freeing space by deleting a partition

Not sure where to post this but here goes. Here is a picture of my hard drive in Easus partition manager.


As you can see, I've got a problem on the C Drive where Windows XP home resides, with space running out. XP is not happy, and you know what happens when Windows gets mad. Going straight down the list I have an *Ubuntu drive, lost space, the D drive which is just storage, a* Mint drive, and more lost space.


I would like to enlarge my C drive. What is the best (and easiest) way to do this? Both my Linux drives are disposable. I want the Ubuntu drive when I'm done but I can always reinstall it. I dont care about Mint. Ideally I would add about 10-5 Gig to C:, save about 10 for Ubuntu and add the remainder to D but thats just an idea. I've never done something like this so I dont know how to approach it.

For instance, can I just delete the Mint partition, format it and somehow move it or add it to C? If i can, I'm done. Or would it be easier/wiser to do it with the Ubuntu partition that is already next to C?

 

Looking at your list of drives, it seems as though EASEUS can't find any free space on the drives(s) you want to shrink or delete.

As a test, on the disk map location bar, click on the Ubuntu partition, and try and move the slider along to reduce the space. If it won't let you, then you may have to use another disk management tool, like GParted, to increase the C:.

 

The fastest option would be the following one (moving partitions is incredibly slow, dont do it!):
0. make a backup unless you already have one
1. boot from a Live CD that has gparted
2. delete all but your NTFS partitions.
3. increase the XP partition by 8GB
4. increase the data partition up to the end of the drive
5. install Ubuntu on the gap between XP and data partition (depending on your RAM size the 850MB swap might be fine or not)

@Full-English:
Windows has only file system drivers for FAT, NTFS and UFS by default. Therefore any tool that doesn't bring it's own drivers (I don't know one) can't access Linux partitions that are usually formatted in some ext flavour.

 

I thought something like that might have been the case, when I've needed to change partitions in the past which included C:, I've only recently ever used GParted, as using windows based programs to change the C:, has caused me problems in the past.

 

No it wont let me slide there. It doesnt recognize the Linux parts as having free space, though they do. But if I delete the Ubuntu partition and format it (NTFS, I presume?), wont EASEUS then see free space that C can expand into? I'm wary of Gparted, having read a lot about both utilities before deciding on Easeus for setting up this system in the first place a while back. It worked exactly as it was supposed to, so I'd like to stick with it if I can.

 

You could delete the Ubuntu partition if it lets you. You can see if it gives you that option when you highlight the partition.

A word of caution though, if you do delete the ubuntu partition, it may give you bootup issues, do you use GRUB bootloader, if so, then you may need to rebuild the windows MBR, do you have a windows disk available?

 

It will let me delete Ubuntu or Mint.

I do have a disc for xp. I thought of that grub problem and have a thread going on the Linux forum about that too.

How do I rebuild the windows MBR? Never done that,,,havent a clue.

 

A guide here should help:

How to uninstall GRUB

or here

How to uninstall Ubuntu on dual boot Windows XP using Windows only | Bob Morris: Investing, tech, coffee.

Hope these help.

 

Excellent, I think I'm set now. Thanks.