Cant resize drive after Win 7 partition for XP

R

Rokybird

Member
I want to install XP after Win 7 partition,but space on partition
after Win 7 is small, only 13gb
My hard drive is partitioned as follows: total size 320gb
* 3gb
* 175gb
C: 97 gb with Win 7 installed and running
D: 8 gb Xp recovery installed
* 13 gb
the * are empty partitions.
I want to install XP for dual boot.
I understand this must be installed after drive C:
So
I want to transfer space from the 3 and 175 to the 13 gb
partition, but this seems to be impossible,
Is that correct?
Win 7 partitioner cant do it
nor can Partition Wizard do it.
It seems they can only merge adjacent partitions,or make them smaller.

If thats correct than I can only install Xp to the 13 gb partition, is that correct? is that large enough for XP to run?

than I could wipe the XP recovery partition and merge with 13

what would the other option be? format entire PC and install Xp first? would the recovery disk allow me to create partitions?
thanks,
Rokybird
 
XP doesn't have to be in any particular position in relation to any other OS on your HDD.
Place it where you like.
As it happens, 13Gb is plenty as long as you don't want to put huge apps in there with XP.
It's not a bad ideas to keep your apps separate anyway.
You can see my XP (which is several years old and completely up-to-date) would fit easily.
 

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Terry60 said:
XP doesn't have to be in any particular position in relation to any other OS on your HDD.
Place it where you like.
As it happens, 13Gb is plenty as long as you don't want to put huge apps in there with XP.
It's not a bad ideas to keep your apps separate anyway.
You can see my XP (which is several years old and completely up-to-date) would fit easily.
Click to expand...
Well according to the below info I learned here yesterday it will create problems.

Although as you say I could put it in the 13gb partition after D:
Prepping the Machine for an XP Installation
Click to expand...
The first thing to do is to get your system ready for installing Windows XP. There are a couple of things you need to do:
information.gif
Already Have Free Space?
Do you already have a free partition or a separate physical disk that you can install Windows XP to? If so, skip on to the next section.

  1. Download the free GParted Live CD or use a commercial partition editor, and boot into it.
  2. Use the partition manager to shrink the partition with Windows Vista to make enough room at the end of the drive for Windows XP.
  3. Add a new primary partition located after the Windows Vista/7 partition you just shrunk. Make sure it has been formatted as NTFS. It does not need to be primary.
  4. Reboot
It's very important to make sure that this partition was created at the end of the drive, or else you might no longer be able to boot into Windows Vista because your partition numbers have changed.
Click to expand...
 
They're half right.
If you move the start position of the Vista/7 partition, you will break the boot.
(the BCD locates the OS with a UID, which contains the disk signature and the partition start location)
For that very reason, Windows doesn't let you "shrink" the OS at the front, only at the back.
If you use an external partition manager to move the partition, you must either get one that auto-repairs the BCD, or you must repair it yourself by booting the Vista/7 DVD and "startup repair".
Since you aren't proposing to move your W7 partition, just thinking about where to place XP in the surrounding space, you don't have that problem.
As it happens, installing XP after W7 (in time, not space) will break the boot anyway.
XP is not forward compatible, knowing nothing about newer OSs, so it will take over the boot process and leave W7 unbootable.
This is inevitable when you install OSs in the "wrong" chronological sequence, and something we've all faced in the past.
It's a standard procedure to repair the boot after installing XP.
Here's how
Recovering the Vista Bootloader from the DVD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki
Recovering the Vista Bootloader with EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

While we're on the subject, you should also be aware that XP will break W7 system restore. You will need to isolate it from being able to see (and corrupt) W7, like so
System Restore Points - Stop XP Dual Boot Delete - Vista Forums
 
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