Help !!!! Disk partitioning!!!!

[andykhatter]

Hi

So my hard drive has 6 partitions ,one of them that is c: is primary partition(as i see it in the disk manager) my windows 7 is installed on G: and i dont see anything on the c: but it says it has 4 gb of data on it which is not visible to me ....i have change my OS 4 times since I bought my laptop and when I start my laptop it shows the options for all the windows but though i have deleted the other ones ...i dunno why does that happen. Ok so the question is what is the difference between the primary drive and logical drive? Since I have installed the windows on a logical drive what is the best solution ? Can I anyhow merge the primary and the logical drive where my windows is installed without effectinf my OS.Please help my partitions are so messed up!!!!

 

[TypeS]

Logical partitions are when an extended partition (think of this as special primary partition) that can be split into as many logical partitions are there drive letter assignments available. It is usually recommended that you do not install a Windows OS on a logical partition. The reason you are able to now is cause you have another OS and boot loader/manager sitting on a primary and active partition.

You said you have 6 partitions? What is on each of them? It would best to back up any data on partitions delete any unnecessary partitions (don't delete your other OS partition or the recovery one) and re-install Windows, use the Windows setup to partition your drive. During setup, you should only create the partition for the OS you're installing. Assuming you're dual booting and have a recovery partition, you should be just fine to have 3 Primary + 1 Extended (from which you can create logical partitions for what ever use).

 

[andykhatter]

Thanks for the reply..Above is the diskmanagement snapshot of my drives...NOw the boot as the manager says is in my local drive itself...and the page file is in my primary drive ... And i cant reinstall the OS...cz i dun have the setup anymore .... Can I format my cprimary drive)? I want to extend my logical drive where the OS has been installed....

 

[TypeS]

I'm not 100% certain, but I don't think you can convert a logical partition to without first deleting it (losing all data on it) and repartitioning it.

On the other logical partitions there, is there anything on them? An OS? Data? On any of them that aren't being used or important, delete them. I am using Windows 7 atm and my recollection of XP is gettig fuzzier the more I get accustomed to 7 but when you available partitioned space, if you right click on your G: partition, you should see the options Shrink Volume and Extend Volume (again not sure if this was an option in XP, never really mucked with partitions after an install on my os drives).

So what you want to do here is:

1. Check all those partitions (the logical ones) and see what is on them, back up anything you need on partitions you can delete.
2. On the partitions you want to delete, right click on each, and select Delete Volume...
3. You'll now see unpartitioned portion of the Extended Parition which a black bar running on the top.
4. Click on your partition marked as G:, if the option is available, select Extend Volume... and it will ask you how much you want to add to it.

I don't really recommend this though, the best way would be to re-do that extended partition all together, and re-install that OS on a primary partition but you don't have the setup disc alas.

 

[andykhatter]

Can i format my c: ??? hope it wont effect my OS in any way i mean the boot and all?? and is there a way i could erase the options i see for the other windows which i have already deleted !?

 

[TypeS]

No, do not format C:, it is your active primary partition holding your boot manager. Windows shouldn't even allow you to do anything to that partition aside from naming it. If you somehow managed to format it, you would no longer be able to boot into Windows (or any OS) and would have re-install. Just leave it as it is since you're not planning on re-installing Windows.

As removing all the boot options, are you using Windows XP or older?

 

[andykhatter]

i am using windows 7 ultimate....and why does it say boot in my G: and not in c: ??

 

[TypeS]

I'm not sure of how you got the setup but you, or someone, at some point set that partition to be your active primary partition and default paging file. When you installed your current Windows installation, you installed it on a logical partition. Again, not sure of how you or somebody else did that as I wasn't there. Your Windows boot drive not being C: isn't a problem, Windows knows what drive letter it's on and so will any decently written program.

Youre using Windows 7 Ultimate, well I'm not too experience with editing the bootmgr of Windows 6 (Vista) and above other than you use a tool called EasyBCD. I didn't find a guide (only searched quickly) on the forums here, so it would be best to wait for someone with experience using that tool to help with editing your boot options.

 

[andykhatter]

i deleted my e: but now i dont see the extend option highlighted on the G: i see it on the d: tho ((((((((((((((( Whats goin onnn??? And also it doesnot show in the unallocated space it shows in the free space!!

 

[PeaB4YouGo]

Unless you have some data on one of those partitions, I don't know that I wouldn't just go ahead and re-partition the whole drive, reformat, and reinstall 7. It seems like you've got a rat's nest of things going on with that hard drive and starting from scratch seems like the best idea. Of course, if you've got alot of data that you'll need, then another solution is in order....

I have to ask why there are 6 partitions, 20 Gs each.

 

[andykhatter]

this is an old laptop of mine and a naive cousin of mine created all these drives. And i never bothered to change it...But now i am having a problem with the disk space on my G:...And i want to extend it....So all i want to do is extend my G:....For that i deleted my E: and now i have a free space of 20GB which i want to merge with my G: which has all the 20GB space occupied!!!! but the extend option when i right click the G: does not HIGHLIGHT!!!!??????? Any solution??

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello andykhatter, welcome to Seven Forums!



If G: is directly to the right of the Windows 7 Logical drive and it is "Free Space" right click that free space and delete that then you should be able to right click the Windows 7 drive and click "Extend" to add the now unallocated free space from G: to the Windows 7 drive.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

I just looked at the snip again and it looks like the Windows 7 partition is on a FAT32 file system and all the other Extended/Logical drives are in NTFS file system and they are not compatible and I have no further advice for you as I have almost no experience with the FAT file system.



Edit: I'm going to have a look at the Partition Wizard program to see if that will help, I'll be back after while if you don't get it sorted before that.

 

[andykhatter]

yes it is FAT ...is it a problem?....Is it like i can only extend my logical drive if the empty space is immediately right to my drive that i want to extend??

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

I'm at a loss, I can't even get it to install in FAT32 in VirtualBox, I've asked another member to have a look over here, he has a wider range of experience than I, perhaps he'll have some ideas for you, though I'll have a look at other options in the mean-time.

Keep checking back.

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[andykhatter]

thanks for the efforts!

 

[gregrocker]

Can you find a Win7 installer to do a clean reinstall following these tips to get the best install? http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/125874-re-install-windows-7-a.html#post1086729

If not, back up your files and boot free Partition Wizard bootable CD to see if it will rightclick>Delete all of the partitions besides your C and G partitions, click OK. http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html

Next rightclick G>Resize and slide the left and right grey borders outward to include all space to the right of the C>partition. Click OK, Apply all steps.

Now restart the computer to see if Win7 will still start.

If not, boot the Win7 Repair CD to http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105541-startup-repair-run-3-separate-times.html. Try also the Rebuild MBR function on the Disk tab of PW CD, making sure C is still marked Active. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2083-system-repair-disc-create.html

If Win7 will still not start, use PW CD to rightclick>Delete C, then rightclick G>Modify>Convert to Primary, then G>Modify>Set to Active, try Rebuild MBR on PW CD again, if necessary run the Repairs again.

 

[Arc]

I'm at a loss, I can't even get it to install in FAT32 in VirtualBox, I've asked another member to have a look over here, he has a wider range of experience than I, perhaps he'll have some ideas for you, though I'll have a look at other options in the mean-time.

Keep checking back.

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Just subscribing to this thread . I am sure I will learn something new from it .

 

[andykhatter]

I just found the set up of Windows 7 on my system can i reinstall it without the product key?? will it keep me registered?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Before you delete the old Windows 7, use this app at the link below to edit out the activation key so you can use that again to activate the new installation; before you do anything make sure you can retrieve the key, it will be 5 sets of 5 letters / numbers that resemble this one below.

G0BUY-TH3S0-FTWAR-3ATMI-CS0FT


SIW - System Information for Windows