Extending partitions

[Guest]

I have 2 hard drives each with 2 partitions. I would like to combine the
partitions on each drive. to give no partitions on the drives. When I go to
disk management and right click on any of the partitions the option to extend
is greyed out. How can I get the option to extend the partitions to be
accessible.

Many thanks for any assistance
Martin

 

[Cal Bear '66]

Did you delete the 2nd unwanted partition first?

 

[Guest]

No I didnt. What are the steps to merge the 2 partitions?

 

[Cal Bear '66]

In Administrative Tools>Computer Management>highlight Disk Management
delete the partition (right click>Delete Volume) to the RIGHT of the partition
you
want to keep, then right click the partition you wish to expand and choose
Extend
Volume, accept the default maximum size and let it do its magic.

NOTE: You will loose ALL data on the deleted partition -- make SURE you
backup everything you wish to keep before you delete the volume.

 

[Cal Bear '66]

Also note you cannot "merge" the two partitions -- you must DELETE the volume
(loosing ALL data on it) to the RIGHT (in the bottom graphical window) of the
partition you wish to extend.

 

[Lord Takyon]

Also note you cannot "merge" the two partitions -- you must DELETE the
volume
(loosing ALL data on it) to the RIGHT (in the bottom graphical window) of
the
partition you wish to extend.

Double important that you move anything you want off of the partition to be
deleted. Either back up some how or move it over to a partition that is
staying.

 

[Richard Urban]

You can NOT merge partitions with what is supplied by Vista.

Use Acronis Disk Director suite instead.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Rock]

I have 2 hard drives each with 2 partitions. I would like to combine the
partitions on each drive. to give no partitions on the drives. When I go
to
disk management and right click on any of the partitions the option to
extend
is greyed out. How can I get the option to extend the partitions to be
accessible.

There has to be at least one partition otherwise it's not usable. What you
want to do is combing the two partitions into one partition. Best thing is
to use one of the Vista compatible products such as Acronis Disk Director
Suite or BootIT NG.

 

[Guest]

Is this how I would go about extending my logical D:? I can back up
everything on my D:, delete it, extend C:, and then create a new D: with a
larger size than initially?

 

[Cal Bear '66]

If you extend C:, you will have nothing (or a smaller space) to create a new D:
drive. If you want a larger D: drive, you will have to shrink C:, delete D:,
and then create a new D: partition and format.

A disk can only be partitioned with 4 primary partitions, a way around this is
to create extended partitions which can then contain several more logical
partitions. In Windows Explorer all partitions -- both primary and logical --
will appear as separate disks.

 

[Guest]

I'm confused between the differences between extended, primary, and logical
partitions? My computer came with a primary C: and a logical D:. If I take
your advice and shrink C:, delete D:, and then create a new D:, will it
remain logical? Do I even need it to be a logical drive? Thanks for the
response!

 

[Cal Bear '66]

Logical drives are created within extended partitions. This is a way to have a
single physical disk contain more than 4 partitions.

You only need extended partitions and logical drives if you want to divide your
physical disk into more than 4 drives.

In your case, if after you shrink C: and only want one other partition (drive),
you can make them both primary partitions.

Primary partitions cannot be divided. A physical disk can have only 4 primary
partitions

Extended partitions can be further divided into one or several logical
partitions (drives).

Extended partitions must be created first before being divided into logical
partitions.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

There are only two types of partitions for Windows, primary and extended. A
primary partition is a single logical volume, whereas an extended partition
can hold one or several logical volumes. When referring to a primary
partition, the term "volume" is often used interchangeably.

As to your question, whether or not D: remains a logical volume on an
extended partition dependes on what you choose to create.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Dirk]

No. You've apparently been overthinking this. Or maybe you just typed it up
wrong. That would be how you would extend C:

Assuming C: and D: account for the entire drive, and there's not unallocated
space left over, what you need to do is Shrink the C: partition first. Then
you can do what you need to do with the unallocated space that will be freed
up.