I have 3 Hard drive partitions. I want to format 2 of them I don't use (C: and E
Then merge them with the one I do use (D

I want to then change my D: drive to the C: drive.
The system tells me I cannot change letter of the boot or system partition.
C: is the system partition and D: is the boot.


without just starting over with everything, which is my backup plan, can I resolve this?

(Basically I want D: to be C

First, let me state that you shouldn't do it.  It's a very bad idea that will almost certainly mess up your Windows installation.  There is nothing magic about C:, it's simply traditionally been the letter MS operating systems use for the first partition on the first hard drive.  There is NO downside to breaking the tradition and having your system volume use a different drive letter.

That said, if you still want to do it, the following procedure is rumoured to work some of the time:

1) Change the drive letter according to instructions here.

2) Without rebooting, search through the registry for any pathnames containing the old drive letter ("D:\") and change them to the new one.  You may also wish to search your hard drive for any application .INI files and correct paths contained in those, but that shouldn't be critical for Windows itself.

3) Pray to whatever deity you worship and reboot.

4) If you have an unusable system, proceed with a repair instal.  If you only have some unusable applications, reinstall them.

The only time I've done this was years ago, on an NT4 machine.  It worked fine that time.

P.S. Due to the way Windows 2000/XP installs its bootloader, there is a good chance your system will become unbootable after you kill or format your C: partition.  If that happens, you should also proceed with the repair install.

If you really want to change it , I recommend you to use Power Quest Magic ver. 8, it the easiest way to merged and format you hard drive. version 8 is a windows base program.

quote:

---

Originally posted by ziegas
If you want to change it , I recommend you to use Power Quest Magic ver. 8, it the easiest way to merged and format you hard drive. version 8 is a windows base program.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Voldemort

quote:

---

Originally posted by ziegas
If you want to change it , I recommend you to use Power Quest Magic ver. 8, it the easiest way to merged and format you hard drive. version 8 is a windows base program.

---

Did you see what he wanted to do? Doing that just like that would render his computer useless....

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ziegas
Hhhmm... maybe, but its still he's decision to make... if he is more comfortable with it then go... don't stop the guy from learning.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Voldemort

quote:

---

Originally posted by ziegas
Hhhmm... maybe, but its still he's decision to make... if he is more comfortable with it then go... don't stop the guy from learning.

---

Still, learning with bad advice will only teach you not to listen to nubs...

---

I'm just going to back up everything i need and format the hell out of this thing then. thanks for the help.

What I would do is back up all of the files to a second drive, from whatever partitions you have. Fdisk and format the first hard drive, then copy everything back to it. Windows probably will need to be repaired, but keep your backup until it works right.