deleted recovery partition space.

I just deleted my recovery partition and the space. but the additional 4gb are not showing on my computer. It still remains total space is 50.3 when I open "my computer" and free space remains unchanged after I deleted the partition. When I open diagnostic software such as PC Wizard it shows there is 54gb free. I don't know where this hidden partition or space is. I used diskpart there is nothing else except the primary hd, no other partitions. Where is the free space.

 

First off, understand that you will always have at least one partition. In your case (and in the case with every factory install), you had two partitions. You had the hidden partition and the primary partition for the remainder of the drive space. When you delete a partition the other partition doesn't just become larger. It stays the same. By deleting the hidden/recovery partition you only erased that information.

One way to make the primary partition bigger is to do a clean install. If you follow the guide in my sig it explains exactly how to have one big partition that uses all of the disk space possible. Basically, it invovles deleting the recovery partition (with diskpart), then during the clean install you will delete ALL partitions, then you will create one new partition of maximum size.

There are other ways to make the primary partition bigger without doing a clean install but I will let others comment on that. I personally haven't used any other method.

Good Luck.

 

Are you sure it's deleted? If it's not showing as free space it must not have been deleted properly.

 

Windows Vista diskpart will expand a primary partition. It will also skrink a primary partition.

 

only difference is i am usually using XP Pro, total space when using diskpart is 56gb (my hd is a 60gb so that should be right) but when i select volume it shows 50gb. i'm looking really hard for the 6gb, listing volumes, partitions, and disks. but it's nowhere to be found.

 

this is what I did, and the 6gb is still not added to the primary hd... 1. Press WINDOWS + R to open Run window
2. Type "diskpart" and press ENTER
3. Type "list disk" in command prompt and press ENTER
4. Select the main disk (usually the largest one). For example, if your main disk is disk 0, type "select disk 0"
5. Once the disk is selected, type "list partition" and press ENTER
6. Recovery paritition will be around 4000MB to about 7000MB, usually labeled "partition 1"
7. Type "select partition 1" and press ENTER
8. Type "delete partition override" and press ENTER


NM I got it to work by installing partition magic at work. I created a logical partition with the unallocated space, and then merged the logical partition into the primary, and the logical partition got deleted.

 

I think you're going to have to follow stallen's clean install guide and repartition your drive from scratch if you want to combine it with the first partition.

Don't be afraid, just spend a day or two reading through all the relevant posts until you're comfortable with the procedure. The Vista upgrade DVDs are either free or very cheap so that's no excuse!

After you complete the install you'll probably know more about your computer than all the BB "Geek Squad" guys!

NEVER MIND: I see your never mind post above, I'm glad you got it working.

 

That's actually a good point. Most people learn quite a bit and feel a bit more computer literate after doing a clean install for the first time.