Two partition drive

[Dr. Sinister]

I've got a Sony Vaio PCG-FXA36; one drive, two partitions; C part has a 7.8GB
capacity with 19% free space at this point in time; D part has a 10.82GB
capacity with 92% free space at this point. C part is FAT32; D part is NTFS.
The problem: Eventually, I will get down to 15% free space on C part and
will not be able to defrag; I continually try to transfer as many files as I
can to the D part, but there are some things that I just can't transfer, like
O.S. files, etc. If I had known more about computers when I had bought this
one, I would have asked more questions and probably would have avoided buying
a computer that is configured in this manner. However, that being said:
Question: Can I reconfigure the drive into one partition, lose the "D", and
do it under the NTFS file system? If so, how do I do it? Thank you.

 

[Xandros]

The good news is yes. The bad news is you will need to purchase third party
software to do this or wipe the computer, repartition and start over. The
first option is obviously easiest. There are several good repartitioning
tools some are easier to use than others. I use Disk Director from Acronis
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/partitioning.html
Read through it's options.

Another repartitioing tool that is popular is Norton's Partition Magic
http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/overview.jsp?pcid=sp&pvid=pm80 it
costs a lot more than Disk Director and is certainly no better. Another
choice is BootIt NG
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/purchase-bootit-next-generation.htm which
is the least expensive but is much less intuitive to use. BootIt NG used to
have excellent tech support. I suspect that they still do.

If you want to wipe the drive and start fresh you will need a copy of
Windows XP. Boot the CD and delete all partitions, format as NTFS and
install XP. When finished you will have to reload SP2 (or SP3) all programs,
recreate your e-mail settings etc as all will be lost.

Whichever way you go make absolutely certain you have backups of all you
important data and have written down the passwords for your e-mail accounts
etc.

 

[DL]

That type of configeration is common;
rt click My Documents icon, select Properties, Move......locate it on your D
drive

In Internet Options, alter the file settings down to 50mb
Run Disk Cleanup on C

Finaly convert C to ntfs, see win help for how

 

[Nepatsfan]

I've got a Sony Vaio PCG-FXA36; one drive, two partitions; C part has a 7.8GB
capacity with 19% free space at this point in time; D part has a 10.82GB
capacity with 92% free space at this point. C part is FAT32; D part is NTFS.
The problem: Eventually, I will get down to 15% free space on C part and
will not be able to defrag; I continually try to transfer as many files as I
can to the D part, but there are some things that I just can't transfer, like
O.S. files, etc. If I had known more about computers when I had bought this
one, I would have asked more questions and probably would have avoided buying
a computer that is configured in this manner. However, that being said:
Question: Can I reconfigure the drive into one partition, lose the "D", and
do it under the NTFS file system? If so, how do I do it? Thank you.

First off, before you make any changes to the configuration of your hard drive
you should backup any important files to CDs/DVDs or an external hard drive. And
make sure you can restore those files should anything go wrong. An even better
approach would be to use an imaging program such as Acronis True Image or Norton
Ghost to create an image of your hard drive and store it on an external hard
drive. Acronis offers a trial version of their program.

Acronis True Image Home 15 days trial
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/trueimage/

The easiest way to change the file system on your C drive is through the Convert
command. Take a look at this article for info on how that works.

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

Here's a Microsoft article on the subject you may find helpful.

How to Use Convert.exe to Convert a Partition to the NTFS File System
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314097

As for merging the two partitions on your hard drive, the easiest approach would
be to move the files on your D drive to your C drive (or CDs), and remove the
partition that contains your D drive. Once you delete the partition, that
portion of your hard drive becomes unallocated space. You will need a third
party program to add this space
to your C drive. Norton Partition Magic, Acronis Disk Director, and BootIT NG
are three applications that will do the job. I believe that trial versions of
Disk Director and BootIT NG are available.

Norton PartitionMagic 8.0
http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/overview.jsp?pcid=sp&pvid=pm80

Acronis Disk Director 10.0
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/

BootIT Next Generation
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-next-generation.htm

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Unknown]

Your best solution is to simply replace your hard drive with one of at least
120 gigabyte. That will solve your current problem and possibly many future
problems.

 

[Dr. Sinister]

Thanks Xandros, for the advice and the reminder to backup. Appreciate it.

 

[Dr. Sinister]

Thanks DL for the info.
--
Dr. Sinister

That type of configeration is common;
rt click My Documents icon, select Properties, Move......locate it on your D
drive

In Internet Options, alter the file settings down to 50mb
Run Disk Cleanup on C

Finaly convert C to ntfs, see win help for how

 

[Dr. Sinister]

Thanks for the help, Nepatsfan; I've been checking into the Acronis software.

 

[Dr. Sinister]

Thank you for the advice, unknown. That would be good way out of the problem.

 

[Twayne]

I've got a Sony Vaio PCG-FXA36; one drive, two partitions; C part has

a 7.8GB capacity with 19% free space at this point in time; D part
has a 10.82GB capacity with 92% free space at this point. C part is
FAT32; D part is NTFS. The problem: Eventually, I will get down to
15% free space on C part and will not be able to defrag; I
continually try to transfer as many files as I can to the D part, but
there are some things that I just can't transfer, like O.S. files,
etc. If I had known more about computers when I had bought this one,
I would have asked more questions and probably would have avoided
buying a computer that is configured in this manner. However, that
being said: Question: Can I reconfigure the drive into one
partition, lose the "D", and do it under the NTFS file system? If
so, how do I do it? Thank you.

All you need is your original XP CD.
Back up ALL your data, including emails & favorites.
Be certain the backup is good/functional.
Pop in the CD.
Boot from it
Delete both partitions
create one large partition
continue following the onscreen instructions.
Restore from your backup.

If you already have PM or such, use that; it's quicker. Or if you don't
mind paying the cost for it.
--
--
Regards,

Twayne

Open Office isn't just for wimps anymore;
OOo is a GREAT MS Office replacement
www.openoffice.org

 

[Dr. Sinister]

Hi Twayne; Already got the Partition Magic, but thanks for the alternative.
Appreciate it.