Partitioning Problem

gregrocker said:

Boot Partition Wizard CD, rightclick E, select Resize, drag left grey border to the left to take up the space you shrunk from C, click OK. Apply all steps.

His original objective was not to enlarge E. It was to add a new partition (which would be #5 on the drive) in the now unallocated space freed up by shrinking C.

He needs to convert E to logical, get that unallocated space included into the "extended partition" so that it covers both the unallocated space and the now-converted-to-logical E, and then he can create another "logical" partition in the unallocated space on the left side of the now "extended partition" which will be a total of about 209GB.

But he doesn't need to be limited to 4 partitions, just to create this particular partition in the space freed up by shrinking C. He doesn't need to eliminate the "system reserved" partition. He doesn't need to have only "primary" partitions.

He's just got to convert E to logical, and then he's just about home free... with maximum future flexibility achieved as well as solving his current goal.


I haven't done it to be absolutely sure that step #2 will work as I think it will (given the cleverness of Partition Wizard), but I suspect all that needs to be done is:

Step #1: right-click on E and convert E from "primary" to "logical".

This is accomplished by creating an "extended partition" around E, including only sufficient room for the E partition at the moment .

The conversion to "logical" will either (a) take about 8MB away from E to be used as the "prefix" area in front of an "extended partition" and keep the unallocated space to its left exactly the same size, or (b) take 8MB away from the high-end of the unallocated space for the "prefix" of the new "extended partition which will include the converted E exactly the same size in "logical" as it was when "primary".

One way or the other, the conversion of E from "primary" to "logical" will create an "extended partition" just large enough to hold the now "logical" E.

Step #2: right-click on unallocated space and "create partition, type logical".

Partition Wizard will almost certainly recognize that immediately to the right of this space is already an "extended partition", and will surely automatically increase the size of the "extended partition" to the left, to include the unallocated space to its left.

The 8MB "prefix" for the "extended partition" which previously was immediately in front of the "logical" E partition will now be moved by Partition Wizard, to the extreme left of what is at the moment the unallocated space and which has just been "annexed" into the newly enlarged 207GB "extended partition". The remaining unallocated space will thus be added to the total combined new size of the enlarged "extended partition", and from this unallocated space now inside the newly enlarged "extended partition" the newly requested "logical" partition will be created.


In other words, I don't think it is necessary to perform multiple additional steps to do what I know is really going on and that needs to be done. I think Partition Wizard will figure it all out instantly... once (a) E is converted to "logical" thus creating an "extended partition" in which the "logical" E will live, and which is adjacent to the unallocated space to its left, and (b) a new "logical" partition is requested to be created in this unallocated space, which is instantly seen as solvable by just enlarging the size of the "extended partition" currently including only "logical" E, to also now include the unallocated space to its left, and then creating the newly requested partition from this unallocated space which is now inside of the "extended partition" instead of being outside of it as it was just a moment ago.

Net result: 208GB "extended partition", inside of which is (1) new 66GB "logical" partition, and (2) 142GB "logical" E converted from "primary".

I'm sure PW can recognize what to do in step #2, once E is converted to "logical", thus freeing the user of having to be a wizard on partitions.

gregrocker said:

Boot Partition Wizard CD, rightclick E, select Resize, drag left grey border to the left to take up the space you shrunk from C, click OK. Apply all steps.

If i resize E to take up all the shrunked space to make a larger E, is it safe to do???

dsperber said:

gregrocker said:

Boot Partition Wizard CD, rightclick E, select Resize, drag left grey border to the left to take up the space you shrunk from C, click OK. Apply all steps.

His original objective was not to enlarge E. It was to add a new partition (which would be #5 on the drive) in the now unallocated space freed up by shrinking C.

He needs to convert E to logical, get that unallocated space included into the "extended partition" so that it covers both the unallocated space and the now-converted-to-logical E, and then he can create another "logical" partition in the unallocated space on the left side of the now "extended partition" which will be a total of about 209GB.

Sir thanks alot for being such guidence but i just dont want C drive to be big, so its fine if i add unallocated space with E to make E 209GB. Converting to logical and so on is a bit difficult than the resizing E to take the unallocated space. So i will go with resizing E as Mr. Gregrocker said if you please tell me wil it be safe to do are not??? i mean simply the unallocated space will be added to E with any loss of data which is already in E or formation will be needed after resizing E???

Thanks

and please tell me for what use is System drive ( 199 MB)??? when i bought this laptop this system drive was visiable in Computer and it contained a folder named "HP Tools" but then i reinstalled Win7 and the system drive was no more visiable in Computer but it is visiable in disk-managment. I see that it is labled as primary partion so incase it has nothong to do with booting windows or something else is it possible that i delete this partion and then may b i will be able to make 68GB unallocated space as a partion??? As there willl be one less primary partition.

Thanks

If you use the Partition Wizard boot CD then it is safe to Resize E to the left into the Unallocated space. It doesn't touch your Win7 so there is no risk to the Operating System.

However any time you do a partitioning operation you should back up your data involved. That said, we have never had a failure helping here with hundreds of complicated partitioning operations using the PW boot disk. It is our most valuable tool.

So back up your files on E, download and burn the Partition Wizard ISO to CD using ImgBurn at 4x speed with Verify: ImgBurn - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

Now boot PW CD, select 1 for screen resolution, rightclick E, choose REsize, drag the left grey border to the left to take up the Unallocated space, click OK, look over the map to make sure everything looks correct, then cllick Apply.

Your 200mb System Reserved partition is important because it holds the boot files and also places the Repair console normally only on the DVD or Repair CD on the F8 Advanced Boot Options. There's no reason to risk trying to remove it when you have other easier and safer options.

i would add one thing. the only thing i didn't really know was that i could have more that 4 partitions on a hdd as long as i used logical partitions. what i would add is get yourself a copy of partition wizard 5.0 and no higher. i have never been able to get 5.1 or 5.2 to actually run during boot. it probably has to do with my particular setup, but err on the side of caution i would use the 5.0. if you have a hard time finding it i have a copy that i got from my roommate that i can upload.