Cannot delete an old windows XP partition

Okay here is the problem;
I have two copies of Windows XP installed on my hard drive.

here is what my current Disk Management windows looks like
( Link to image )

I would like to FORMAT C: to free up some space, however these are my only options;
( Link to image )


How do I delete the C: partition?

 

It sure looks like C: is being use by the system. When you created the second image with the slash lines through the C: partition; had you started the computer by booting to D:\?

To put it another way--I'm used to seeing slash lines on the system partition but there are none in the first picture. They are there in the second picture--which is sort of a warning that those files are in use. Did you take both pictures during the same boot session?

I'm just trying to figure out what is going on before telling you it is ok to delete C:.

 

as far as I know it boots into D:\windows.. i dunno about the slashes i have no idea what they mean

 

Just looked at my own Disk Manager and it doesn't show Boot on any of the drives.Shows System and Healthy on C and Healthy on D,E,and F. (Have 2 disks divided into 2 partitions each).

 

No, open up disc management again and look, there is none "slashed" when you first open it, when you click on any disk then it gets "slashed."
Note the pics.
Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3

 

Just came from my Disk Manager. C drive shows up slashed and I did not click on it. C drive on mine is boot drive. Must show boot drive at start as default.

 

And if you click on another drive does it change it to slashed? That's what the slashes means "Selected drive."

 

Yes I just checked and if I click on C:, the slashes appear and if I click on D: the slashes appear on that drive instead of C:

I noticed it says Primary partition for C:, how would I change the primary partition?

 

That I have never tried to do, it is probably simple enough but I don't want to send you down the wrong path. I am sure someone else will be by with the answer to that.

 

Switch the drives around. Put C where D is and D where C is. Open your PCs case and just change them. I also have 2 drives that I switch around. The one on the end of the cable line is always Master(boot) drive.

 

If you are sure that C isn't your boot or primary drive go back into drive management right click on the drive and delete the partition. You can then make a new partition and format it. If you are unable to delete the partition you will then need a program like partition magic to delete it with. There are free partitioning programs out there. Here is a link to some different partitioning programs you can look at.
http://majorgeeks.com/CPM_Cute_Partition_Manager_d5369.html
http://majorgeeks.com/Partition_Table_Doctor_d4129.html
http://majorgeeks.com/EASEUS_Partition_Manager_Home_Edition__d6006.html

I use Partition Magic but it isn't free. KOMMANDER

 

Good find! I knew I was leery of telling you to get a bootable partition manager to delete C: for a reason. Windows has to boot from a Primary partition. So even though you have installed XP on D: the files ntdlr and NTDETECT.COM and a few others necessary to start Windows are on C:. If you format the only primary partition, C:, your PC won't boot.

I don't think there is a good way to fix the problem. Partition Magic 8 can supposedly change partition types but that is the only software that I've seen mentioned on the web ($69.00).

Creating a new Primary partition and installing XP on it would be the best way.
You could delete most of the files on C: except for the few small hidden ones needed to start Windows and then shrink that partition down as small as possible.

 

thanks for the help, i am going to wipe the drive clean and install xp&ubuntu. I've been having a few other problems as well and this seems like the easiest and fastest solution