deleting old windows installs off hard drives?

[SAV1OUR]

so i have 2 older installs on a hard drive can i just delete them or will something go wrong? 

[Milesgaming]

Format them instead, it deleats everything on them. You only go (windows 7) Start--right click computer and then--manage--device management--right click the drive you want to format and press--format

 

EDIT: Disk management

[Ivyk]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/how-do-i-remove-the-windows-old-folder

[AlwaysFSX]

Just delete the Windows.old folder, it's from saving files when you reinstall or upgrade Windows. Unless you have files you want from the old install just delete it.

 

Format them instead, it deleats everything on them. You only go (windows 7) Start--right click computer and then--manage--device management--right click the drive you want to format and press--format

 

EDIT: Disk management

This is all on the same drive, doesn't work like you want it to.

[SAV1OUR]

Format them instead, it deleats everything on them. You only go (windows 7) Start--right click computer and then--manage--device management--right click the drive you want to format and press--format

 

EDIT: Disk management

i cant wipe the entire drive though i have stuff that i cant currently carry to another drive

[Milesgaming]

i cant wipe the entire drive though i have stuff that i cant currently carry to another drive

What do you mean? You could just save your important files on a usb memory, and then take them back into the fresh install? You would have to reinstall drivers and all that though, which is annoying...I'm not sure if there's a soloution where you can delete one of the installs.

[SAV1OUR]

What do you mean? You could just save your important files on a usb memory, and then take them back into the fresh install? You would have to reinstall drivers and all that though, which is annoying...I'm not sure if there's a soloution where you can delete one of the installs.

i have a bunch of steam games on the drive and i want to remove the old windows installs i have on it to free up some space for steam so i dont want to wipe the entire drive

[Milesgaming]

i have a bunch of steam games on the drive and i want to remove the old windows installs i have on it to free up some space for steam so i dont want to wipe the entire drive

Most steam games save your progress in the clouds, all my games but Euro Truck Simulator 2 saves it in the clouds, so I can reinstall windows how many times I want without losing progress

[FizzyFantom]

Format them instead, it deleats everything on them. You only go (windows 7) Start--right click computer and then--manage--device management--right click the drive you want to format and press--format

 

EDIT: Disk management

I see where you are coming from, but that isn't an option on a system they want to keep using. You can delete windows.old folders perfectly safely (or parts of them if you need to). They are just the folder where Windows moves the entire contents of the HDD when installing a new OS where one is already detected. It happened when I upgraded from Vista, after which I went through the folder and moved the files I needed to the new directories and deleted the rest