Okay my partitions are so messed up.

I had a 20 GB C partition that had the OS installed on it and a D partition with 207 GB on it. Whenever I downloaded anything it was on the C partition along with Documents, Desktop, etc.. so I tried moving everything over to the D partition and everything lost data and got screwed up and I'm pretty sure that it's still downloading to the C partition. Ugh this sucks. Would it be easier to just re-install the OS or something and get the partitioning right? Or is there a way to just merge them considering nothing on my computer is at all important what-so-ever.

 

If you have Vista, right click on computer, left click manage, click disk management, right click your c: drive, click extend and that should merge both partitions.

 

thank you so much

EDIT- Okay I just tried and it only let me shrink volume. The extend was grayed out. :-/

 

ok, if there is nothing important on the other partition, right click on it and click delete, then right click on c: and click extend, should work now...

 

Will try. (10 char)

 

Okay, I tried to delete it but it said "Windows cannot delete the active system partition on this disk. So I shrunk it but it didnt let me take up the space with the C drive. Can I just move evrything to the D drive and delete the C instead?

 

If I wanted to shrink my C drive and expand my D drive is it as simple as using shrink/expand in the disk management option in Vista? Anything that I should be aware of?

 

You cannot move everything to D. Windows will only boot from C since it is the system partition and not D. I ran into the same problem when I needed to increase the size of C and reduce D on my partitioned HDD. When you shrink a volume you have to "delete" the free space volume such that it becomes "unallocated" Only when it is unallocated can you extend a volume using that unallocated space.

 

Okay well I have no idea why smokin is jacking this thread but I tried to delete the C drive and that didnt work. this is so frustrating.

 

right, you cannot delete C, that's where your OS boots from. D is just a partition to store data. C is what you want to keep. Ideally what you should do is shrink the size of D, thereby creating a "Free Space" volume. You delete that volume so that the space is now "unallocated." Then you should be able to extend C.

 

Ok... Here's my take on this:

You said that you "tried moving everything over to the D partition". As long as none of that anything was Windows components or Windows dependent folders you can just delete that partition and add it to C. You tried the Vista tool, but it was problematic, so, you can use a different tool that operates outside Windows called GParted.

Gparted LiveCD download: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

Documentation & Screen Shots: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

If you read through the documentation and screen shots you can get a good idea how the program works. It's very simple really.

Just be sure not to mess up, because if you do, you may find yourself reinstalling Windows. (Don't delete the C drive!) Of course it sounds like you aren't too bothered with the idea of reinstalling Windows anyway .

I hope it proves helpful and if you chose to use the program & have any questions, I'll try to help you with it as best I can.

 

I'm sorry you're frustrated and had to read one extra comment. The topics seemed to be closely related and I didn't see the need for an extra thread.

 

Smokinokie you might be able to use the Vista tool. I'd offer you some help with it but I've never used it. I always use GParted as I described in my above post to the OP.

No matter what tool you use, it is always a good idea to degrag the drive first and backup any incredibly important files (just incase, although nothing is likely to go wrong unless it's due to user error).

Try the Vista tool first, as that will likely just simply work or not work, rather than provide the potential for user error that GParted may.

So... The Vista tool might do it, yet I have seen complaints that people haven't been able to alter their C partition with it. So GParted is the alternative.

 

Greg seems to have gone thru the steps for your partition problem.

I just wanted to add that when you got everything finished you should consider making your C partition larger than 20GB b/c this is the partition you want to install programs on also. I personally use Norton Partition Magic for all of my partitioning.

Whatever program you're downloading with (Firefox, limewire, utorrent, etc.), go into its options and you can tell it to send your downloaded files to your other partition.

 

Sorry for freaking out smokin, Im just realy pissed. Im gonna try Greg's fix.

 

INEEDMONEY's advice is good stuff. If you tend to install a massive amount of programs, or even just a few programs that require a ton of files, you may find 20GB insufficient someday. Personally it would be fine for me, as I install very little and clean install Windows once every few months anyway .

eL_eRiC, be sure you understand how GParted works before applying any changes, it's an easy program, but still important to review the docs. If your are feeling lost, you may make a mistake. I think you'll be fine though .

Good luck

 

Well, I was able to shrink my C drive by 33gb but I couldn't get it to allow me to add that space to my D drive. It showed unallocated but I couldn't expand my D drive. I formatted the free space and it showed it as a primary partition while the D drive is a logical drive. I suspect that the drives need to be of the same type to expand one.

I was able to return it to default settings. I might try gparted when I get a little bolder, it's not that big a deal to me at this point. I just figured a smaller OS drive would be a little more efficient.

+ rep to Gregory for trying to help and eL_eRiC for jackin his thread. Hope you get your issues resolved.

 

yes a smaller O.S. drive is more effecient...but d/l everything to C:\ is no good with only 20GB of space...Windows XP need approximetely 20% of free drive space to operate...not sure about Vista...you might try a repair install...