partition: get back size/space

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

I have 40GB hard disk and one guy wrongly partitioned the disk.
Instead of allotting 10GB to C, 15GB to D and 15GB to E drives
respectively, he allotted 10,000MB and etc and there by missed some
spaces (around 2GB).

Could I get back those spaces?

I have also googled
<http://groups.google.com/groups?q=increase+partition+size>. Most of
the links suggest Partition Magic; but, as far as I understand it
doesn't fit for this issue, it can only be used for resizing the
partitioning.

Any help is much appreciated. TIA

 

[A.Almeida [MVP]]

Hi

Try a new search for "partition merge". I'm sure you will find some software

 

[Nepatsfan]

(e-mail address removed),

I have 40GB hard disk and one guy wrongly partitioned the
disk. Instead of allotting 10GB to C, 15GB to D and 15GB to
E drives respectively, he allotted 10,000MB and etc and
there by missed some spaces (around 2GB).

Could I get back those spaces?

I have also googled
<http://groups.google.com/groups?q=increase+partition+size>.
Most of the links suggest Partition Magic; but, as far as I
understand it doesn't fit for this issue, it can only be
used for resizing the partitioning.

Any help is much appreciated. TIA

Keep in mind that when a manufacturer says that the hard drive
size is 40 GB what they mean is that it can store
40,000,000,000 bytes. That means that your drives real capacity
is 37.25 GB. If the person who partitioned your hard drive
started by making C 10,000 MB and D 15,000 MB they would only
have 13,147 MB left for your E drive.

If Windows has been installed on this drive, go into Disk
Management (Start -> Run -> diskmgmt.msc). Check the size of
the HD. Is it 37.25 GB? If I've done the math correctly the C
drive should be 9.77 GB, D drive 14.65 GB and E 12.84 GB. There
shouldn't be any unallocated space.

Take a look at this article for more info:

Why is my drive displaying a smaller than expected capacity
than the indicated size on the drive label?
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1
If that link doesn't wrap correctly, try this one:
http://tinyurl.com/mkqj9

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

(e-mail address removed),

Keep in mind that when a manufacturer says that the hard drive
size is 40 GB what they mean is that it can store
40,000,000,000 bytes. That means that your drives real capacity
is 37.25 GB. If the person who partitioned your hard drive
started by making C 10,000 MB and D 15,000 MB they would only
have 13,147 MB left for your E drive.

Many thanks for the deep insight. Much appreciated indeed.

If Windows has been installed on this drive, go into Disk
Management (Start -> Run -> diskmgmt.msc). Check the size of
the HD. Is it 37.25 GB? If I've done the math correctly the C
drive should be 9.77 GB, D drive 14.65 GB and E 12.84 GB. There
shouldn't be any unallocated space.

<snip>

Will check this once I get home. Thanks again.

 

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

Hi

Try a new search for "partition merge". I'm sure you will find some software

Thanks, started googling.

 

[Ron Martell]

I have 40GB hard disk and one guy wrongly partitioned the disk.
Instead of allotting 10GB to C, 15GB to D and 15GB to E drives
respectively, he allotted 10,000MB and etc and there by missed some
spaces (around 2GB).

Could I get back those spaces?

I have also googled
<http://groups.google.com/groups?q=increase+partition+size>. Most of
the links suggest Partition Magic; but, as far as I understand it
doesn't fit for this issue, it can only be used for resizing the
partitioning.

Any help is much appreciated. TIA

Does Disk Management (Start - Run - DISKMGMT.MSC) actually show some
unallocate space on the hard drive? Or is it fully allocated to the
existing partition with nothing listed as unallocated?

If there is unallocated space then you can use a partitioning utility
such as Partition Magic or BootItNG (www.bootitng.com) to adjust the
size of the existing partitions so as to incorporate this space. Note
that space can only be added to the adjacent partition. So if there
is unallocated space between C & D then it can added to either of
these drives (or some to each) but not to drive E:. Similarly if the
unallocated space is at the end of drive, after drive E:, then it can
only be added to drive E:. However these partitioning utilities have
options by which you can "slide" a partition so as to change the
location of the unused space, and then add the relocated unused space.

Or you can create an additional partition to use the unused space.
DISKMGMT can do this for you without destroying the contents of the
existing partitions.
Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

(e-mail address removed),

If Windows has been installed on this drive, go into Disk
Management (Start -> Run -> diskmgmt.msc). Check the size of
the HD. Is it 37.25 GB? If I've done the math correctly the C
drive should be 9.77 GB, D drive 14.65 GB and E 12.84 GB. There
shouldn't be any unallocated space.

I just checked in my system, not exactly as you guessed. It's little
crazy as even the top to bottom panel values differ. Here is the full
details:

diskmgmt.msc
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Top panel:
---------
C: 9.31 GB FAT32
D: 13.96 GB FAT32
E: 13.97 GB FAT32

Bottom panel:
------------
Disk 0: Basic 37.27 GB Online

C: 9.32 GB FAT32
D: 13.97 GB FAT32
E: 13.98 GB FAT32
C drive is colorized as Primary partition
D & E drives are colorized as Extended partition and Logical drive

****Note: Note the difference between top & bottom panel (exactly 0.01
GB difference)

Properties->Volumes on "Disk 0" of bottom pane:
----------------------------------------------
Disk: Disk 0
....
Partition style: Master Boot Record (MBR)
Capacity: 38162 MB
Unallocated space: 0 MB
Reserved space: 0 MB
Volumes:
C: 9539 MB
D: 14308 MB
E: 14315 MB

My Computer:
~~~~~~~~~~~
C: 9,992,126,464 bytes 9.30 GB
D: 14,988,222,464 bytes 13.9 GB
E: 14,995,955,712 bytes 13.9 GB
****Note: bytest to GB is not rounded off; but truncated

 

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

Does Disk Management (Start - Run - DISKMGMT.MSC) actually show some
unallocate space on the hard drive? Or is it fully allocated to the
existing partition with nothing listed as unallocated?

It doesn't show any unallocate space (or I didn't/couldn't notice).
I have also posted a full details of my system at
<(
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain/msg/cded15d925ece71f?
) There is some funny differences in the calculation. But, I guess
there is no space wasted as I'd thought before.

If there is unallocated space then you can use a partitioning utility
such as Partition Magic or BootItNG (www.bootitng.com) to adjust the
size of the existing partitions so as to incorporate this space. Note
that space can only be added to the adjacent partition.

<snip>

Many thanks for your much valuable comments.

 

[Nepatsfan]

(e-mail address removed),

I just checked in my system, not exactly as you guessed.
It's little crazy as even the top to bottom panel values
differ. Here is the full details:

diskmgmt.msc
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Top panel:
---------
C: 9.31 GB FAT32
D: 13.96 GB FAT32
E: 13.97 GB FAT32

Bottom panel:
------------
Disk 0: Basic 37.27 GB Online

C: 9.32 GB FAT32
D: 13.97 GB FAT32
E: 13.98 GB FAT32
C drive is colorized as Primary partition
D & E drives are colorized as Extended partition and Logical
drive

****Note: Note the difference between top & bottom panel
(exactly 0.01 GB difference)

Properties->Volumes on "Disk 0" of bottom pane:
----------------------------------------------
Disk: Disk 0
...
Partition style: Master Boot Record (MBR)
Capacity: 38162 MB
Unallocated space: 0 MB
Reserved space: 0 MB
Volumes:
C: 9539 MB
D: 14308 MB
E: 14315 MB

My Computer:
~~~~~~~~~~~
C: 9,992,126,464 bytes 9.30 GB
D: 14,988,222,464 bytes 13.9 GB
E: 14,995,955,712 bytes 13.9 GB
****Note: bytest to GB is not rounded off; but truncated

The bottom line to all the numbers is that you have no
unallocated hard drive space.

The numbers I put together were based on creating partitions
that were 10,000 MB and 15,000 MB. Turns out that the person
who setup your hard drive based their partitioning on bytes, 10
Billion bytes for C, 15 Billion each for D and E. That's why my
figures are different.

The discrepancy you see in the top and bottom panes of Disk
Management is not unusual when your drives are formatted FAT32.
I don't know exactly why it happens. It may be that Windows
reserves a small area in case the drives are converted to NTFS
at some point in time. After conversion, the two numbers agree.
Take a look at the numbers listed for the F drive in these
screen shots of Disk Management that were taken before and
after converting the drive to NTFS:

Disk Management with FAT32 drive
http://home.comcast.net/~nepats99/DISKMGMT1.html

Disk Management with NTFS drive
http://home.comcast.net/~nepats99/DISKMGMT2.htm

FYI, if you decide to convert any of your drives to NTFS, take
a look at this article so that you don't end up with 512K
clusters:

Courtesy of Alex Nichol, MS-MVP
Converting FAT32 to NTFS in Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.php

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

(e-mail address removed),
R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah <[email protected]> wrote:

The bottom line to all the numbers is that you have no
unallocated hard drive space.

The discrepancy you see in the top and bottom panes of Disk
Management is not unusual when your drives are formatted FAT32.
I don't know exactly why it happens. It may be that Windows
reserves a small area in case the drives are converted to NTFS
at some point in time.

<snip>

Many thanks for your time and much valuable comments.

 

[Nepatsfan]

(e-mail address removed),

<snip>

Many thanks for your time and much valuable comments.

You're welcome.

Nepatsfan