Replace XP C: with Vista D: ?

GoFast2GoSlow

GoFast2GoSlow

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Not sure if this is feasible, but here's what I'd like to be able to do. I currently have a pair of 320GB disk drives in a RAID 1 configuration, so they present as a single 320 drive. This is broken up into three partitions as follows:
  • C: 50GB Windows XP "system" volume
  • D: 50GB Windows Vista "system" volume
  • X: 200GB Windows common data files
XP was installed first, then Vista, and it is a dual boot configuration.

What I would now like to do is burn the XP partition, go to a single boot system using the Vista partition, and make that the C: partition. Is this possible to do and does EasyBCD help in this process? I have searched a lot on the internet but haven't found a clean way to do what I am looking to do.

~gs2gf
 
Well first you would have to clone the XP drive with Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image. That part is easy. But deleting that partition and then moving Vista over will be tough. It can be done with things like Acronis Disk Director i believe but your boot will become corrupt. You would have to fix that.
 
If you change the system drive letter w/out formatting (i.e. burning the XP partition to a disc), programs won't run any more.


Is there a particular reason you'd like to change the partitions around? I'd recommend leaving it if I were you...
 
Well, I don't need the XP partition any more, so I want toreclaim that disk space. And I would be a lot more comfortable having C: as my system disk, rather than D:. I know everything works fine now, but when you bounce from machine to machine, 99.9% od the time C: is the system drive, and I don't feel like stumbling over my one system that has it as D:.
 
The simplest thing to do if it really bugs you, is reinstall Vista from scratch, nice and clean, then reinstall your 3rd party apps.
I have, in the past, with a newly installed XP which got a little confused after I accidentally disconnected a second disk, edited the registry to change every occurence of C:\ to D:\ (where I wanted XP to be) which was perfectly successful, but took hours, and only Adobe reader and about 2 other bits of setup software had been installed wrongly at that stage.
If you do a regedit and find "D:\", your mind will boggle at the number that'll need changing.
 
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