How do I extend my HD partition using redunded 27gb partition

[graham35]

Hi, some help required please, I have trawled the forums but cannot find anything that clearly answer my problem - so here goes

I have a new Acer Revo RL70 nettop, which I am using mainly for XBMC for my movies and music and some web surfing etc.

It came with a version of linux installed, with the hard drive partitioned as follows

27gb for Linux (operating system) there was also a 2gb partition within that which I think was the recovery partition for Linux

The remainder of the drive (750gb) was another partition
I believe thats how the hard drive was configured by Acer, but I did not do a check on that before I installed windows 7 onto it.

I installed windows 7 ultimate onto the drive, which boots perfectly and runs well, it shows a 100mb recovery in the main partition (C drive) as normal with windows.

After running my RL70 for a few weeks and loading it with my films etc, I checked the hard drive structure and noticed the 27gb partition, and thought that would be better use for my films etc. I did think that installing windows 7 would have cleared the partition as it gave me the option to install into that partition, which I chose not to do.

So now when I try to remove or merge or extend the partition (see screen shot) it will not allow me to do it.

Can anyone here please help.

Many thanks Graham

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello Graham, welcome to Seven Forums!


To help us help you better, please post a maximized snip of Windows 7 disk management, though the use of Linux does hide certain partitions from view so we'll do what we can.

 

[graham35]

Hi Bare foot kid
Thanks for your quick reply

Here is the screen shot you ask for below


Thanks for your help, I may be off line for a bit but I will be back as soon as I can today

Cheers

PS... I am now using windows 7, The screen shot shows everything I believe

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Are you still using the Linux partition, is Grub still there or have you over-written Grub?


Have a look through this tutorial linked below for some ideas.

Partition : Recover Space Used by an Older OS

​

 

[graham35]

The Linux partition is empty, I deleted the contents of that partition = 27gb (26.96gb) 100% free space, as confirmed by my screen shot in my second post.

I will look at the link you provided to see if I can sort it out, but I do tend to get a bit lost by some of the "how too" help pages - its an age thing lol

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

It's not too hard mate, just take your time and do it a single step at a time then move to the next step; if you need further help just post it up.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

If D is empty, the typical method would be to delete it and then use Partition Wizard bootable disk to reassign that 27 GB to C.

You can likely delete D with Windows Disk Management, but would need Partition Wizard to reassign the space---so you may as well use PW for both tasks.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

If D is empty, the typical method would be to delete it and then use Partition Wizard bootable disk to reassign that 27 GB to C.

You can likely delete D with Windows Disk Management, but would need Partition Wizard to reassign the space.

That's exactly what the tutorial I linked him does mate.

 

[graham35]

I notice the small partition (system reserved 100mb) center one on my screen shot is listed as active, not the main C: drive section, so would I still have to mark the C: partition as active before doing anything else.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I notice the small partition (system reserved 100mb) center one on my screen shot is listed as active, not the main C: drive section, so would I still have to mark the C: partition as active before doing anything else.

No. System Reserved should be active.

 

[graham35]

Cheers guys, thanks for your help, right now this all seems a little difficult for me, so I am going to have another look at it tomorrow, often I find things go better after sleeping on it.

I guess I should have loaded windows 7 into the 27gb partition and then merged the 27gb into the C: section, the partitions would have been in the right order - merging left into right.

If it gets too difficult I will have to consider how important my spare 27gb is to me.

Cheers for today

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

You will have to move the System Reserved to the left first then move the left side of the Windows partition.

If it were me I would mark the Windows 7 partition active and do the 3 separate startup repairs to create the Windows partition as the System partition, then you could recover that space into the C: partition also.

 

[UnknownReverent]

Whenever I've had that problem, I just used Easeus Partition Manager. The free edition works perfectly. It will put the drive behind the others (to the right) and merge it as well. You hit apply, restart, it does its thing, and then you're good to go.

 

[whs]

I would copy the bootmgr from the 100MB system partition to C. It will activate C automatically. Then you can get rid of the 100MB partition.

 

[UnknownReverent]

Whenever I've had that problem, I just used Easeus Partition Manager. The free edition works perfectly. It will put the drive behind the others (to the right) and merge it as well. You hit apply, restart, it does its thing, and then you're good to go.

And I meant that for the 27gb partition. I always leave the 100mb system partition.

 

[graham35]

Thanks for your help guys, I have managed to do it and extended C: into that space, I now have a 699 GB usable space on my 750 GB - which by my reckoning is about right following the 10% rule of thumb.

Cheers for you advice...

 

[whs]

It is a 7% rule - decimal to binary.