish to keep.

Then after you have deleted the partition you can shutdown the PC, connect
both drives, boot to Windows and use Disk Management to create a new
partition on the second drive and format it. But I'm getting ahead of my
self.

JS

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I think this poster's problem requires a little more attention
because it appears that the installation he wishes to remove
happens to reside on the active volume.

He said he has two physical drives. I read it as his wanting to remove
the installation on the secondary drive. Do you see something I don't?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

He said he has two physical drives. I read it as his wanting to remove
the installation on the secondary drive. Do you see something I don't?

The OP's subsequent reply suggested that the system partition
on his first disk was not active but the one on the second disk
was. However, further replies threw some doubt on this - see
my own branch of this thread.

 

[Ed Mc]

I have 2 hard drives in the same computer. Each has it's own copy
of XP installed. It's a dual boot system. I would like to erase one
drive and just use the disk for storage. Is this a simple task? My main
disk is formatted NTFS. The one I want to erase is FAT32. Could someone
give me a step by step procedure? Google gives answers for dual boot
with different OS's. Thanks for any help.

Diskmgmt.msc indicates that my E: drive is active. My C: drive is simply Healthy(System).
If I disconnect my slave disk, (where E: drive is located), computer won't boot up. It sees no drives whatsoever. I'm afraid things are really screwed up! Thanks for help, everyone.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Let's look at this calmly:
- Why should things be screwed up? Reconnecting the slave
disk should restore them to normal!
- What makes you think that the PC sees no drives whatsoever?
- What message(s) do you see on the screen with only the slave disk
connected?
- When only the slave disk is connected, what disks does the
BIOS report? Primary? Secondary? Master? Slave?

 

[Ed Mc]

Let's look at this calmly:
- Why should things be screwed up? Reconnecting the slave
disk should restore them to normal!
- What makes you think that the PC sees no drives whatsoever?
- What message(s) do you see on the screen with only the slave disk
connected?
- When only the slave disk is connected, what disks does the
BIOS report? Primary? Secondary? Master? Slave?

With only the slave drive connected BIOS sees it
and cdrom. With the slave disconnected and my main
drive connected BIOS sees no drives at all. I
think I'm beginning to understand my boot record
must be on my slave drive. Unfortunately this is
the drive I want to purge.
I really appreciate everyone's help and patience.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

With only the slave drive connected BIOS sees it and cdrom. With the slave
disconnected and my main drive connected BIOS sees no drives at all. I
think I'm beginning to understand my boot record must be on my slave
drive. Unfortunately this is the drive I want to purge.
I really appreciate everyone's help and patience.

No, that's not the way it works. Here is the order of
things in a PC:
1. The BIOS must recognise a primary master disk.
2. The primary master disk must have a Master Boot
Record (MBR).
3. The primary master disk must have appropriate
boot files (ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini in the
case of Windows).
4. The folder referenced by boot.ini must have a valid
Windows installation.

Each item is fully dependent on each of its predecessors.

You report that your BIOS will no longer recognise your
hard disks when both are plugged in. The PC therefore
fails at Step 1 above. This usually happens when one of
the disk is incorrectly jumpered (Slave rather than master)
or if the 50-core IDE cable is plugged in back to front.
You must resolve this matter before you can proceed.

 

[Ed Mc]

No, that's not the way it works. Here is the order of
things in a PC:
1. The BIOS must recognise a primary master disk.
2. The primary master disk must have a Master Boot
Record (MBR).
3. The primary master disk must have appropriate
boot files (ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini in the
case of Windows).
4. The folder referenced by boot.ini must have a valid
Windows installation.

Each item is fully dependent on each of its predecessors.

You report that your BIOS will no longer recognise your
hard disks when both are plugged in. The PC therefore
fails at Step 1 above. This usually happens when one of
the disk is incorrectly jumpered (Slave rather than master)
or if the 50-core IDE cable is plugged in back to front.
You must resolve this matter before you can proceed.

Pegasus,
Sorry for the confusion. When BOTH are plugged in
BIOS sees all disks. When my main disk (with c:\)
is plugged in, by itself, BIOS does NOT see it.
When my SLAVE disk is plugged in, by itself, BIOS
sees it as secondary. This disk contains E:\,
which has the WindowsXP I want to remove. Thanks
again.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Pegasus,
Sorry for the confusion. When BOTH are plugged in BIOS sees all disks.
When my main disk (with c:\) is plugged in, by itself, BIOS does NOT see
it. When my SLAVE disk is plugged in, by itself, BIOS sees it as
secondary. This disk contains E:\, which has the WindowsXP I want to
remove. Thanks again.

If the BIOS does not see your primary master disks
by itself then you need to change its jumper setting
to "Single Disk" or words to this effect. If unsure, try
every position until you find the one that lets the BIOS
see the disk.