I am happy to solely use Windows 7 and therefore I want to format the XP drive for use as storage. However none of the format utilities I have used work, each complaining that it cannot format the Boot drive. What can I do? Thanks in advance for any help.
you will be able to do it; but you must use a proprietary partition software to achieve desired aim. I've used paragon partition manager to good effect more than once; but in case your XP is on the first partition [and presumably it is - if your PC had XP and then you later installed vista or se7en], do the following first. Boot into XP, enable show hidden files [tools, folders and from memory the 2nd tab, scroll down and make sure to check the 2 boxes on the lines "show hidden files - {check box}" and "protect hidden system files {unchecked}" Exit out, agreeeing if required to pop ups and then go to boot partition {presumably C:\ and where XP is installed. Highlight, then copy all of the "hidden" files that are now visible - well halfway visible and then paste them into the partition where the se7en is installed. Reboot, this time in se7en, and just to give yourself an edge, make a backup of the se7en boot files. The only way I know how to do that; is to use vista-boot v3.3 [do a google and download and install] and save it somewhere on the se7en partition, and also to a USB drive just to be cautious. Now you should be able to use Paragopn PArtition Manager and finally get rid of XP
You can delete and format the XP partition without copying any files. After that you have to boot from windows 7 DVD and let it perform a startup repair. This will create new boot files. It has to be run 2 or 3 times, it cannot repair in one step. If you only delete your XP partition without formating it, the startup repair will find both OS and restore your old dual boot configuration. Then you have to do it again. I know what I'm talking about...
I cannot currently delete or format the XP drive as it is still labelled "system" Here is a shot of disk manager so you can see what I mean. I have tried just temporarily removing the drive that hold the XP data, but the PC will not start, and when trying the startup repair I get the message that says it cannot be repaired.
Thanks for this, but I am not going to be able to boot to XP, as I already tried simply deleting all the files I could from that drive
Sorry, I didn't realize that you have two drives. I thought of two partitions on one drive. Disconnect your XP drive or disable it in the BIOS, boot from DVD, and try startup repair.
I tried many times. The error was something like "Windows cannot repair, do you want to send error details" Send or Don't send.
there are 2 possibilities. 1. there is a hidden partition on your XP drive 2. the bootsect is on your XP drive. i.e all your Win 7 boot info are on your XP drive. check with your admin tools /computer management and see whether your system boot partition with Healthy (system/active primary?) if that is the case you must swap your harddrive cable then repair with Win 7 dvd may work! then reconnect your Xp drive to the othe slot (SATA or IDE) you can then format.
Thanks for the advice. I have given up and started a different way. Fresh install of Se7en over the XP install, then format the original Se7en install drive.
That works, because your dualboot loader will consist then only of bcd (xp uses boot.ini, so that causes some headache when removing dualboot) But if u just dl EasyBCD 2.0, then remove or format the xp partition, and then in easybcd rebuild the loader for win7 before rebooting, all is well. Takes about five minutes, and after reboot you'll just have win7. U can go into easybcd again, and see if all settings are correct. This worked for me when removing xp from dualboot with win7 x86, and setting up new dualboot with win7 x64 and win7 x86.
Yes, be careful. I've had some major issues deleting my Win 7 x86 after I was satisfied with Win 7 x64. The boot sector was included on the former, and I couldn't even boot the latter. Moreover, when using the repair function (by DVD) my x64 installation couldn't be found! After many reboots, many bootsect commands, chkdsk etc. I eventually managed to single boot again. The order of the drives/partitions is important, in many cases, Partition 0 or Disk 0 contains the bootsector information.