How do I delete an active partition?

[Stinkfinger]

Here's how my pc is set up:

One 200gb hd with 2 partitions, the partitions are C: and D:. C: contains my original copy of XP Pro and is set as the active partition, D: contains a fresh XP Pro install and is the partition I want to use for running XP. I want to delete the C: partition and reformat it and use it as FTP storage. I've tried everything I could think of and nothing is working for me. I was told to use Fdisk so I downloaded this boot disc and gave it a whirl. Problem is is there's 3 different flavors of fdisk on there and none of them worked for me, probably because I'm not sure which to use or how to use it correctly. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[bacillus]

Unfortunately C: will contain a few files that are required by the XP install on your D drive.

 

[Stinkfinger]

So is there a way to move them to the D: so I can delete C:? Another thing, I made a Norton Ghost image of my D: and was thinking about restoring it to my C: but am afraid as to what it might do. Should I or shouldn't I restore it to my C:?

 

[Guga]

you cannot use fdisk on xp partitions/volumes.

open disk management (run diskmgmt.msc) and check what partition is your system partition.

From there you can change the active partition

 

[RVN]

Originally posted by: Stinkfinger
...I made a Norton Ghost image of my D: and was thinking about restoring it to my C: but am afraid as to what it might do. Should I or shouldn't I restore it to my C:?

That's the thing to do.

 

[Stinkfinger]

Originally posted by: RVN

Originally posted by: Stinkfinger
...I made a Norton Ghost image of my D: and was thinking about restoring it to my C: but am afraid as to what it might do. Should I or shouldn't I restore it to my C:?

That's the thing to do.

So what will I end up with, two of the same exact partitions one named C: and one named D:?

 

[RVN]

Originally posted by: Stinkfinger


So what will I end up with, two of the same exact partitions one named C: and one named D:?

Yes. If you have data that you want to save on your c drive ...back it up! What size are your partitions?

 

[Stinkfinger]

The C: is about 130GB and the D: is about 60GB. So you're saying to restore my image of D: to my current C:? What happens when I do that, will Ghost format the C: partition and then install the Ghost image to that? What happens to the rest of the empty space that won't be taken up by the Ghost image (the image is only about 1.5GB)?

 

[birdpup]

Did you attempt what Guga mentioned with the Disk Management? I think that may be your only solution, without the need for a reinstall. I would just save the data somewhere and repartition the drive followed by a reinstall of the operating system.