Partition question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Geddy Lee
  • Start date Start date
G

Geddy Lee

Hi Group,

I have one HD with 3 Partitions. 2 of which are 7GB each and one that is
just under 24GB. My OS XP Pro is on C: My Programs are on D: and E: is
empty. Is there any possible way to combine the E: with the D: without
losing all the programs and having to reprogram everything.? I would
appreciate ALL the help I can get. I am in Computer management now with the
XP Pro but I do not want to push any buttons until I am 100% satisified that
I am not going to lose everything.

Thanks in advance

GL
 
Partition Magic allows you to merge partitions or delete the E
partition and enlarge D to use that space. I've done this several
times over the years without any data loss. I would recommend that
you back up the D drive before doing this, just in case.
 
Hi, Geddy.

You should be able to delete E: and then Extend D: to include the
newly-unallocated space. In WinXP's Help and Support file, search for
"extend" to see instructions - and caveats - for details on how to do this.

Read the instructions very carefully before you begin. I've done this a
couple of times - and goofed both times. Fortunately, my goofs did not make
problems. I simply forgot that to type the number of MEGAbytes, rather than
GIGAbytes. I meant to extend my 2 GB (formerly FAT16) partition by 3 GB, so
I typed 3; that small a number (3 MB) was not allowed, so it got extended by
the full 6 GB available. But that has worked out OK; 8 GB is NOT too large
for WinXP. ;^}

Diskpart.exe run from within WinXP is NOT the same as the DiskPart command
in the Recovery Console on the WinXP CD-ROM. The version on the CD is
limited to only a couple of functions. In WinXP, open a "DOS" window, then
at the Command prompt, type: diskpart. This starts the Diskpart shell,
with a new DISKPART> prompt. Typing Help at this prompt gives you a list of
more than a dozen commands, including Extend, to extend a volume. But to
learn how to use extend, you'll have to read that WinXP Help file. To leave
the Diskpart shell and return to "DOS", type Exit.

Be careful! Any command powerful enough to help is also powerful enough to
hurt. While Diskpart /Extend should not cause any data loss, a backup is
never a bad idea. Power failures are unpredictable.

RC
 
And I've always believed that can be done on dynamic disks only??
If OP's not having a dynamic disk, I'd recommend something like
PartitionManager or BootItNG


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Tumppi
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Hi, Tumppi.

As I said, I've done it a couple of times, and I've NEVER used dynamic
disks.

As I also stressed, there are several caveats: not on the current System or
Boot volumes; not on FAT32, etc. But it's best to just press F1 to bring up
the Help file, search for "extend", and read the details for yourself. Be
sure to follow all the Related Topics and read those, too, before you begin,
because they don't repeat every warning on every Help page. :>(

But one line of that page says, "To extend a basic volume, it must be
formatted with the NTFS file system."

RC
 
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