Small Delima switching to Windows 2000

[jfall]

I never really wanted to try using Windows 2000 on this computer because I do not have much interested in Networking, and I like to play games. I have been using Windows ME for a while, and decided that I may as well give 2000 PRO a try.

I have ONE IBM 30gig Deskstar Drive, and it is partitioned like this:

c: = 17 GIG = Windows ME
d: = 10 GIG = Personal Files
E: = 3 Gig = Windows 2000 Professional

Now, since I have installed Windows 2000 Pro and have it configured the way I want, I am really starting to like it, and it seems to be a lot more stable then ME was. Heres the thing, I want to get rid of Windows ME all together and switch to 2000 without formatting the 2000 partition (I have done a lot of configurations). Is there an easy way that I can make Windows 2000 the C Drive and add the 17gigs from the old Win ME partition to the Win 2k partition?

Do you suggest using a 3rd party software such as Partition Magic, or using Windows 2000 itself to make the partitions? Do you think I will encounter any problems by changing the driver letter Windows 2000 is installed on, or will drivemapper take care of this?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

*Edit* - BTW... all the partitions are Fat32 - *Edit*

 

[RustyNale]

You could ghost E drive to C and then just reformat E drive with NTFS.

 

[BeHeMOTH]

Highfive for the Ghost user, I would say ghost is the easiest way.

 

[jfall]

I'm not totally understading what you mean. If I ghosted drive E and put it on drive C wouldn't all the Windows 2000 registry settings etc.. be still pointing to drive E?

 

[Frost]

No. It would be like you installed everything on C: orriginally It should be pretty easy actually.

 

[jfall]

So basically your saying to do the following:

1. Format Drive C: (The ME partition)
2. Use Ghost to Ghost Drive E (W2k Partition) to Drive C which is now free space
3. Format the 3 Gigs left over from the old E: Win2k Partition and add it back onto the new C: Win2k Partition to make a total of 20gig

Am I right? Also, is there maybe a site I could go to with more specific information on this? I do not have too much experiencing using Ghost.

 

[jfall]

^

 

[Dunbar]

The only way to "add" the E space back to C is to use Partition Magic (a $70 program) unless you erase both E and C and create one partition out of that space.

 

[jfall]

Fully aware of that, I have Partition Magic.

I just don't understand how Ghost is going to know how to change every reference to E: and change it to C:

 

[NeonFlak]

You can do it but you will end up running into problems later. I would just kill everything and reinstall win2k. That would be the "best" way to do it.

 

[slipperyslope]

Actually no guys, ghost will not completely fix the problem. When he ghosts everything over from the "e:"(3gig) to "c:"(17gig) then from then on the old c: (17Gig) drive will now be called e: drive. The settings for drive letters in win2k are stored with the partition. So when he ghosts the 17Gig partition it will be called e: and will still work and the 3 Gig partition will be reassigned some other letter.


You are pretty much out of luck if you want your Win2k partition to be labels as C: drive. As you have said all the references for programs will be looking for E: anyways

I think there is a program that will go through and change all the references but I think that an fdisk and format would be the easiest.

Jim

 

[jfall]

Humm.. if I format the C: Partition, does it automatically change my E: to C, or can I have it so there just isn't a C drive? I dont really care if it has the lable as C:, I just want ME gone, and the space from that partition added on to my W2k Partition..

Another idea I had would be to format the 17 Gig C Partition and add it to the 10 GIG file storage D: partition, so I would have 27gig of file storage, which is pretty much all the space I use anyways...

 

[slipperyslope]

If you don't care what the drive letters are then all you have to do is:

Don't bother with the format.
Ghost drive e: to drive c:
After that is working then you will have your 17gig partition as E:
Now delete the 3 gig partition from within Win2k.
Use partition magic to combine the 3gig partition into the E: partition
Now you will a 20gig E: drive that is your win2k boot drive.

The only other thing that bothers me is how are you booting to the two different operating systems. That might cause a problem since the boot sector is on the current C: drive.

I am just not sure if your current E: drive has a boot sector.

Jim

 

[NeonFlak]

Man, just fdisk the whole damn thing and start from scratch

 

[Ig]

I'd say just delete all the WinME stuff and set 2k to go straight into 2k w/o showing the menu. Leave 2k on drive e:. If you ghost from E: to C:. You will most likely destroy the boot info 2k needs to boot. It's pretty simple to get rid of ME. Delete the 'Program Files' and 'Windows' directory associated with ME, should be 'c:\program files' and 'c:\windows'. Then in 2k go into the control panel->system->advanced tab->startup and recovery. Uncheck the 'Display list of OS' checkbox. Set default OS to windows 2k pro. You should no longer get the os selection screen and it should boot straight into 2k. There really is no reason to move 2k to C:. if you start running out of space on E: for programs just make a 'Program Files' on C: and install there

This is the easiest way to get rid of ME. With the smallest chance of messing up your current 2k install. Assuming you installed 2k after having me on for a while. I'm guessing you did and are using 2k's boot manager.

Here's how mine is setup.
c: 2gb - network programs (agent, email, irc) and video tools (vdub, etc.)
D: 10gb - win2k, games
e: 10gb - a/v work
f: 2gb - html work and photoshop work
g: 2.9gb - storage
h: 20gb - super storage
i: 10gb - downloads
j: 10gb - stuff to burn on cd

I use to have 98 installed on c: then I just deleted all the files (c:\program files & c:\windows) and made the appropriate changes in 2k.

Edit:
Just reread your post. If you want to shift the space around so 2k drive has most of it. If you do what I layed out above you should have lots of free space on C:. Use Partition Magic to shift all the space from C: to D:, then D: to E: don't think you can go straight to C: to E:. And leave a little on C: and use it for temp space or something like mp3s, etc.