I've got a 60GB drive split into C:(19.5 GB) & D

srevlis · 07-27-2005, 03:37 AM

I've got a 60GB drive split into C:(19.5 GB) & D: (36.3 GB).
I'd like to delete "D" and put its capacity into "C". I tried but I found myself with the 36.3 GB not in any drive and referred to as "unallocated" in "Computer Management" under "Administation Tools".
I called to the help desk, he said "Windows XP tablet" probably won't let you change the partitions.

Can anyone help?

Thanks

Brian1848 · 07-27-2005, 04:51 AM

You may need to pick up a partition utility like "Partition Magic" or something to do this for you, as I don't think that WinXP (of any flavor) will merge partitions which is what you are wanting to do.

Hope that helps!

Brian

P.S. Be sure to do a backup of all of your data BEFORE you play with your partitions at all!

srevlis · 07-27-2005, 05:02 AM

Thanks, I just had another idea which is to simply change the size of the 2 drives. What I'm really after is to one drive big enough to hold apx 45 GB.

Any idea on how to change the sizes?

Thanks again,
Srevlis

skinny_fat · 07-27-2005, 08:33 AM

A friend of mine had a single bit on his hard drive get corrupted. A bit that happened to store a critical part of the OS. He had to replace the whole drive and lost everything. Since then we both started partitioning our hard drives and making regular back-ups. When I was trying to learn about partitioning I ran across a really helpful site: The Elder Geek. I tells you exactly how to repartition in XP, but be forwarned that you will have to do a fresh install to make any real changes. That's why I bought Norton Partion Magic like Brian1848 suggested. That combined with Acronis True Image are the two best software purchases I ever made. Partition Magic will let you create/resize/delete partitions on the fly.

...But check out The Elder Geek. You will learn alot.

srevlis · 07-27-2005, 09:00 AM

Thanks for that. I'm not sure I follow on one point, what's the connection between partitions and being safe from what happened to your friend.

By the way, do you guys think it's a good idea to get a screen protector? I've had my 4010 for 24 hours & I love it.

mrdan · 07-27-2005, 11:31 AM

If a single bit was corrupted, the drive would have been accessible if plugged into another computer and not used as a bootable drive.

Back on topic, use PartitionMagic.

rcxAsh · 07-28-2005, 02:47 AM

Yah, speaking of which, I find that Linux LiveCDs are great for backing up your data when your operating system is corrupted and you can't boot. In practice, it has saved both my friend and my sister their data. If you've never used Linux before, get something that has a friendly environment such as KDE. If you can still get Knoppix, that will work well. Boot with the CD and have a USB storage device ready. Just copy all the files you want there. This is a quick alternative to opening up your computer and installing the hard drive into another one.

EDIT
Oh yes. I wanted to mention. If you are resizing (shrinking) partitions after they have been used, it is a very good idea to defragment them. And make sure that your degrag tool is set to put all the data contingiously at the start of the drive. Some tools may put some at the beginning and some at the end. Make sure that it does not do this.

The reason for this, is remember that partitions are physical layouts on the disk. Thus, if your data is physically stored in a place that will be cropped when you shrink the partition, weird things may start happening.

Becareful in this regard. It is usually a better idea to partition before you put any valuable data on your disk (if any at all).

skinny_fat · 07-28-2005, 03:32 AM

Good advice rcxAsh, however, I have not had a problem shrinking drives with Partition Magic. Maybe I'm just lucky.

mrdan, I did not know you could do that, would have helped if I did.

srevlis · 07-28-2005, 06:51 AM

Thanks all. I'm in Denmark so I might well be online at different times than many of you but, who knows.

At this point I am about ready to try P.magick but am a bit worried about what the support guy said and xp tablet just not wanting to have partitions changed. I still haven't touched the d drive.

skinny_fat · 07-28-2005, 07:14 AM

Not sure what he's talking about. I have partitioned and repartitioned my tablet many times. Here's a screeny of Partition Magic running on my tablet:

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