My Asus Notebook came with the HD partitioned into OS (C) 75 gb and data (D) 208gb. I have just about filled C partition. I don't need it to be partition. I have tried shrinking D drive using the disk management tool. But the shrink volume does not go to C but to something called free volume. When i open my computer I cannot see the shrinked GB. I just want an unpartioned HD.
How can I do this?
Thanks
you can reinstall to get one partition or the free volume is made and the you need to extend C into that space it doesnt happen automatically
Hello gerribol Welcome to SF!
The Parted Magic pointed to there requires configuring a Grub boot loader or following the documentation on unpacking files onto a usb flash and making it bootable. The PM tool is based on the alternate free Linux driver tool GParted which is downloaded in ISO format and can be written to a flash drive with a program that supports the iso format very easily. Even the shareware version of UltraISO will see that done.
First however before attempting any partitiion changes you will want to back up any important files ahead of time before booting live from either a cd burned with a live image or seeing one written onto a flash drive for booting live from that. If you are simply looking to expand the C primary across the drive once you have everything backed up from the D partition you would simply delete that volume and use the resize option to expand the C primary to fill in the empty space created or in other words merge the two partitions.
If something does go wrong during the resize at least your important files are stored hopefully on another drive where you can restore Windows back to factory with the recovery disks or bios option using a conbination of keys assigned now seen on most newer models for the last few years. Most partitioning programs will also show a small 7-10gb recovery partition generally hidden from view in Windows you would want to keep intact especially if still under a warranty.
The screens shown the documentation page here will show how resizing partitions is done with GParted. http://gparted.sourceforge.net/larry...e/resizing.htm
Here is one that is a bit easier without making a bootable CD:
Best FREE Partition Manager Freeware for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7. EASEUS free Partition Manager Software Home Edition.
How to free extend system partition, enlarge or extend C: drive partition under Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7 and Windows Server 2000/2003/2008?
For most resizing done with the C primary itself you would use a live tool to prevent problems seen with unmovable system files. Resizing the same partition you are booted into the OS from tends to cause problems.
One other thing to know however is once the C primary is fully expanded you will want to schedule a run of the disk check utility with the "dskchk /r /p" switches used to insure the integrity of the partition afterwards.
+1 chkdsk afterwards.
If you convert it to dynamic volume, you should be able to change the partition sizes without using a 3rd party tool.
<If you are simply looking to expand the C primary across the drive once you have everything backed up from the D partition you would simply delete that volume and use the resize option to expand the C primary to fill in the empty space created or in other words merge the two partitions.>
Thanks everyone. This is all a bit scary for me. So I have deleted everything from the D partition. All my data, programs, everything is on the C partition.
So I can delete the D partition? Right?
Using disk management - last time I 'shrank' the D partition I thought I would be able to expand the C partition by the corresponding amount, but the 'expand' option was greyed out in the menu. The 'shrunk' GBs went to ?free volume
I would rather use the Windows tool (DM) as this is not something I plan to be doing again.
So after I delete partition D I should be able to expand C?
Do I have to back up C partition before I delete D and expand C
Thanks
If you cannot currently expand C: with all that free space, you won't be able to even if you delete D.
Do you get an option to convert to dynamic?
If not, probably only choice is a 3rd party app. The UBCD contains a couple free simple ones that will do what you want, but again, make sure you back up anything ultra important, cos there is a small chance you'll loose everything.
Also, if it is W7 make sure you don't touch/blow away the 100MB boot partition, otherwise you'll be in trouble :P
Quote