[RESOLVED] Merging unallocated space with primary partition

This Sony Vaio came with the 40GB HDD split almost evenly between C: & D:. I'll never have a reason for multiple OS. I don't have any good reason for a partitioned drive, that I know of. Having to direct all data to D: is a royal pain, especially since this is a family PC and no one is particularly adept.

I backed up all the data on D: and removed the partition. Now I can't seem to merge the unallocated space with the primary drive. I have been trying to do so in Disk Management, but to no avail.

How do I merge the unallocated space with the Primary Drive?

Running WinXP.
Please help,
Chris

It'll take $75.00 for Partition magic to do this....

Hi Chris, welcome to Virtual Dr :)

As Steve says, this is something that can't be done in Windows, you'll have to wipe your C: drive and then reinstall Windows afterwards unless you use a 3rd party tool.

There are free tools available, but I've never tried one. As long as you're prepared for the eventuality of having to reinstall Windows though, there would be no harm in giving one a go:

Free Partition Editors

Actually it's quite easy.
When you are in Computer Management right click the drive you want to use and select Extend Volume.
Sitting there for your options should be the unallocated space.
Just click next and then both partitions will merge and become your basic drive.

I'm sorry if this may not be of any help. You may have already tried this and probably have a different problem than what I did. This may be too late of a reply.

But that's what did it for me.

I hope I helped you out! :)

I would think after two years this person has found a solution to their problem sparrow. Please pay attention to the dates of threads before posting.

Haha. You're right.
I didn't see the year on it.
And here I was worried.
2 years is a long time. WOW :p

Also, wanted to tell you sometimes doing what you did could lose data. That's why we tell people to use a third party software like Partition Magic.

And wanted to welcome you to VDR!!

Ya, but 4 years later, i found the solution to my problem. Thanks Sparrow, if you're still around.

This thread is what pops up on google when searching "merging unallocated partition" and it works without any data loss on the local drive. Windows 7.

This will work with Vista and Windows 7. The unallocated space must lie immediately adjacent to the end of the volume you wish to extend.

However the original poster was using Windows XP, which does not have the capability to extend the system partition. As per the earlier answers, in this situation third-party partition management software must be used.

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE!!! :) forum worked for me too!
its nice to see how people help each other regardless of how long its been since they asked for a particual matter... the expanding worked sharp. thanks again!

Welcome John to VDr! Glad things worked out for you!


Since this was "searched" thread, it may be useful to point out that while Vista and Win 7 have some partitioning capabilities built in (that XP didn't have), you may still need more than those 2 OS's can provide. Rather than list programs that may be the "in" thing now (and not later), anyone else seeing this thread should start a new one and ask for advice. There are several free partitioning apps out now that can perform lots of useful tasks beyond the basics...