removing VISTA (c:\) with win7 (J:\) - how???

hello,
i have recently installed win7 (which is AWESOME!!!) on J:\ and have my earlier VISTA (which is crap installed on C:\ as shown below.

HDD1 - 1TB
C:\ - 200gig has VISTA
D:\ - 800gig has just files

HDD2 - 1TB
J:\ - 200gig has win7
H:\ - 800gig has just files

note that each installation is on a separate PHYSICAL hdd!!!

my machine is DUAL BOOT (meaning i can choose which OS to boot at startup)
and i DO NOT have a cd-drive.

so now i am running win7 and am trying to rid myself of the VISTA install but when i tried to format C:\ (in computer management), the 'format' option was not available or rather windows (7) would not let me format. i was also UNABLE to format c:\ drive in 'my computer'

my guess is that there are some files that are being shared between the 2 OS's but i'm not 100% sure.
i also read that the boot.ini or bootsqm.dat might have specific boot information that if formatted, would render my PC non-bootable. is that true? and if so, how can one avoid this problem?

and, if i do somehow manage to format C:\ drive (VISTA), will my windows drive (which is drive J:\) have an impact on my PC since its J: and not C:???

i can't be the only one in this situation since sooooo many have tried win7 the last few months.


1 - how can i best go about removing that partition and/or formating that partition????

2 - is there anything i need to do before removing the older VISTA installation? are there any shared files that maybe the new win7 install would use? i'm referring to documents and settings folders and such.


hope that wasn't too confusing, thanks for reading it all and thanks for any input!!!

Hi liquidmonkey - Welcome to w7forums

That was not confusing at all - This would be easier if you had access to a DVD drive.

First thing you need to understand is that, The computer boots to C:\ then is redirected to the correct partition through the use of windows boot manager.

There may only be one option without a DVD to correct the boot files after removing the vista drive.

You may not have a choice other than installing Windows 7 to the Vista drive. This will place the OS on the Boot drive.

The only other option I can think of might be repairing Windows 7 from a USB Stick to correct the boot files after the vista drive has been removed. I have no idea how to do this, I have not done it myself.

I would guess a 2nd option would be to boot back into Vista. Erase / Format / ect the drive with Win 7 then physically disconnect your Vista drive and connect the new blank drive in it's place and reinstall your Win 7. Then connect the Vista drive where the "old" Win 7 drive was. When you boot up, there will be no dual-boot issues.

Please note, this is physical mucking around in the internals in your comp, do be careful, wear a grounding strap and take precautions.

There is another way.. make a repair disk from within Win7..close down the computer disconect your Vista Drive and reboot with the repair disk in and you will find that it will make Win7 the "C" and allow you to boot up ok..Then you should be able to reconnect your Vista drive press F12 at boot up and select the Win7 drive press enter and when win7 opens you should be able to format the Vista drive..Of course if you have Partition Magic boot disks it is even easier. good luck

ronpeck - that's not an option unless they buy a DVD player

thanks everyone for the advice!!
i seem to have painted myself into a corner this time at it seems a tuogh problem to easily solve

since the win7 release is not that far away, i'll wait until i get the retail version and then just install that onto my c:\ drive and that should sort out all problems.....right?

i was hoping to avoid a reinstall but would have had to do it in 2010 anyway so i guess sooner is better than later


ps, for the time being, i've gone back into VISTA and uninstalled EVERYTHING i could to get HDD space back.

Liquidmonkey - How will you install the Windows Release when you get it if you do not have a DVD drive?

I'm looking at the details you have for your system and wondering why you do not have a DVD. Surely after building a system with those specs you can add a DVD drive. This would solve the biggest problem in getting a solution.

call me stuborn but i'm refusing (or at least trying to) to get a cd-drive. i feel that things like windows and other major software can be installed using USB sticks.

and your right, the darn lack of a cd-drive is a big problem.
might have to get one although they cost almost nothing.

Thats so funny - I believe this too - USB sticks are allot more reliable and 100% less scratches.

One day I will take the time to make a stick bootable then I could use it this way. It's making the stick bootable after placing Windows 7 on it that is the issue in this case.

You know if you had a cd drive, You could physically disconnect the current c drive and use ubcd(the original not the windows one) and create a new master boot record on the former j drive, and set it as the c drive. Then hook back in the old drive as a slave drive. Hope that didn't confuse anyone.