Unable to delete unallocated partition

I installed win 7 pro 64 overtop of Vista 64 that came on my P-7811FX.
A 10 GB EISA recovery partition was left that I am unable to remove, even with diskpart. I made it a new volume (F) and then deleted the volume, but it still shows as 10.00GB Unallocated under Disk 0. I cannot extend C to absorb it, nor can I delete it. What application (preferably free) can I use to get rid of this 10 GB unallocated space and merge it with the rest of the boot drive 0 (C)?

 

Easiest way that i did was while clean installation deleted both C and the recovery partition which then showed up as unallocated space (both spaces added up). Then a format. One advantage of this is that you know there is nothing complicated as with using third party partition softwares. Else use something like Partition Magic (not free but there are ways). Users wont find it hard to use but you just don't know what it is actually doing beneath which can be very complex. Either way make sure you back up your data.

 

Thanks. I tried to delete it when I installed Windows 7, but must have missed something. I just assigned a drive letter to it now (F) and guess I'll use it for pictures or something. I downloaded "Partition Wizard", a free app., but even it refused to let me delete it.

 

i dunno what brand drive you have but mine is a western digital black. for mine i used the western digital tools from the western digital website. you have to download the ones that you have to burn to disc and boot into. from there i erased all partitions and made one large partition. another thing i use that has never failed me is to boot into a linux live cd (i use ubuntu because i usually have these around) then use the Gparted program to erase and format.

EDIT: oh the western digital thing is free and you can download a live cd of ubuntu for free also

 

Thanks. I finally got it, by using a pre-Vista/Win 7 install disk fo XP. Details are here: http://www.kenst.com/2008/07/deleting-your-q1-eisa-partition.html
Then, I aborted the XP install and inserted Win 7 disk. Also installed a second WD 320 HD at the same time.

 

Well for your inf the same process can be done using Win 7 disc too.

 

Use Gnome Partition Editor (GPartEd). There's a live CD that you can boot that will let you delete the recovery partition, and if you want, you can extend your existing partition to use the now free space.

Here's the link to the live CD:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php


(oh yeah... it's free too. )