Removing 32bit install?

"teddykgb715" wrote in message

>
> Hey all,
>
> I had the 32bit Vista Ultimate installed for a while and I just
> recently installed the 64bit onto a separate partition. I deleted the
> 32bit from the OS boot menu in system configuration but it won't let me
> delete or format the partition where the 32bit install was when I am in
> Vista. I deleted it using the DVD to boot into the partition area but
> after I did that my PC wouldn't boot or anything. I got it repaired but
> I am now back at where I started.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas about how to delete the old installation
> (entire partition) without screwing up the boot?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Ted
>
>
> --
> teddykgb715


Hi Ted--

Disk Management Should Work to get your job done.

[URL="http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/f2e9a502-e63c-413d-8804-87326ef4f4cc1033.mspx"]http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/f2e9a502-e63c-413d-8804-87326ef4f4cc1033.mspx[/URL]

Formatting with Windows Disk Management: FAQs

[URL="http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/3ccec49c-2c67-4ff7-b672-ea1d32977aa81033.mspx"]http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/3ccec49c-2c67-4ff7-b672-ea1d32977aa81033.mspx[/URL]

[URL="http://www.partition-software.com/resource/image/Disk-20Management.jpg"]http://www.partition-software.com/resource/image/Disk-20Management.jpg[/URL]

You should be able to type diskmgmt.msc in the run box, search above start,
or an IE address bar and in Disk Management ****from the 64 bit partition
you can format the 32 bit drive ***normally. You can't format a partition
while you're in Windows on that particular partition. However, in my
experience, with all respect due to everyone including the Storage team who
made diskmanagement, sometimes Diskmanagement won't even have the menu
option to do a simple NTFS format when you right click the partition of a
drive you aren't on. I don't know why. I'd love for someone to explain
that. Further, Diskmanagement has limitations that G-Parted Live, a free
Linux partition manager that works great on Windows boxes, does not have.
It can't add space to a partition, and it often won't reduce a partition
unless the conditions are j ust right a far as the space and/or partition
that is adjacent to the target partition.

I've seen Windows Vista or Windows 7 disk management ghost menu options like
format often on occasions for no reason I could ever discern from anything
MSFT or anyone else has written about it on their team blogs, technet, msdn,
anywhere else on [URL="http://www.microsoft.com"]www.microsoft.com[/URL] etc.

When Windows Disk Management won't/can't do the job, (and I don't think
anyone can tell me how it can add space to a partition, I turn to a handy
free application called G-Parted from Linux Gnu and Gnome. It's a live
disk, and you just burn the iso from the link.

G-parted formats when and where Disk Management won't;' it does it in
literally seconds and it's much faster. You just load the live disk, boot
from it> choose the 3rd gui option "safe graphic settings or the first--I
prefer the 3rd>choose keep keyboard input same>type 33 for the Language
choice for English, choose X to get to the interface when prompted.


The first interface you see will have a lot of things loading as it whizzes
past you. If you're a Windows only user, it'll make you feel a little more
geeky and look like something Cloey O'brien or Janis Gold does on "24."
Choose the options I named above.

[URL="http://www.headphonedeals.com/images/GParted-Fix.jpg"]http://www.headphonedeals.com/images/GParted-Fix.jpg[/URL]

Using Free G-Parted Live Disk to Resize Partitions when Windows Disk
Management Can't or Won't

[URL="http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/using-gparted-to-resize-your-windows-vista-partition/"]http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/using-gparted-to-resize-your-windows-vista-partition/[/URL]

[URL="http://itsignals.cascadia.com.au/img/gparted_start.png"]http://itsignals.cascadia.com.au/img/gparted_start.png[/URL]

[URL="http://gparted.sourceforge.net/screens/gparted_1_big.jpg"]http://gparted.sourceforge.net/screens/gparted_1_big.jpg[/URL]

If you have a situation where you need to resize, you can simply drag the
interface right or left and it will reflect the appropriate numbers or type
in the number of the size disk you are targeting.

[URL="http://gparted.sourceforge.net/screens/gparted_5_big.jpg"]http://gparted.sourceforge.net/screens/gparted_5_big.jpg[/URL]

****The trick is that when the g-parted interface comes up on your desktop,
you must go to the lower right hand corner and drag it the width of your
desktop with your mouse in order for your changes to apply. It's a
non-intuitive little handshake they don't tell you about until you hit their
forums, and after that it works beautifully.

You click on your partition to change or format, and you can add space,
reduce space>non-allocated format, or simply right click and select format
NTFS>then go up on the tool bar and click apply and it will ask you to
confirm the change as all partition managers do.

Good luck,

CH

Once in a while, you may have to use Startup Repair's bootrec switches after
using it, but I find that to be less than 10% of the time.
 >> Stay informed about: Removing 32bit install? 

"andy" wrote in message

> On Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:32:43 -0500, teddykgb715
> wrote:

Using Disk Management, mark the 64-bit Vista partition as active.
Then repair/create the new Boot Manager files.
The old system partition can now be deleted.

Hi Andy--



I have a couple questions for you that may clarify why some options have
been ghosted using diskmgmt.msc in trying to either format, or grab some
unallocated space for a partition with Disk Management in Vista or Win 7
which has driven me to using G-Parted.

I have 3 partitions on one box, from two HDs that aren't setup with a RAID
card, or in any software RAID array and this is what Disk Management calls
them; and all of them are formatted NTFS.

D:\ Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition)
E:\ Healthy ( Primary Partition)
C:\ Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)

Given these labels, would you try to right click and designate E:\ and C:\
as Active, and if I did would it afford me any more options.

1) I notice that E:\ and C:\ can theoretically be shrunk to slice
unallocated space.

2) I've never seen MSFT Disk Management (although the option is always
ghosted) have an active right click option that will Extend Partition. Do
you know why in the world they have a ghosted option that never becomes
unghosted and as far as I have seen never has the ability to actually extend
the partition?


Can you please clarify for me what you do when you mark a partition as
"active" that enables you to get done what you want? Are their other terms
that might come into play on a menu there that can facilitate formating or
shrinking a disc? I ask th is because even the explanations of terms like
"healthy primary partition" and "active partition" seem to need down to
earth explanations to understand themselves. I also have one partition
labled "healthy, active, crash dump partition."

Thanks,

CH
 >> Stay informed about: Removing 32bit install? 

"SIW2" wrote in message

>
> Chad Harris;1026141 Wrote:
>> "andy" wrote in message
>> news:r9iuu4l75cb86cdl1vj9v0dkmhmui51im3@xxxxxx> > >
>> > > On Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:32:43 -0500, teddykgb715
>> > > wrote: > > Using Disk Management, mark the
>> > > 64-bit Vista partition as active.
>> Then repair/create the new Boot Manager files.
>> The old system partition can now be deleted.
>>
>> Hi Andy--
>>
>>
>>
>> I have a couple questions for you that may clarify why some options
>> have
>> been ghosted using diskmgmt.msc in trying to either format, or grab
>> some
>> unallocated space for a partition with Disk Management in Vista or
>> Win 7
>> which has driven me to using G-Parted.
>>
>> I have 3 partitions on one box, from two HDs that aren't setup with a
>> RAID
>> card, or in any software RAID array and this is what Disk Management
>> calls
>> them; and all of them are formatted NTFS.
>>
>> D:\ Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition)
>> E:\ Healthy ( Primary Partition)
>> C:\ Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)
>>
>> Given these labels, would you try to right click and designate E:\
>> and C:\
>> as Active, and if I did would it afford me any more options.
>>
>> 1) I notice that E:\ and C:\ can theoretically be shrunk to slice
>> unallocated space.
>>
>> 2) I've never seen MSFT Disk Management (although the option is
>> always
>> ghosted) have an active right click option that will Extend
>> Partition. Do
>> you know why in the world they have a ghosted option that never
>> becomes
>> unghosted and as far as I have seen never has the ability to actually
>> extend
>> the partition?
>>
>>
>> Can you please clarify for me what you do when you mark a partition
>> as
>> "active" that enables you to get done what you want? Are their other
>> terms
>> that might come into play on a menu there that can facilitate
>> formating or
>> shrinking a disc? I ask th is because even the explanations of terms
>> like
>> "healthy primary partition" and "active partition" seem to need down
>> to
>> earth explanations to understand themselves. I also have one
>> partition
>> labled "healthy, active, crash dump partition."
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> CH
>
>
> Hi Chad,
>
> What is it you are trying to do?
>
> If you hand the Active flag to a partition that does not contain
> Vista/Win 7 boot files, you won't be able to boot.
>
> Disk Management can only shrink from the right, and extend in to
> unallocated space on the right. (As viewed in the Disk Management
> window).
>
> You might find these useful
>
> [URL="http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/95418-disk-management-delete-extend.html"]http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/95418-disk-management-delete-extend.html[/URL]
>
> [URL="http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/95398-disk-management-shrink-partition.html"]http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/95398-disk-management-shrink-partition.html[/URL]
>
> Hope it helps
>
> SIW2

Hi SIW2--

"What is it you are trying to do?"

I'm trying to understand the sets of terms associated with the partitions
on disk management. I would have named them more clearly, but they are what
they are.

From here:

[URL="http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/0260f433-b882-4d26-8d54-90f4e7cd1ffd1033.mspx"]http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/0260f433-b882-4d26-8d54-90f4e7cd1ffd1033.mspx[/URL]

From this link:

"Do not mark a partition as active if it does not contain the loader for an
operating system. Doing so will cause your computer to stop working."

This is a paraphrase of what you just said and by marking it active, you
mean hand off the active flag. This is a useful concept if that's the way
it is. It means that I can't mark the F:\partition as active unless I have
an OS on it. I suppose I can install an OS on it since it's a primary
partition. That leads to the question as to what use it is to mark any
partition active?

Additionally, one one box I have some extra space I'd like to get to be part
of the partitions to the right and the left of it.

The layout is this from left to right:

6.84 GB Healthy Primary Partition (Obviously an OEM recovery partition on
the notebook, and one I'd never have use for.) It's to the extreme left, so
I doubt I could incorporate it into a partition--I'd love to do that. I
could format it; I have a free volume next to it but if I extend the volume
I'd have to take space from the free volume which is designated Primary
Partition.

F:\ 43.85 GB NTFS Primary Partition (nothing on it)

C:\ Primary Partition with the OS On it; also designated Boot, Page File,
Active, Crash Dump)
New Volume with 324 MB NTFS (Logical Drive
496 MB Free Space
D:\ Data Drive 35.97 NTFS (Logical Drive)
E:\ 30.92 Logical Drive with Nothing On it

As I said, I've never seen a situation where you could add real estate via
Disk Management in to a partition, but if you say you can add space if you
have unallocated space to the right of a partition, I'm sure that's the
case.

1) What can I do if anything to incorporate the 324 MB and the 496 MB into
the data drive to give it more space to the right of it or the C:\drive with
the OS on it to the left?

I can shrink the 324 MB, make it unallocated, but it is to the right of
where I'd like to add it and free space is on the right of it between it and
the data drive.

I would think I could install an OS on the E:\ drive but it's not a primary
drive. I thought I was entitled to 4 primary drives on a hard disk. Or is
it 3 primary drives and one logical drive.


That's one reason I turned to G-Parted. The term extended is confusing and
misleading, because by definition an extended partitition does not mean more
space was added. It simply means if I understand what I've read correctly,
your links and a lot of others, that it's a space (which some people call
confusingly a container) that can't have an OS on it, but can store data on
it. An extended partition shows up after the maximal number of primary
partitions have been created. Or another way to say it is only 3 partitions
can be primary partitions to host an OS on them on a single HD.

Thanks,

CH
 >> Stay informed about: Removing 32bit install? 

"andy" wrote in message

> On Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:13:10 -0400, "Chad Harris"
> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>"andy" wrote in message
>
>>> On Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:32:43 -0500, teddykgb715
>>> wrote:
>>
>>Using Disk Management, mark the 64-bit Vista partition as active.
>>Then repair/create the new Boot Manager files.
>>The old system partition can now be deleted.
>>
>>Hi Andy--
>>
>>
>>
>>I have a couple questions for you that may clarify why some options have
>>been ghosted using diskmgmt.msc in trying to either format, or grab some
>>unallocated space for a partition with Disk Management in Vista or Win 7
>>which has driven me to using G-Parted.
>>
>>I have 3 partitions on one box, from two HDs that aren't setup with a RAID
>>card, or in any software RAID array and this is what Disk Management calls
>>them; and all of them are formatted NTFS.
>>
>>D:\ Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition)
>>E:\ Healthy ( Primary Partition)
>>C:\ Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)
>>
>>Given these labels, would you try to right click and designate E:\ and
>>C:\
>>as Active, and if I did would it afford me any more options.
>
> Any given hard drive should have only one active partition. If a hard
> drive has two primary partitions, setting the second partition active
> makes the first partition inactive.
>
>>
>>1) I notice that E:\ and C:\ can theoretically be shrunk to slice
>>unallocated space.
>>
>>2) I've never seen MSFT Disk Management (although the option is always
>>ghosted) have an active right click option that will Extend Partition. Do
>>you know why in the world they have a ghosted option that never becomes
>>unghosted and as far as I have seen never has the ability to actually
>>extend
>>the partition?
>
> I avoid changing the sizes of existing partitions, so I have no clue.
>
>>
>>
>>Can you please clarify for me what you do when you mark a partition as
>>"active" that enables you to get done what you want? Are their other
>>terms
>>that might come into play on a menu there that can facilitate formating or
>>shrinking a disc? I ask th is because even the explanations of terms like
>>"healthy primary partition" and "active partition" seem to need down to
>>earth explanations to understand themselves. I also have one partition
>>labled "healthy, active, crash dump partition."
>
> The active primary partition is the partition that boots the operating
> system. It contains Windows 2000/XP ntldr, ntdetect, and boot.ini, and
> Vista boot manager files. Windows Disk Management identifies this
> partition as the System partition.
>
> When you install Windows XP on a single partition on a hard drive,
> Windows setup makes the partition primary and active. The status of
> the partition is both System and Boot.
>
> If you shrink the partition and install Vista in the freed up space,
> Vista setup creates a primary partition that is not marked active.
> Vista boot manager files are placed in the Windows XP (active primary)
> partition, and dual boot results. For the Vista installation, the
> Windows XP partition is System, and the Vista partition is Boot.
>
> Now if you want to delete the Windows XP partition, this would mean
> destroying the Vista boot manager files. What you have to do is make
> the Vista (primary) partition active so it becomes bootable, and the
> Vista repair process will create boot manager files in the new System
> partition.


Thanks Andy--

I appreciate your info and input.

CH
 >> Stay informed about: Removing 32bit install?