Merging Disk Partitions

[Guest Chaplain Doug]

Windows XP SR2.

 

I have a user who reformatted his disk and reinstalled Windows XP. Whatever

he did, he now has a C: and an E: partition, with C: being small and E:

having the rest. This guy should only have C: and it should have all the

space of his 200 GB drive (argh!!). How can I help him merge E: with C:

without starting over from scratch? Thanks.

--

Dr. Doug Pruiett

Good News Jail & Prison Ministry

http://www.goodnewsjail.org

[Guest Gordon]

Re: Merging Disk Partitions

 

Chaplain Doug wrote:

> Windows XP SR2.

>

> I have a user who reformatted his disk and reinstalled Windows XP. Whatever

> he did, he now has a C: and an E: partition, with C: being small and E:

> having the rest. This guy should only have C:

 

Why? Many knowledgeable people have two partitions - one for OS and apps

and one for data...

[Guest Chaplain Doug]

Re: Merging Disk Partitions

 

This person is not knowledgeable. He made a mistake. The C: partition is

not even big enough to hold the basics. He keeps getting a size error. So

my original question remains. Any other thoughts?

--

Dr. Doug Pruiett

Good News Jail & Prison Ministry

http://www.goodnewsjail.org

 

 

"Gordon" wrote:

> Chaplain Doug wrote:

> > Windows XP SR2.

> >

> > I have a user who reformatted his disk and reinstalled Windows XP. Whatever

> > he did, he now has a C: and an E: partition, with C: being small and E:

> > having the rest. This guy should only have C:

>

> Why? Many knowledgeable people have two partitions - one for OS and apps

> and one for data...

>

>

>

>

[Guest Bob I]

Re: Merging Disk Partitions

 

partition magic or other partition management software. Not something

done by Windows XP.

 

Chaplain Doug wrote:

> This person is not knowledgeable. He made a mistake. The C: partition is

> not even big enough to hold the basics. He keeps getting a size error. So

> my original question remains. Any other thoughts?

[Guest Lem]

Re: Merging Disk Partitions

 

Gordon wrote:

> Chaplain Doug wrote:

>> Windows XP SR2.

>>

>> I have a user who reformatted his disk and reinstalled Windows XP.

>> Whatever he did, he now has a C: and an E: partition, with C: being

>> small and E: having the rest. This guy should only have C:

>

> Why? Many knowledgeable people have two partitions - one for OS and apps

> and one for data...

>

>

>

 

You'll need 3rd-party software. The 2 "name" brands are Acronis Disk

Director and Partition Magic. Many in this NG also recommend BootItNG,

which has a free 30-day trial download.

http://www.bootitng.com/

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/?source=us_google&keyword=partition&s_scid=partition|1157522417&gclid=CNmw9bmM-ZECFQQilwod9X3UwA

http://shop.symantecstore.com/store/symnahho/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/productID.44316200/pgm.6037100/ThemeID.106300/Currency.USD

 

I haven't used any of these, so I can't recommend one over the others.

 

Whichever product you use, be sure to back up all important data first.

These are supposed to be safe, but ...

 

--

Lem -- MS-MVP

 

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer

http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

[Guest Gordon]

Re: Merging Disk Partitions

 

Chaplain Doug wrote:

> This person is not knowledgeable. He made a mistake. The C: partition is

> not even big enough to hold the basics. He keeps getting a size error. So

> my original question remains. Any other thoughts?

 

I'm not disputing sizes, I'm disputing your assertion that one partition

is non-negotiable...

[Guest Gordon]

Re: Merging Disk Partitions

 

Lem wrote:

> Gordon wrote:

>> Chaplain Doug wrote:

>>> Windows XP SR2.

>>>

>>> I have a user who reformatted his disk and reinstalled Windows XP.

>>> Whatever he did, he now has a C: and an E: partition, with C: being

>>> small and E: having the rest. This guy should only have C:

>>

>> Why? Many knowledgeable people have two partitions - one for OS and

>> apps and one for data...

>>

>>

>>

>

> You'll need 3rd-party software. The 2 "name" brands are Acronis Disk

> Director and Partition Magic. Many in this NG also recommend BootItNG,

> which has a free 30-day trial download.

> http://www.bootitng.com/

> http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/?source=us_google&keyword=partition&s_scid=partition|1157522417&gclid=CNmw9bmM-ZECFQQilwod9X3UwA

>

> http://shop.symantecstore.com/store/symnahho/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/productID.44316200/pgm.6037100/ThemeID.106300/Currency.USD

>

>

> I haven't used any of these, so I can't recommend one over the others.

>

>

BootIT NG works just fine....

[Guest John]

Re: Merging Disk Partitions

 

Partition Magic comes to mind.

Or reinstall OS (free solution).

 

"Chaplain Doug" <ChaplainDoug@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:5D37DEB1-64BD-49FB-B690-F2EE0CDC8CEF@microsoft.com...

> This person is not knowledgeable. He made a mistake. The C: partition is

> not even big enough to hold the basics. He keeps getting a size error.

> So

> my original question remains. Any other thoughts?

> --

> Dr. Doug Pruiett

> Good News Jail & Prison Ministry

> http://www.goodnewsjail.org

>

>

> "Gordon" wrote:

>

>> Chaplain Doug wrote:

>> > Windows XP SR2.

>> >

>> > I have a user who reformatted his disk and reinstalled Windows XP.

>> > Whatever

>> > he did, he now has a C: and an E: partition, with C: being small and E:

>> > having the rest. This guy should only have C:

>>

>> Why? Many knowledgeable people have two partitions - one for OS and apps

>> and one for data...

>>

>>

>>

>>

[Guest Colin Barnhorst]

Re: Merging Disk Partitions

 

It is if that's the way the customer wants it.

 

"Gordon" <gbplinux@gmail.com.invalid> wrote in message

news:63ar3tF26kb0jU2@mid.individual.net...

> Chaplain Doug wrote:

>> This person is not knowledgeable. He made a mistake. The C: partition

>> is not even big enough to hold the basics. He keeps getting a size

>> error. So my original question remains. Any other thoughts?

>

> I'm not disputing sizes, I'm disputing your assertion that one partition

> is non-negotiable...

[Guest Gordon]

Re: Merging Disk Partitions

 

"Colin Barnhorst" <c.barnhorst@comcast.net> wrote in message

news:90138C9D-EDE4-4A57-90B4-10753C9ED313@microsoft.com...

> It is if that's the way the customer wants it.

>

 

the OP said "the user NEEDS" not "the user must have".....

[Guest Anna]

Re: Merging Disk Partitions

 

 

"Chaplain Doug" <ChaplainDoug@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:89628C34-3306-4CFA-83C7-C80C9FFBE01D@microsoft.com...

> Windows XP SR2.

>

> I have a user who reformatted his disk and reinstalled Windows XP.

> Whatever

> he did, he now has a C: and an E: partition, with C: being small and E:

> having the rest. This guy should only have C: and it should have all the

> space of his 200 GB drive (argh!!). How can I help him merge E: with C:

> without starting over from scratch? Thanks.

> --

> Dr. Doug Pruiett

> Good News Jail & Prison Ministry

> http://www.goodnewsjail.org

 

 

Dr. Pruiett:

As you have heard from a number of responders there are a number of

third-party programs that can "merge" the two partitions. Unfortunately the

XP OS cannot do this without totally deleting the data in those partitions.

 

But the way you describe the situation (and admittedly I may be

misunderstanding the present scheme of things!) if the user has just

"reformatted his disk and reinstalled Windows XP" can we not make an

assumption that *presently* there's no data on the hard drive (other than

the XP operating system) that needs to be retrieved? So could not the user

simply make a fresh install of the XP OS creating a single partition if

that's acceptable to him or her?

 

Or if there is data - at least in terms of *user-created* data - could you

or he/she not now simply copy whatever data he or she needs to some

removable medial and later reinstall such data after the user makes a fresh

install of the OS? It is true that if programs had been installed such

would not be retrievable (at least for the most part). So I don't know

whether that's a consideration here.

Anna

[Guest Dave Cohen]

Re: Merging Disk Partitions

 

Gordon wrote:

> Lem wrote:

>> Gordon wrote:

>>> Chaplain Doug wrote:

>>>> Windows XP SR2.

>>>>

>>>> I have a user who reformatted his disk and reinstalled Windows XP.

>>>> Whatever he did, he now has a C: and an E: partition, with C: being

>>>> small and E: having the rest. This guy should only have C:

>>>

>>> Why? Many knowledgeable people have two partitions - one for OS and

>>> apps and one for data...

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>

>> You'll need 3rd-party software. The 2 "name" brands are Acronis Disk

>> Director and Partition Magic. Many in this NG also recommend

>> BootItNG, which has a free 30-day trial download.

>> http://www.bootitng.com/

>> http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/?source=us_google&keyword=partition&s_scid=partition|1157522417&gclid=CNmw9bmM-ZECFQQilwod9X3UwA

>>

>> http://shop.symantecstore.com/store/symnahho/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/productID.44316200/pgm.6037100/ThemeID.106300/Currency.USD

>>

>>

>> I haven't used any of these, so I can't recommend one over the others.

>>

>>

> BootIT NG works just fine....

 

Bootitng will certainly do the job. You will need to create a bootable

media (floppy or cd). Visit http://www.terabyteunlimited.com for the software

and instructions.

If you don't install it, you can do what you want without installing the

product, I would recommend doing a backup first.

Dave Cohen

[Guest windmap]

Re: Merging Disk Partitions

 

Try Acronis disk director suite

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/

 

"Chaplain Doug" <ChaplainDoug@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:89628C34-3306-4CFA-83C7-C80C9FFBE01D@microsoft.com...

> Windows XP SR2.

>

> I have a user who reformatted his disk and reinstalled Windows XP.

> Whatever

> he did, he now has a C: and an E: partition, with C: being small and E:

> having the rest. This guy should only have C: and it should have all the

> space of his 200 GB drive (argh!!). How can I help him merge E: with C:

> without starting over from scratch? Thanks.

> --

> Dr. Doug Pruiett

> Good News Jail & Prison Ministry

> http://www.goodnewsjail.org

[Guest Frank]

Re: Merging Disk Partitions

 

Delete all partitions, start over. It is really straight forward when booting from

the XP install CD.

 

"Chaplain Doug" <ChaplainDoug@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:5D37DEB1-64BD-49FB-B690-F2EE0CDC8CEF@microsoft.com...

> This person is not knowledgeable. He made a mistake. The C: partition is

> not even big enough to hold the basics. He keeps getting a size error. So

> my original question remains. Any other thoughts?

> --

> Dr. Doug Pruiett

> Good News Jail & Prison Ministry

> http://www.goodnewsjail.org

>

>

> "Gordon" wrote:

>

>> Chaplain Doug wrote:

>> > Windows XP SR2.

>> >

>> > I have a user who reformatted his disk and reinstalled Windows XP. Whatever

>> > he did, he now has a C: and an E: partition, with C: being small and E:

>> > having the rest. This guy should only have C:

>>

>> Why? Many knowledgeable people have two partitions - one for OS and apps

>> and one for data...

[Guest Timothy Daniels]

Re: Merging Disk Partitions

 

Anna -

 

Take a look at this page describing the Acronis Disk Director

Suite 10:

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/multibooting.html

There is the following feature listed for the OS Selector:

"Clone OS installation as a back-up.".

 

Also on that page is a link to download the .pdf of the User Guide.

In chapter 3 of the User Guide, section 3 describes copying a single

partition and putting it on another hard drive among existing partitions.

I don't know whether this capability now exists in Acronis' True Image,

but it looks like Acronis utilities are par with Ghost and Casper, now.

 

*TimDaniels*