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    Help with External Harddrive

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by rulebreaker, Oct 12, 2008.

  1. rulebreaker

    rulebreaker Notebook Consultant

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    Hey guys this is really bad, i tried installing Linux (Ubuntu) on my Portable External Harddrive which has 250GB total memory, i was confused at the part which i had to paritition my external harddrive so i canceled the installation without changing anything and now when i plug my external harddrive in i only have 57.6gb total memory! help how do i get the space back?!

    Btw using vista and when i go into the Computer Management, it shows (57.6GB FAT32 HEALTHY PRIMARY PARITITION) and (175.22 UNALLOCATED)

    Sorry if i posted in the wrong section, not sure where this should go.

    Thanks in advance,
    Rulebreaker
     
    rulebreaker, Oct 12, 2008
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  2. Deks

    Deks Notebook Prophet

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    That's because somehow you made only one partition that has 57.6 GB while the remaining 175.22 GB is not allocated as anything, and as such it won't show up.
    You need to either make the 175.22 GB into a new partition or allocate that space to the existing 57.6 GB with a tool for partitioning.
    I think Vista can do that if I'm not mistaken ... but I'd also recommend you format the drive into NTFS as it's much better than FAT 32 (besides, FAT 32 is limited in how much space it can effectively use ... I think 32 GB is it's limit)
     
    Deks, Oct 12, 2008
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  3. rulebreaker

    rulebreaker Notebook Consultant

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    I cant merge the unallocated memory take alook at this two picture.

    Right click on 57.6GB (Healthy) look at the options

    [​IMG]

    and i right click on the unallocated memory look at the options

    [​IMG]

    This is what i wanna do

    [​IMG]

    Anyone able to help me out here?

    Thanks
     
    rulebreaker, Oct 12, 2008
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  4. Deks

    Deks Notebook Prophet

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    If you can't do it in Vista, then you will have to use a third party software to re-allocate the space.
    There are some free programs that will enable you to do so ... you can check them here:
    http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/backupandimage.shtml

    And additionally, if you want any hope of successfully merging the non-allocated space, you will have to re-format the external hard disk and turn it into NTFS.
     
    Deks, Oct 12, 2008
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  5. a7x2thedeath

    a7x2thedeath Notebook Consultant

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    Ok, this can be done in the Windows partitioner. When you right click on the unallocated space, click on "Create new simple volume" Go through the steps, and use the maximum amount of space. After it is created, right click on the partition you just made (175gb) and click "Merge". Follow the directions, and viola.

    ~a7x
     
    a7x2thedeath, Oct 12, 2008
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  6. rulebreaker

    rulebreaker Notebook Consultant

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    after i create a new volume and made it fat32 too there is no merge or extend option available.
     
    rulebreaker, Oct 13, 2008
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  7. rulebreaker

    rulebreaker Notebook Consultant

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    OK problem solved, thanks guys
     
    rulebreaker, Oct 13, 2008
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