Deleting old OS

[Pizzaplier]

I don't know if this question already discussed or not because I've tried searching this but i don't know how to describe my problem in search box so please forgive me.

from so many years my one single hard drive was divided into windows 8.1(C:\) and personal files (D:\) and that caused everything run super slow, so now i bought a new ssd windows 10 already installed on it and inserted it in and now its automatically booting to the windows 10, its directory is (C:\) but windows 8.1 is still there as (D:\) and my personal files are in (E:\).

How do i remove 8.1 [(D:\) particularly] without damaging personal files?

[hconverse02]

Well...delete system 32.

 

Jk, you can't really because the files were created under that os in the os directory, as opposed to having a partisan in your disk with the os one one part and files on the other.  Best try I know is to copy over somewhere and move back files that you know won't corrupt and redownload everything else, to my best knowledge.

[Princess Luna]

You'll have to backup the data then format the HDD and only then restore the data to it.

[Master Disaster]

So before we actually format anything can you confirm that Windows 10 is on its own separate drive.

 

Also let's check the bootloader is on the SSD before formatting. Please unplug the 8.1 drive from your computer and check that 10 still boots.

 

Next you need to copy all your personal files onto either the C or E drives

[Nirofix]

1 minute ago, Master Disaster said:

So before we actually format anything can you confirm that Windows 10 is on its own separate drive and that you've got all your important files from the drive containing Windows 8.1?

 

Also let's check the bootloader is on the SSD before formatting. Please unplug the 8.1 drive from your computer and check that 10 still boots.

How did u make the Reveal hidden contents button

[AngryBeaver]

If I remember correctly you want to make sure all of the files you want to keep are on E. Then you can delete the partition for D, then extend the partition for E so that you can use all of the storage space on the drive.

 

The only hurdle is to make sure your bootloader isn't on D. If it is then deleting that partition will make the next boot tell you that no OS exists. This can be fixed with a windows disk or flash drive, but it is much easier to take care of BEFORE hand.

 

If you need to move the bootrecord you have a couple options. You can download the free version of EasyBCD or you can try the following:

 

You can open an Administrative command prompt and type the command below to place boot files in the C partition. Make sure and put spaces where indicated or copy and paste the commands.

bcdboot c:\windows /s                  Where the stupid emoji is it should be c : without the space.

Then shut your system down and disconnect the other drive. During reboot, make sure drive 0 is set as the primary boot device. The system should now boot normally but you may not have recovery options available. So before you shut the system down you might run the command below in case you need the info, it should show the path to the recovery tools so save the listing.

reagentc /info