Problem with partitions

[Lutzie]

Hello,

I've recently purchased a Toshiba P200D-139, which came with Vista
pre-installed.

The HDD has come partitioned in C (Vista) and E (Data).
TBH, I want just 1 drive. I’ve used the disk management function in Vista,
and I’ve even done it manually in the cmd prompt, however I cannot extend the
C drive at all. I can erase E, I can split it, I can create new drives,
extend them, shrink them or whatever, either through the disk management
function, or through diskpart.exe in the cmd prompt. I can do anything and
everything to the E drive. However the extend options for the C drive are
greyed out.

In the cmd prompt if you try to extend the C drive it says there’s
insufficient space, yet if you try with the E drive it works fine.

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm rapidly running out of room on the C drive,
and don't see the point of splitting the same type of data across 2
partitions, espeically when a lot of it is shared/public.

Secondly, there’s also a third partition I can only see in the Disk
Management screen, and not say, Explorer. It’s about 1.46gb in size IIRC, and
seems to be empty. Any idea what that is? (Page file??)

Thanks for any help,

Stephen

 

[Dominic Payer]

Check the partition layout in Disk Management. There is probably a recovery
partition, with no drive letter assigned, after the C: partition.

You can't extend a partition if there is no free space immediately after it.

If you delete a recovery partition you might have problems re-installing
Vista if that was ever necessary. You would need third party tools to move
it.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Stephen,

The pagefile will be on the root of the system drive, C:.

Run diskmgmt.msc from the start/search line. Look at the physical
configuration of the drive. In order to expand C:, the free space must be
located immediately after it as seen in this tool. If it is anywhere else -
ahead of it, or there is another volume in between them - then you will not
be able to extend C: with any drive tool.

The unnamed volume is likely a recovery volume for the system. If your
manufacturer provides for making a set of recovery disks, then do so and you
should be able to safely delete this volume and recover the space.

There are third party tools like BootIT NG and Acronis Disk Director that
can be used to "slide" the volumes around in order to position them
correctly for expanding C:, this is a process that is not provided for in
any of the drive tools included with Windows, but may be necessary for some.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

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

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Hello,

I've recently purchased a Toshiba P200D-139, which came with Vista
pre-installed.

The HDD has come partitioned in C (Vista) and E (Data).
TBH, I want just 1 drive. I’ve used the disk management function in Vista,
and I’ve even done it manually in the cmd prompt, however I cannot extend
the
C drive at all. I can erase E, I can split it, I can create new drives,
extend them, shrink them or whatever, either through the disk management
function, or through diskpart.exe in the cmd prompt. I can do anything and
everything to the E drive. However the extend options for the C drive are
greyed out.

In the cmd prompt if you try to extend the C drive it says there’s
insufficient space, yet if you try with the E drive it works fine.

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm rapidly running out of room on the C
drive,
and don't see the point of splitting the same type of data across 2
partitions, espeically when a lot of it is shared/public.

Secondly, there’s also a third partition I can only see in the Disk
Management screen, and not say, Explorer. It’s about 1.46gb in size IIRC,
and
seems to be empty. Any idea what that is? (Page file??)

Thanks for any help,

Stephen

In order to make one working partition, you will need to move the recovery
partition to one end of the drive, and there are no native Windows tools to
facilitate this.

You will need to use a program like Acronis Disk Director to perform this
task. It will also give you the ability to make the one working partition.

However, if you use the manufacturers destructive recovery option at any
point in time, any changes you make now will be wiped out, and your computer
will look like it did when you first purchased it.

You might want to learn how to save data and install programs to the E
drive.



--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

 

[IkidUnot]

If I were faced with this situation, I'd use the suggestions already provided
(get partition mgmt software) and set it up the way I prefer, or the way it's
more sensible & useful. Then I'd make my own emergency recovery backup.
This way if the computer had a problem (crash, etc), I could restore it to
the more sensible arrangement than the way it is now. I mean, really, who
puts a recovery partition between two partitions like that?!

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

If I were faced with this situation, I'd use the suggestions already
provided
(get partition mgmt software) and set it up the way I prefer, or the way
it's
more sensible & useful. Then I'd make my own emergency recovery backup.
This way if the computer had a problem (crash, etc), I could restore it to
the more sensible arrangement than the way it is now. I mean, really, who
puts a recovery partition between two partitions like that?!

People buy OEM stuff because it offers better value at the time of purchase.
Unfortunately, the OEMs don't divulge the entire picture..


--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx