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Questions regarding combining (deleting?) a partition

C

c00LaS1cE

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 4, 2006
Messages
198
I just bought a used desktop (Windows 7 Pro 64-bit) that has been newly reformatted, the single 1TB hard drive has been partitioned into two separate drives, C (785GB) and E (107GB). The E drive has nothing on it and I would like to delete the partition to just have one big C drive. I downloaded some software called EASEUS Partition Master Professional Edition in order to do this, but I have some questions before I do something I might regret.

1) If I want to combine the two partitions to have one 892GB hard drive, the only thing I have to do is delete partition E, is that correct?

2) From the google research I've done in the past hour some people have been saying things like this: "Merging partitions is not recommended to increase c drive since merging partitions is a danger to your data and system. If you insist on merging partitions, do backup your system and other partitions before merging. However there are more smart way to do the trick."

First of all, is it really a risk if you know what you're doing? Second, why do these drives come partitioned like this in the first place? I don't see there being any reason for it.
 
Doing anything with partitions is always a risk to your data stored on it.. If you ahve the install disks & key which you should I would jsut reinstall from scratch & delete both partitions & create a single larger one durring windows setup.

As far as why they come that way.. Well if its a Major OEM brand (dell, hp etc) they will often do that & put restore filed on the small partition so they dont have to include reinstall media.. So if thats the case & someone forced a reformat of that partition for windows use you screwed on the 1st option..
 
I have merged the partitions so many times so there shouldnt be a problem.

I highly recommend to use the program called partition manager or something.

Just google it and you will get to know which program to use for it.
 
Google "parted magic" for a great free partition editor. Basically, you can delete the small partition, then resize the main partition. It will take a few hours, but it generally works without issue.

However, if you haven't really started putting mission critical stuff on it, the easier route is to just re-install windows and use the whole hard drive. It will probably take less time.
 
I appreciate the help. I went ahead and deleted the E partition but it looks like I need to somehow merge the two drives and I'm not exactly sure how to do that using this program. The "Disk 2" you see on there is my external drive, and the unallocated former drive E (107GB) is what I'd like to merge with drive C. Not sure what the rest of it is...

Untitled-1.png
 
What happens when you highlight E and click the "Resize/move" button? It should give you the option to move it to C, if not then you might want to highlight C then click the same button and attempt to resize it adding the space from E.
 
Skillz said:
What happens when you highlight E and click the "Resize/move" button? It should give you the option to move it to C, if not then you might want to highlight C then click the same button and attempt to resize it adding the space from E.
Click to expand...

The "Resize/move" button is grayed out for the former drive E, and this is what I get when I click it with drive C selected, not really sure what to do with this:

Untitled2.png
 
c00LaS1cE said:
The "Resize/move" button is grayed out for the former drive E, and this is what I get when I click it with drive C selected, not really sure what to do with this:

IMG]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b107/c00LaS1cE/Untitled2.png[/IMG]
Click to expand...

delete the E: partition.
Then right-click on the C: partition and select "Expand"

You can't expand the E: partition, because it's at the end of the drive.
You can't expand the C: partition, because the E: partition still exists.

edit: this is based on not being able to see your picture (web filter apparently blocks photobucket at times). This is also for doing this within Windows Disk Management.
 
Looks like you either drag the right end of that scrubber to the edge, or put "0" in the Unallocated Space After box, but to be honest, I'd be more comfortable doing this if it were done via diskmgmt.msc (hold Win key, press R, type "diskmgmt.msc"). I've never had a problem right-clicking a partition and clicking "Expand" once the space following my partition is unallocated.
 
fury said:
Looks like you either drag the right end of that scrubber to the edge, or put "0" in the Unallocated Space After box, but to be honest, I'd be more comfortable doing this if it were done via diskmgmt.msc (hold Win key, press R, type "diskmgmt.msc"). I've never had a problem right-clicking a partition and clicking "Expand" once the space following my partition is unallocated.
Click to expand...

Done. Doesn't look like it changed much, and it's still showing drive E.

Untitled3.png


Here's what I get bringing up Windows Disk Management. This might be more familiar for some people, but I'm not really sure what to do from here.

Untitled4.png
 
Hmm. Seems like all EASEUS did was move the partition over. Do it from Windows Disk Management..delete E partition, then right-click C and hit Expand
 
fury said:
Hmm. Seems like all EASEUS did was move the partition over. Do it from Windows Disk Management..delete E partition, then right-click C and hit Expand
Click to expand...

Success! Actually I was able to do it all on Windows Disk Management because that Easus program hadn't really done anything at all. Just deleted the E volume and expanded the C volume. These explanations on SevenForums have it simplified as much as possible and I wish I had found them sooner:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2668-partition-volume-delete.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2670-partition-volume-extend.html

I did have a questions regarding the other two partitions (unnamed) above the C drive shown...what exactly are these for? And I'm assuming I shouldn't mess around with them?
Untitled5.png


On a related note, I'm getting this screen on startup...I'm guessing I should choose yes but I wanted to make sure before I messed around with anything.
Korea017.jpg


And last, completely unrelated, how can I change it so I skip this screen on startup so it logs me in automatically?
Korea016.jpg
 
Last edited:
Those forum links are incomplete, btw.

1) If it's a brand name computer, those may be restore partitions. (Windows doesn't always recognize them correctly, so disregard it saying it's all free space) If the computer came with the Windows disk or you have one of your own and you're comfortable with installing Windows and doing the driver hunt when the time comes, then it's probably safe to delete them and expand to reclaim their space.

2) This enables native command queueing for SATA drives. If your drive has it, you should enable AHCI, BUT since Windows was most likely installed with AHCI off, changing to AHCI mode after it's installed will cause Windows to not boot up anymore. See here for steps to follow to enable the Windows 7 AHCI driver. After that, find the option in your BIOS and enable from there, so that you'll know where to revert if it still doesn't work.

3) Hold Windows Key and press R, then type "control userpasswords2" (no quotes) and hit enter. Uncheck "Users must enter a username and password..." and hit OK.
 
fury said:
Those forum links are incomplete, btw.

1) If it's a brand name computer, those may be restore partitions. (Windows doesn't always recognize them correctly, so disregard it saying it's all free space) If the computer came with the Windows disk or you have one of your own and you're comfortable with installing Windows and doing the driver hunt when the time comes, then it's probably safe to delete them and expand to reclaim their space.

2) This enables native command queueing for SATA drives. If your drive has it, you should enable AHCI, BUT since Windows was most likely installed with AHCI off, changing to AHCI mode after it's installed will cause Windows to not boot up anymore. See here for steps to follow to enable the Windows 7 AHCI driver. After that, find the option in your BIOS and enable from there, so that you'll know where to revert if it still doesn't work.

3) Hold Windows Key and press R, then type "control userpasswords2" (no quotes) and hit enter. Uncheck "Users must enter a username and password..." and hit OK.
Click to expand...

It's a custom built computer, so I'm not sure why it's partitioned like that. I'll ask the guy I bought it from who built it. As for the second two, both worked great thanks :)
 
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