Will deleting the primary partition delete the files in the logical drives?

[Srikanth]

I want to format my c: drive to ntfs and do a fresh install of XP. The other drive d: contains all my backup files. So cant delete that partition.
My plan is to delete the primary partition c: and run XP setup. Then format the primary partition(NOT CONVERT) as NTFS through the setup. Is this possible. Or is there any other way around? I just dont want to lose my backup in the other partition.

Sri

 

[aGreenAgent]

Should be perfectly fine.

 

[Srikanth]

I plan to delete the primary partition c: using fdisk. Will there be any change of drive letters later on? Like for example the d: partition becoming c: after deletion and the new partition becoming d:.

 

[imported_Phil]

The D: partition won't change, not just because it's a Logical partition, not a Primary.
However, don't worry about FDISK, just use the Windows Setup tool to delete the partition; when it asks you where to install XP, press D to delete the highlighted partition, then Enter to start Setup using that partition.

Make sure you have C: highlighted and not D:, of course.

 

[CrispyFried]

Primary partitions are assigned drive letters 1st, then logical drives in extended partitions. Is D: a logical drive (in extended partition)? If its in an extended, it will definately be stay d: and youre good to go. If its also a Primary, no too sure but the 1st primary listed in partition table should still be c:, 2nd primary d:.. if they both exist. If only the original primary d: exists d: becomes c:

This all happens at boot, and the xp installer will keep those letters.

IOW if both are primarys you may have to delete the original primary c: then recreate it in FDISK as primary/fat32/ntfs to keep it c: If you cant do ntfs with fdsik create as fat32 and during windows install delete and recreate as primary/ntfs. Or the drive letters may get reversed.

Confusing yes? Hiopefully your d: drive is a logical in an extended, and ignore this.

Im also still in coffee absorbtion mode. Hopefully someone can explain better or correct me if Im wrong.

 

[Srikanth]

The d: is a logical drive in the extended partition.
I think i'll go ahead with Phil and CrispyFried's suggestions. Thanks guys. Thanks for the quick responses.

Will let u know when done.

 

[CrispyFried]

Oops duh didnt notice the word logical in the title

Coffee finally kicked in.