Trouble deleting unwanted files

[topj]

Hi, This is where its starts, I was doing a format and recovery with my Hp wich had xp home, when it came upon a error about not finding a file,so the format was done but it was not fully recoverd, so when i tried to boot i was getting a error, so i tried to repair wit a backup cd but it was damaged, and a xp cd but damaged as well, so i decided to get Vista home premium,and installed that and all is well except on start up its asking if i want to boot to an earlier version of windows or vista, but i still cant boot the xp, and it took up alot of space on my hard drive, how do i delete those files,without having to format the whole harddrive ??

[Raddy]

It's probably seeing the old version of XP on the partition, so you'll have to delete the partition. You need to open up your disk management console (not sure where it is in Vista, but in XP go to Run and type in diskmgmt.msc). This will bring up the disk manager and you will see your primary hard drive split into two or more partitions. Locate the partition that XP is on, right click, and choose "Delete Partition." Reboot using the Vista DVD or CD and choose the Recovery console. Once you're at the console, type in the following:

bootrec.exe /fixmbr

Followed by:

bootrec.exe /fixboot

This should eliminate XP without losing your Vista data. Click here for more information.

[-pops-]

I would strongly suggest always installing an operating system on to a "clean" i.e. freshly formatted drive. Having residues of old data - especially old operating systems can causes many problems - as you are experiencing.

[Raddy]

I agree with pops...only do it the way above if its absolutely imperative that you preserve the data on Vista.