# Can I delete a partition and make drive larger?

[Mike_S]

I have a 17GB drive partitioned into 11 and 6 GB. The 11GB part is the
"root" C drive. It is almost full but the other partition "Z" is almost
empty. How can I combine the two partitions to make one 17GB "C" drive? I
have Windows XP. I see there is a drive management tool that will let me
delete the "Z" drive. If I do that will the "C" partition absorb the rest of
the drive?

 

[ACC-LPM]

The only ways are: 1 - fdisk to remove all partitions and clean
install (loses everything)
or 2 - A 3rd party utility like Partition
Magic from Powerquest.
see http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/

I have a 17GB drive partitioned into 11 and 6 GB. The 11GB part is
the
"root" C drive. It is almost full but the other partition "Z" is
almost
empty. How can I combine the two partitions to make one 17GB "C"
drive? I
have Windows XP. I see there is a drive management tool that will
let me
delete the "Z" drive. If I do that will the "C" partition absorb the
rest of
the drive?

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Mike,

You'd need third-party help. The drive tools included with Windows cannot do
the operations you require (either merging or deleting and resizing).

Partitioning programs that can do this:

BootIT NG www.terabyteunlimited.com
Partition Magic www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic
Partition Commander http://www.v-com.com/product/pc_ind.html
Ranish Partition Manager http://www.ranish.com/part/

Your other options are to start from scratch or to move data files over to
the other partition to make space. You can install programs there as well by
using the custom setup settings during installation. Program already
installed to C would need to be uninstalled and reinstalled to the other
partition.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have a 17GB drive partitioned into 11 and 6 GB. The 11GB part is the
"root" C drive. It is almost full but the other partition "Z" is almost
empty. How can I combine the two partitions to make one 17GB "C" drive? I
have Windows XP. I see there is a drive management tool that will let me
delete the "Z" drive. If I do that will the "C" partition absorb the rest of
the drive?

No - you would have to delete both, which means starting over. You need
third party software, Partition MAgic, or BootIT NG, from
http://www.BootitNG.com ($35 shareware - 30 day full functional trial)


But I would first see about moving some things to the other partition -
start with My Documents, open a window on
C:\Documents and settings\<you> to show it; another on the Z: and with
the *right* mouse button, drag it across and take *move* here.

You can also move the other similar folders like My Pictures, My Music.
.. .

 

[Alexander Grigoriev]

I think if your C partition is NTFS, you can extend it to the unused space.
You may need to convert it to the dynamic drive, though.

 

[Crusty \(-: Old B@stard :-\)]

No, he doesn't need to convert the drive to dynamic but he WILL need to get
Partition Magic 8.0.

 

[Alex Nichol]

No, he doesn't need to convert the drive to dynamic but he WILL need to get
Partition Magic 8.0.

Or - cheaper - BootIT NG, from http://www.BootitNG.com ($35 shareware -
30 day full functional trial)