Hi, Bob.
First a long but slight digression:
In 1998, I was still running Win95 when I got a HUMONGOUS new HDD: an IBM
with 9 GB of space! Win95 and FAT(16) couldn't handle a partition larger
than 2 GB, so I had to divide that big drive into 4 partitions of 2 GB each,
plus a 5th one for the leftover 700 MB. (Let's don't get hung up on the
differences between marketing sizes and actual HDD capacities, OK? These
numbers are approximate. <g>) That's when I started using the extended
partition with logical drives, and I still use the same basic pattern today.
I created a single primary partition of 700 MB at the start of the HDD,
followed by an 8 GB extended partition. I installed Win95 into the primary
partition, which became C:, and divided the extended partition into 4
logical drives of 2 GB each. Drive D: was for Apps; E: was Data; F: was
Archives and G: Other. Then I got WinNT 4.0, my first exposure to NT, and
installed it as a dual-boot with Win95. Soon after that, Win98 arrived and
I updated from Win95 to a Win98/NT4 dual-boot. But WinNT4 could not use
FAT32, so I had to keep using FAT(16). Wasn't long until 9 TB started to
seem small, so I moved up to bigger and bigger HDDs. Had to keep Drive C:
small and FAT(16) for compatibility until Win2K came along, followed by
WinXP, Vista and Win7. Starting with Win2K, I have become very familiar
with Disk Management, too. ;<)
Even now, with a mirrored pair of 1 TB HDDs, plus a 200 GB and a 300 GB, I
still keep the same basic pattern on each disk: first a small primary
partition (set Active so that it can become a System Partition and be used
to boot the computer when I want or need to), followed by an extended
partition covering the rest of the disk. The extended partition is divided
into multiple logical drives, which I can expand or shrink or delete and
re-create as I need them, all without disturbing the small system partition.
This worked very well during the several years when I helped to beta-test
Vista and other OSes. As each build arrived, I would create a new logical
drive and install the new build there. After the later build was installed,
I could simply delete the partition that held the prior version and reuse
that space. I could even use the old Xcopy.exe to move entire boot volumes
from drive to drive, even on different disks, and still run the OS from its
new location. And I learned to NOT get hung up on "drive" letters; Windows
does not really use them except to communicate with us humans - it uses Disk
numbers, starting with zero, and Partition numbers, starting with one on
each disk. So I always give each volume a name - a label - which gets
written to the disk and does not change when I reconfigure my hardware.
Windows does not care if it runs from C:\Windows or X:\Windows; we humans
may get confused, but Windows does not.
With that digression out of the way, Bob, let's return to your current
dilemma. ONE way (of several) to solve your problem might be to shrink your
Drive E: by about 100 GB. Then you can shrink the extended partition that
holds C:, D: and E: by that same 100 GB, leaving room to create 1, 2 or 3
new partitions in that space following the extended partition. Create a new
primary partition of 100 GB there and mark it Active. So long as it is a
primary partition in the Partition Table in Sector 0 of the disk, and set
Active, the system doesn't care if it is at the front, back or middle of the
boot device designated in the BIOS. Boot from the Win7 DVD and install Win7
to that new partition. (When Win7 Setup detects WinXP already installed, it
will create the proper startup files on your new System Partition.) Since
you are booting from the DVD, Setup will not know what drive letters have
already been assigned, so it will assign C: to that new partition - then it
will assign new letters to your existing volumes; you can use Disk
Management later to change these letters.
Or, since you have Acronis, you might be able to shrink your current
extended partition (and the logical drives inside it) from the front, which
Disk Management cannot do, and put your new primary partition ahead of the
extended partition. It won't matter to the computer, but it might make more
sense to you. I don’t have Acronis, so I can't help with this.
One more comment on "drive" letters: When installed by booting from the
DVD, Setup has no idea about existing drive letter assignments, so it starts
from scratch, assigning C: to its own Boot Volume (where it installs the
\Windows "boot folder"), then assigning letters to the other partitions -
which often results in the old familiar Drive C: becoming Drive D: so far as
Win7 is concerned. But if we boot into WinXP, then run Setup from the Win7
DVD, Setup can see and "inherit" the letters that WinXP has already
assigned. So you can boot into WinXP and use Disk Management to assign X:,
for example, to the partition where you plan to install Win7, then run Win7
Setup from the WinXP desktop and tell it to install into Drive X: - and it
will, without changing other letters that WinXP has already assigned. That
way, both WinXP and Win7 will see X: as the boot volume for Win7.
Short recap: Shrink logical Drive E:. Shrink extended partition. Create
new primary partition. Install Win7 in the new partition.
OR: Backup everything on the disk. Boot from Win7 DVD. Tell Setup to
reformat the disk and install Win7 into a new 100 GB partition. Boot into
that Win7 and create new extended partition covering the rest of the disk.
Create new logical drives to hold old folder/files. Restore everything into
these new logical drives. Repair Win7's startup files so that you can
choose WinXP on reboot.
I'll quit now, Bob, before I get confused. ;^}
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
Windows Live Mail 2011 (Build 15.4.3538.0513) in Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1
"Bob" wrote in message
Hi, Bob.
Sorry, that's just not the way it works. :>( I've never tried to do that,
but I don't see how it could work.
We often ask users to tell us (A) where are you now and (C) where do you
want to end up; then we can help you figure out (B) how to get from A to C.
You've told us A and some of B, but I don't yet know about C: Do you want
a
dual-boot or triple-boot system with Win7 and WinXP (Pro and/or MC)? Or do
you want to end up with only Win7?
Goal is Win7 on C:, XP on D:.
I had XP Pro on C:, and XP Media Center on D:. Somewhere along the
line, the C: XP Pro partition got whacked, but the D: XP MC partition
still boots. Since I need more drive space, I imaged C: and D:, and
formatted a new drive. I thought I'd restore the partitions to C: and
D: just to make sure the partition tables and boot info were correct.
Then boot the Win7 DVD (yes, I'm in the habit of calling them CD's) to
do the install to C:
The Golden Rule of creating a multi-boot system is to install the NEWEST OS
LAST. That means, in your case, that you need to make sure that WinXP is
booting and running properly first. Then boot from the Win7 DVD (Win7 is
much too large for a CD!) and follow the prompts to add Win7 to the
existing
system.
Yes, that's what I've always done before.
I've never used Acronis (though I've heard good things about it) or other
imaging program, but I think you are right.
I'll remount the drive later and double-check. I could have sworn that
I got systems running using only extended-logical, but apparently
that's not correct.
That sounds to me like your best plan. Then decide what you want your
final
configuration to be: Win7 only? Multi-boot? Upgrade from WinXP to Win7
is
not a straightforward path and I haven't done it (I ran Vista before Win7),
but if that is what you want to do, tell us and someone here can tell you
how to get there from here.
Before upgrading, use WET (Windows Easy Transfer) on your OLD system to
save
your settings from your WinXP to a folder on your Drive E: - which will
also
be accessible from Win7 after the installation. After the upgrade, run WET
Thanks, I will take note of that for the future. In this case I don't
want to risk upgrading the old XP Pro, as I'd prefer to have a clean
install of Win7. It will be messy soon enough anyway.
You should not lose any data, but you may need to have your re-installed
Word and other apps browse to find their documents the first time you use
them.
That's what I was trying to ask above. The current drive is
partitioned as one large extended, with logical C: D: E:. If it's
necessary to turn C: into a primary, I'd need to repartition the whole
thing, right?
You haven't given us any numbers, Bob. Many of us remember when 20 MB
(yes,
MB!) was a "large" HDD. But Win7 is much larger than WinXP. Once you've
run WET from WinXP, you might want to delete Drives C: and D: (you'll still
have their images, right?) and let Win7 Setup create a new Drive C: using
all that vacated space from both those partitions. Since you've installed
Win7 before, you know what a space-hog it is, both on installation and as
it
grows as we use it.
RC
The new drive is 1TB, with roughly 100GB for C:, 100GB for D:. I've
run Win7 in that size partition before, but if you think it should be
increased, I'm listening.
Thanks, RC.
. I get to the partition