Help! I somehow created an "E" drive and want to get rid of it

[Orangepeel]

My computer was freezing up, so I tried to reinstall windows xp (yeah, I know, I deserve what I get) and, idiot that I am, I did something weird. I know have an "e" drive that I never had before, instead of just one "c" drive. That wouldn't be a problem except I guess it is related to the main problem. When it boots up, it doesn't go directly to the desktop. There is a screen where it gives me two "Windows XP" options and I have to hit return.

Can anyone help me fix that, please?

[SlackJawedYokel]

1. Umm.. reformat the hard drive

and start over.

Did you install a second copy of Windows on the E drive?
Or is it just a partition?

You can try deleting the partition.

Cletus

[RoyGBiv]

2. That's what it sounds like to me ...

Reformatting the HD and starting with a clean install sounds like the best advice.

[Orangepeel]

3. thanks. can you walk me through deleting a partition please?

I don't mind reformating the hard drive, but trying to do that is what caused the problem in the first place, so I'd like to try something else first.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

4. Before you take that step

ask yourself if you have any important files you want to save. Be sure to back them up before you delete the partition. I usually back up my Outlook database, my Favorites folder, my Desktop, and My Documents. Some things can be hidden-- if you use Outlook Express, you'll have to do a search for your database and your address book files. (Outlook Express databases have a .DBX file extention. Your address book is a .WAB file. Your Outlook database is a .PST file.)

You can also set your computer to autoboot to either installation you wish by RIGHT CLICKING on My Computer (the desktop icon). Hit PROPERTIES, then go to the ADVANCED tab. Go to your Startup and Recovery settings, and there's where you can select which installation to boot and how long a countdown to assign (set Zero if you want to go directly to your startup. Just be sure to select the correct system-- I believe the new install will be the top one on the list.)

[Oreo]

5. You have 2 XP installations

one on c and one on e.

When you reinstalled you probably chose to install in the free space you had on your drive. You'd have to do some pretty technical changes to a text file called boot.ini to get it back to just booting to your C drive XP.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q289022
the link is messed up... delete the space after ?scid=kb

If you're going to wipe everything out, you might as well give this a try first. Chances are you can get back to normal. If you're able to, run spybot to try to fix the freezes

[Berserker]

6. Lucky

If you only knew what I went through to partition my 40 gig Hard drive into C,D and E. And you did it by accident!