• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

In a conundrum with operating systems

fustercluck

fustercluck

Diamond Member
Hey I actually spelled "conundrum" right on my first try.

I've got a tricky problem here and I've been thinking the past couple days about it but can't figure out what to do. It would all be much easier If I had more than one single HDD. But, I'm broke so I can't get one anytime soon, and judging by all the horror stories i find in HDD reviews on newegg I'm not too anxious to get another one anyways.

Now, onto the problem. To make a long story short (just read the topic summary) I've been an XP user for as long as it's been available and want to make the switch to Vista (64 bit) now. I messed up something when installing Vista so I ended up being lazy and just using XP for a while. My current install of XP has been pretty funked up for a while and lots of crashes/errors, and it's only getting worse. So, I want to uninstall my current installations of Vista and XP and then install Vista agian.

Main thing I'm worried about is I don't want any bits and pieces of old Operating systems and old drivers lurking around my computer to cause problems for my future install of Vista. So, the obvious answer would be to format my HDD and start over. But, I got lots of important files on this HDD and nowhere to back them up to, so I can't just delete everything. Am I out of luck or is there a way I can finagle all of this without much trouble? Thanks.
 
Not having backed up your data is very risky.
That is the first thing you need to take care of.
If you do not want to buy a hard drive, use DVDs. It may take along time if you have a lot of data. But, you have to do it.

Do not follow the following instructions unless you have backed up your data!

- Download GParted Live.
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/
- Load it onto a CD or a USB flash key.
- Boot to it and resize your partition(s) to make room (empty space) for a new partition at the beginning of the drive.
- While still in GParted, edit the falgs of any OS partition you have to make them hidden.
- Install Vista on the empty space you created at the beginning of the drive.
- After Vista is installed, boot to GParted again. Unhide the other partitions. Make sure the Vista partition at the beginning of the drive is the boot drive.

If you now boot, your old partition(s) will be visible and you can use it as a data partition.
This is true only if everything goes as planned. If not, you will be happy that you backed up your data. If you did not back up your data, do not blame me!
 
I got my most important stuff backed up on someone Else's computer, there's other stuff I'd have that I'd like to keep, but isn't really important.

Yeah I got 2 partitions, and just deleted a bunch of stuff so I think I'll move everything I need to C, then format D (which has Vista on it), then move everything to D and format C, which has windows on it. Sound like a winner?

Thanks for the replies. Might try GParted if I can't shift everything around the way I plan.
 
I've been in your situation before.

Just burn your data off to DVDs before formatting. For programs that have settings, etc, that you need to save, just write them down on a piece of paper.

My technique is pretty simple. Just go through all your apps, one by one, confirm you have all the settings/info you need. As you go through, uninstall each application once you're sure you're all set with it. This is a good way to keep things in check; you won't forget to write down settings in any application because you have your add/remove programs list to keep track. Once a program is all set, it's gone. If there is still a program listed in add/remove programs, you know you still have to make sure you're all set with the app before uninstalling. Eventually, you'll have uninstalled all your apps.

Then just systematically go through your data and burn it all off. Be absolutley certian that your DVDs burned properly and check them. Then delete your data off the HD once it's copied and backed up. Go through each folder systematically until everything is empty.

After some time, you'll have a very bare XP install with no apps and no data lying around. This way you're pretty much certian that there's nothing left on the HD that you need. Then you can feel comfortable formatting.

If you have any specific requests, let us know, such as how to back up emails and contact lists in outlook, etc.

Good luck.
 
It won't let me format my D drive for some reason, always says "volume open or in use" but it's not in use as far as I know. Went into safe mode and got the same message. Any ideas?
 
Try booting to your Windows disc(Vista I assume), and try formatting the partition as part of the install process.
 
Originally posted by: wankawitz
It won't let me format my D drive for some reason, always says "volume open or in use" but it's not in use as far as I know. Went into safe mode and got the same message. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

That means that your D partition is your boot partition.
To confirm that, click on "Start" and right click on "My Computer" and click on "Manage". In the left pane of the window that opens up, select "Disk Management".
In the right pane, identify your two partitions. Very likely, one shows as "System" and the other shows as "Boot".

Boot to GParted and change the partition flag of your C drive to become boot.

If you then boot and check disk management again, you should only see drive C marked "System". The D drive should only show "Healthy".
If you get to this point, you will be able to format D.
 
Here's a bit of advice for the future. Never have anything on your OS install partition that you are not willing to loose.
I can format the C: drive in every single computer I have and not loose a single file.

Easiest Way to do this is to move your documents/ pictures etc folders to another partition or HDD.
In Vista you can also place your desktop folder to another partition if you like storing stuff on the desktop.
That way when it comes to reinstaling windows you just format and intall. Also like Navid said make sure you have a backup of your files, never know what can happen.
 
Well, C is my boot partition for XP (which I use) and Vista is installed on D. I want to format D to get rid of Vista but it's probably the reason I can't format the drive.

It gets a bit more complicated. When I upgraded my system recently (a couple months back) my computer wouldn't boot into XP. No huge surprise there, usually computers get all out of sorts when so many parts change. No matter what I did I could not boot into XP. So that's when I first decided to install Vista. The weird thing is, right after installing Vista, I was able to boot into XP no problem. So, I don't know what the heck the deal is, but XP and Vista are on two different partitions.
 
That's all I've been using, not sure how to format it otherwise.

Need a way to forcefully format the D drive partition. Using the program "HiJackThis" I confirmed nothing from my D drive is running in the background. Not sure how I can force-format the drive.
 
Using a program called "Vista Boot Pro" I deleted Vista's "BCD OS entry" whatever that is, since I did that Vista doesn't show up on the boot selection when I boot up my computer and just automatically boots into XP. I'll try that method though, I'm wondering if it's just the same thing or if it will do anything now that Vista is gone from the boot selection.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top