Added disk, have drive letter problems

[ihrsetrdr]

The machine is running XP Pro, and has the following disks & partitions:

Disk 0
partition 1= C
partition 2=E
Disk 1
partition 1=Z

no optic drives

Problem: every time upon reboot the system calls for a check of "E" because of file inconsistency. The only files on "E" are:

  Directory of E:\

  $RECYCLE.BIN                  
  RECYCLER                      
  System Volume Information     
 
 
   E:\
   ==
   boot.ini                                 1 KB    3/22/2009 05:54:52 PM   rhsa 
   NTDETECT.COM                            46 KB    3/21/2009 09:29:46 PM   rhsa 
   ntldr                                  244 KB    3/22/2009 05:51:22 PM   rhsa 


  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  Total 3 folder(s); 3 file(s)

  Total files size: 0 MB; 291 KB; 297822 Bytes

  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I don't really need "E" partition anymore, as I have added Disk 1 as storage, but I am uncertain of the consequences if I delete the boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM and the ntldr files. Indeed, Windows is preventing me from deleting the partition altogether. I changed the partition on Disk 1 from "E" to "Z" so I could change "E" to "D", which I thought might restore the natural order of things, but the system won't allow changing "E" at all. Rebooting doesn't solve anything either.

Any suggestions?

 

[Know Nuttin]

what does disk management show you for info on E:\? is it a system partition? Active?

also confused how you have drive letter E as being on both Disk 0 and 1?

 

[ihrsetrdr]

what does disk management show you for info on E:\? is it a system partition? Active?

also confused how you have drive letter E as being on both Disk 0 and 1?

Very easy: still on 1st cup of coffee. I corrected the post.

Disk Management shows E:\ as "healthy(System)" under Status. It must be active, as the "make partition as active" feature in the 'right-click' dialogue is grayed out.

I'd like to just delete the E:\ partition and leave 'raw' for a Linux dual boot; the E:\ drive is too small(25.7gb) for storage purposes; Disk 1 is 232.88gb and has taken over file storage functions. As mentioned, the System is not allowing a delete of the E:\ partition.

 

[Know Nuttin]

That's because it's the system partition which contains your boot files, you have to boot out of the OS to touch it. After you do that though, you'll need to repair your boot loader.

That's how MS deals with partitions. system partition = boot info + boot files. boot partition = where system files (\Windows folder) is. lol...

 

[ihrsetrdr]

So, just run "fix mbr" in the Repair console?

 

[Know Nuttin]

I normally do fixboot, fixmbr, and then check using bootcfg to see. You can use bootcfg /rebuild also if it's not right.