Uninstalling Windows XP partition

[Million]

Hi all,
I've just installed Windows 7 on my Eee PC Netbook, on what was the 'storage' partition of the hard drive. Windows XP, the original OS, was installed in another partition on the same physical drive. Now, when i'm 'in' 7, and I go to format the partition with XP on (using the context menu) it says it can't be done. Is this because it's on the same physical drive as the running OS? If so, can I do it from BIOS or something?
Thanks for reading,
Max

[swinster]

No. Chances are the original XP partition is the System Partition and holds information relevant to booting the machine. The boot partition is the partition that actually holds the OS you are booting into.

If you delete or format the system partition you may run into in booting the machine, although this can normally be overcome by running a recovery using the original Windows installation DVD.

So, if your willing, you should be able to delete the XP partition by using a live CD or the original Windows disk. I would then extend the Windows 7 partition across the whole disk (using such free tools in UBCD or UBCD4Win. However, If you want to keep this partition then just re-format.

After you have done this you will need to run the Windows CD and recover the Windows 7 partition.

[ChaosSystem]

Hmm, this could get messy. Was XP originally on the netbook?
It sounds like Windows 7 has been installed on a 2nd partitions, which means the Boot/System partition is the 1st/XP partition. If you remove this you remove the boot partition which will break Windows 7. You could remove as much of the files off the XP partition, shrink it down then extend the free space to Windows 7 drive.