Member Avatar for bugbeak

I got a laptop today, but it came with the hard drive partitioned in two. Is there a way to "de-partition" them without running Setup? I'm using Win XP Pro SP1, by the way.

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Short answer for (and for who posted later): yes — you can remove or combine partitions without running Setup, but do not do it blind. First, make a full backup (image the whole disk or at least copy important data off the drive). Use Disk Management only to view the layout so you know which partition is which (system, data, OEM recovery). Windows’ built‑in tools require contiguous unallocated space and an NTFS volume to extend, and they commonly block extending the system/boot volume — so the simple GUI route often won’t do what you want. (learn.microsoft.com)

If you must preserve every installed program and setting, the safest workflow is image-first: create a complete image of C: to external media, create rescue/recovery media, then either (a) delete the extra partitions and expand/restore the image onto the single large partition, or (b) restore the image to a cleaned single partition and let the image tool resize the file system during restore. Imaging lets you experiment without losing the installed software. Boot from the imaging tool’s rescue media to perform the operations. (clonezilla.org)

If you only need space on C: and want to avoid partition surgery, move large user data off C: first. You can relocate My Documents (or redirect special folders) and move the pagefile to another partition — that often frees plenty of room without touching partitions. Use the My Documents properties (or TweakUI on XP) to move it, and change virtual memory settings to move the pagefile. Do this before attempting destructive partition changes. (sony.co.id)

A few practical cautions that came up in the thread: don’t delete an OEM recovery partition unless you have created recovery media (you’ll lose factory restore functionality), and be careful about converting disks to “dynamic” — it can break multiboot setups and has compatibility tradeoffs. If unsure, image the disk and practice on the image or a spare drive first, or get hands‑on help; data loss is easy if you skip the backup step. (manualzilla.com)

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Member Avatar for Ceaser

Why do you want to take that partition out. What size is the drive and what is the break down. The partition is there to access files faster. But if you dont want that partition magic will do what you want.

Member Avatar for Catweazle

Any decent partition management program will do the job. Only problem is, any decent partition management program is a commercial one. There's no decent 'freebie' that I've ever heard of!

Member Avatar for felgall

A free partitioning tool but you need to know what you are doing to use it because it is all manual entries and no nice graphical interface like the commercial ones.

Member Avatar for Catweazle

I don't think that utility handles NTFS partitions, does it? I certainly would not use it on a Windows XP system.

Member Avatar for Kods

I have a computer I bought for my son and the hard drive is 20G but it is partitioned into 3 drives. It came with the recovery disk, but when I rebooted the operating system I did not know about partitioned hard drives so I did not change the 3 dirves to one drive. The C: drive has only allocated 2.99 G and is full but the other 2 dirves are 100% empty. I want to fix this problem without losing all the upgraded software I put on it since reinstalling the operating system. What should I do?

Member Avatar for gerbil

You cannot do this from within Windows XP itself. Simplest is to get one of these free tools; they will allow you to delete the two partitions and then extend the C: partition so as to occupy fully the available space. All are quite straightforward to use.
GParted, a Linux tool which is a bootable cd package... http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted/ - you want the LiveCD package; dl and BURN the .ISO. Directly.
Or there is Paragon Partition Manager. http://www.paragon-software.com/home/pm-express/download.html -the free version will suit your needs, make either a bootable cd or flashdrive.
Or EASUS Partition Master. http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm - does the lot.
good luck.

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