Solved SSD partition split in half - Partition help

[Juced]

Hey,

I have had this problem after re-installing windows 7, My SSD which was 60gb is now split into 2 drives, C: Drive which the computer runs off and the other half was a "New Volume E:". when i saw this the New Volume drive E: was Unallocated, i stupidly clicked and made it a usable drive not knowing what i was doing, thinking it would join back. but it didnt. My computer has struggled to do anything since the C: Drive is constantly at very low to 0 bytes in space left.

Disk Managment Picture: https://gyazo.com/ad19ae334b160c20029502c248dbdb46

Also, the "New Volume E:" Drive says it has 18.1 GB free of 26.5 GB but has only folder inside which is 355MB.

As seen here: https://gyazo.com/6b6e53dd6f34085eb6c31a831cf189de
And Here: https://gyazo.com/b9fd24a523f9cfe9e160b1916b06a099

I have no idea how that folder got there but i cant delete it, the real program files (x86) is in my C: Drive.

So after explaining all that, how do i rejoin my SSD back together to it's original size of around 60GB. I don't want it split into 2 drives.

Thank you in advance,
Juced

 

[ignatzatsonic]

If there is nothing on E that you care about, you should be able to just delete that partition and get back to unallocated space. Looks like E may have a page file. You could move that to C and make it much smaller, say 1 GB or even less.

Then add the unallocated space to C by right clicking C in Windows Disk Management.

I have no idea what's on E other than the page file.

You could download Tree Size Free to find out what's on E if you can't find out otherwise:

TreeSize Free - Quickly Scan Directory Sizes and Find Space Hogs

Post pictures directly in this thread. No need to use an outside link.

 

[Juced]

I used that program and it says there is an 8GB pagefile.sys inside my E: Drive, and also i cannot delete partition the option is faded, i can only shrink it, Does shrinking it move it back to my SSD?

Thanks for the reply

 

[ignatzatsonic]

No, shrinking isn't what you need and won't help much. You don't need E at all.

Go to control panel/system/advanced system settings/advanced tab.

Poke the settings button.

Choose the advanced tab.

Under the virtual memory area, choose change.

At that location, set the page file to be on the C partition and some very small value, say 250 mb minimum and 500 mb maximum.

Delete the page file from the E drive.

Save settings and exit control panel.

Reboot.

Go back to Windows Disk Management and see if you can then delete the E partition.

If you eventually get it straightened out, you can go back to control panel and readjust the page file size.

 

[Juced]

But it won't let me do that, i have no space on my C: Drive at all, this is my problem to begin with. ( like 7MB free - 0MB free)

In Virtual Memory the C: Drive has 2MB space.

Would it help to get the cmd working on the windows 7 install screen? by doing diskpart etc etc ? Someone said that to me but i have no idea what to type in cmd

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Can you delete the page file from the E drive from the location I listed above?

Yes or no.

Have you made any attempt at all to clean the C partition of unneeded stuff, using Windows Disk Cleanup if nothing else? Yes or no?


Are you willing or unwilling to temporarily uninstall anything from C if necessary to give you some free space? Yes or no?

 

[Juced]

Trying to delete pagefile.sys " The action can't be completed because the file is open in another program"

Yes i have tried, i have deleted everything multiple times, and also compressed every file to make it smaller, it keeps filling up in the background. But now all i can see is windows files and nothing really i have downloaded. it's pretty bare and just stuff the computer needs to run.

I'm not sure i can find anything else to uninstall to free up space

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Windows alone takes up somewhere around 20 GB.

You say you have deleted "everything". I'm afraid my crystal ball doesn't tell me what that means or how you did it.

Have you or have you not run Disk Cleanup, to include the option for "system files"?


How much space do you have devoted to System Restore?

Have you deleted the hibernation file?

Since you deleted "everything", I assume you have NO installed applications. Is that true?

You could shrink E and give the saved space to E to get a little breathing room, but that's more complicated than simply getting rid of E entirely.


But it's not what I'd do. I'd make space on C and get the page file on that partition. Then just delete E and give all the E space to C.

 

[Juced]

( Sorry for Gyazo links but snipping tool is lost from my computer)

- Trying to delete hiberfil.sys " The action can't be completed because the file is open in another program"

- Yes, multiple times, here is a picture of it now with everything ticked to delete:
https://gyazo.com/de3df9ffa324f61a25496c8228db6fed

- If this is correct i set it to 3.22GB Disk space in System Protection: https://gyazo.com/eeac1323d798d12d866dee0887f5aaf5 ( Been like this since re-install)

I have maybe 1 or 2 programs, Skype and something else, only taking like 80MB of space on C:

 

[Juced]

Update: Managed to delete hibernation file and freed 5GB of space on my C: Drive, trying your above solution now.

(Command Prompt via Administrator mode)

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I have no idea how you tried to delete hibernation.

Here's how to do it:

At an elevated command prompt, enter this command:

powercfg -h off

Maybe reboot.

That should free up a bunch of space on C that should be enough to let you make a page file on C and delete it from E.

You can turn that System Restore allowance to zero, but it doesn't look like it's using any space right now.

In Disk Cleanup, make sure you select "Clean up system files".

Do as much of the above as needed to generate free space on C.

You may or may not have something cuckoo on C that is eating up space unnecessarily, but worry about that later, after you get rid of E.

 

[Juced]

Ok your solution before worked when i had freed that space up from deleting hibernation file just as you said with powercfg -h off, after reboot i went to disk management and successfully deleted New Volume E:, it's now unallocated space, How do i connect it back to my SSD ( C: ) Now?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Go to Windows Disk Management.

Select C with the mouse.

At that point, you should be able to do it by either a right click or from menus up at the top of the page. Just try right click. Look for "extend volume" or something like that when you right click.

It will show you some number that is the maximum it can expand. Accept the maximum.

You should end up with a larger C and NO unallocated space.

If you need hibernation, you can then turn it back on.

Or you can readjust page file if necessary.

 

[Juced]

The C: Drive is now 55.90GB NTFS , and no more other drive, looks like its one drive now.

Can i just keep Hibernation off? Will it effect anything for the future?

By the way, thank you for your help, it's a blessing we have people like you on the internet willing to help people who are completely clueless, thank you for your time, would love to pay you if you have paypal haha

 

[ignatzatsonic]

You can research what hibernation is and make a decision.

I don't use it and don't miss it. It's completely optional.

I think it's mostly used by laptop owners as a state short of complete shutdown.

Make note of how much free space you have on 12/9/15 and track it.

If it starts going up without a known reason, you may have something else going on---a virus, a runaway program, something going on in the background, etc.

Windows will grow a bit over time--even if you don't install more applications. Perhaps by 3 to 5 GB per year. This is due to the Windows Update process, which I assume you are aware of.

System Restore occasionally will go goofy and start taking up unusual amounts of space, but it doesn't appear to be a problem in your case. It's generally worthwhile and I keep mine set to about 6 GB, so it never uses more than that.

Good luck.