What is the proper way delete 2 of 3 partitions this hard drive & combine them to 1?

[whittech]

hello everyone
I am trying to solve an issue on my Sony Vaio laptop regarding the hard drive.

I used the recovery disc to install a fresh copy of vista. I resized the partition for C to 100 gb, because I want to use the other 49gb for another OS.

The recovery adds a second, hidden partition that I do not want. It is EISA. there was an option to keep the Vaio restore content off of this partition, but that only meant that instead of it being a 6gb EISA, it is a 2 gb.

I currently have the following:

1. 2gb EISA hidden partition
2. 100gb partition for Windows
3. 48 gb partition, currently empty

Ive tried deleting the EISA partition before restoring, to play around with it. I can delete it, format it, but I cannot create a partition in the unallocated space any larger than the 2gb.

How can I completely remove this 1st partition, the hidden EISA, and add its space to my 3rd partition? Making partition 2, which is Windows, become partition 1, and combining the 2gb and the 48gb to make a 50gb partition 2?

I don't care about losing data, dont have any, so I can format either partition without a problem
I have the recovery disk, and an Acronis backup of the system with its factory C drive and 6gb EISA, so there is nothing I cant do without having a restoring backup plan, with that said, what can I try?

If it is something i need to do within DISKPART, if you could let me know what to type, that would be great.

Thanks in advance.
I know one of you genius's on here knows how to do this, and if not then there is no way to do this!! Haha.

 

[engiNURD]

Have you tried GParted?

 

[xenotype]

Ive used partition magic versions 6 through 8 and it has always performed flawlessy for this type of non-destructive repartitioning. Just my two cents.

 

[auburnu008]

sorry

 

[nitrobass24]

Acronis is great but not free

Gparted is good and is free.