Two Window 7's on my computer?

One way to do it is to reinstall your operating system except this time, delete the D (or the one you do not want the OS on) and then format the partition that you want the operating system to be on.

Then reinstall the OS.

Not dumb at all. The installation procedure drive options will let you delete the D partition and then when you select the C partition to install windows, it will ask if you want to use the whole drive. It is not as scary as it sounds. I had to do this with my 1764 and it was fine. The worst part is reinstalling all your added programs and files and doing the 2 years worth of updates.

You should say what model computer you have. It sounds like you have a 1564 or a 1764 Inspiron or another model from the same time that came with a small 60gb partition for the windows system files and a huge D partition that was for data and programs--which was not good since users didn't realize that.  Your only option now is to reformat the drive and combine the 2 partitions and reinstall windows 7. Follow the directions here under Custom Installation with formatting: windows.microsoft.com/.../Installing-and-reinstalling-Windows-7  When you choose the partition to install windows, you delete the D partition and extend the C partition to include both. You will lose everything on your hard drive, so make sure you copy your personal files to external media.

Edit-- Since you have a 1545 with a D recovery partition, the format for the 1764 does not apply to your computer. 

Great, thanks! Now for the dumb question of the night; how does one delete the D: drive? :)

Sorry, I have an Inspirion 1545. So I went to reinstall Win 7 and it showed me the 3 partitions I can install on.  The strange thing is my C: drive now says 'Recovery' and is almost full. And all of my D: drive has the files. So when I try to reinstall Win 7 on my C:, it says I do not have enough space.

I'm thoroughly confused. How would my C: drive and D: drive get switched? Is there some way to fix this?

Hi Mary,

Thanks for the advice. I've tried to boot up with the CD but it will only let me reinstall on the D: drive. It's telling me there is not enough space on the C: drive. It also does not give me an option to delete or combine the drives.

Am I missing a step?

Yes, I have followed these directions. I've attached a picture of what my options are.

Simply, it is not letting me do anything but reinstall onto the D: drive with no other options.

Do I have another option to reinstall or combine the drives?

Reformatting will combine the 2 partitions. If you want to get a visual of your hard drive--which would be a good idea--open Computer Management, Disk Management. Type Disk Management in the Start Box and open Create and format hard disk partitions.

You can delete partitions and combine C & D in Disk Management by deleting D and extending C, but I think it is better to boot to your win 7 dvd and follow the directions for custom installation with formatting.

Check out this link.  It provides a step by step look at how to install Windows 7

www.techtalkz.com/.../514412-windows-7-installation-guide-tutorial.html

Sorry, I have an Inspirion 1545. So I went to reinstall Win 7 and it showed me the 3 partitions I can install on.  The strange thing is my C: drive now says 'Recovery' and is almost full. And all of my D: drive has the files. So when I try to reinstall Win 7 on my C:, it says I do not have enough space. I'm thoroughly confused. How would my C: drive and D: drive get switched? Is there some way to fix this?

Do not start installing windows without following the directions under Using the Custom Installation option and formatting the hard disk: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Installing-and-reinstalling-Windows-7  I

It is not the same installation method as you used before. Read all the directions there before you begin.

D:\ is where you want to be installing Windows 7 to.

What makes you think you have two installs of Windows 7????

Hi, I was getting the 'blue screen of death' and the system wouldn't boot up no matter what I did. So I had to reinstall Win 7 with my CD. But now when I look at my Computer, it says that my C: drive is almost full and things have been moved over to the D: drive. I have a feeling when I installed a clean version of Win 7, it just installed a second version. How can I wipe everything from this laptop, including this second version of Win 7? ps. I know there are two versions because when I boot up it asks me which version I want to load. If I select the second one, it gives me the blue screen again. Thanks for your help!

When she selects the second one, it duplicates her original issue and the first one works. Based on this she believes there are two installations.

Partition 2. Recovery (C) should be drive D. Drive letters switched around, but how? Are you installing with a recovery disc provided with LapTop? I dont think so. Dont destroy the contents of recovery partition or you wont be able to recover the orignal OS. Show it to some one who knows what he is doing or contact a Dell rep to trigger the contents of Recovery Partition.

There are softwares available which can change around the drive letters for you. Nortons recovery tools had it.

As to why this person considers that he/she has two OS? Why not, one on orignal drive C which is now drive D and one on the misrepresented drive D which is now drive C and while reinstalling being prompted and with out realizing, clickety click. It happens.

Regards.

Hi all,

I was able to get this fixed last night. Apparently, I was doing everything but restarting and booting from the disk. This gave me the option to delete the D: drive and extend to the C: drive. Duh.

I was also able to delete the 'duplicate' windows. I don't know if this was exactly what was going on, but it was strange it was asking which Win 7 I wanted to start up.

Regardless, thanks all for your help. I'm happy to report all is working brilliantly!

Best,

J