easy question

I have Vista installed on my C:

I have 7 installed on my H: (a TB drive).

Enjoyed 7 but I'm running out of space and need to use it for storage use now. (forgot to make partitions earlier )

Anyway, what's the "right" way of wiping that drive ( H: ) ?

- From disk management in Vista?

- Putting in the Vista disk, booting from it and wiping it out there?

You can either just right click the drive and do a quick format and it will simply delete the mbr and make the disc logically empty. You can also use disk manager to delete the partition then just recreate a new basic disk.

Now, are you using a boot loader or just choosing which HDD to boot from? It's a different story if your using a boot loader because you have to clear the record of 7.

Keep in mind there is software out there that will let you create partitions on a drive that's already partitioned. You could keep 7 and free up 900GB.

In Vista, click on Start and type "msconfig" and hit Enter.
In the "System Configuration" window that opens, select the "Boot" tab.
If you get a boot selection choice every time you start the computer, you should see two entries on this form, one for Vista and one for Windows 7.

Select Windows 7 and delete.
Now, when you start, you will not get a choice and it will boot right into Vista. Make sure about this first.

If all is good, just delete the Windows 7 partition from Vista disk manager.
Then, you can create one or more partitions on that drive from the same disk manager.

bigdogchris said:

Now, are you using a boot loader or just choosing which HDD to boot from? It's a different story if your using a boot loader because you have to clear the record of 7.

Keep in mind there is software out there that will let you create partitions on a drive that's already partitioned. You could keep 7 and free up 900GB.

Click to expand...

I just normally installed it with a disc. Whenever I POST/boot, it gives me the selection of loading Win 7 or Vista. So i'm assuming it comes with a boot loader. I don't have to change hard disk priority or anything.

And yeah I do know there's addt'l software to create more partitions. I just figure I'll wipe it clean and install 7 on my main C: when it releases and stick w/ Vista for now.

I'll be using MrF's method unless told otherwise.

Only reason why I asked is I tried wiping it through disk management without deleting 7 from "Boot" in System config and told me something interesting, forgot what exactly.