Changing free space ?

My hdd had Vista, windows recovery, and XP installed on it in seperate partitions (of course), and I deleted XP from its partition when I added a second hdd with XP on it and that old space has become "free space" according to Disk Mgmt.

I would like to add that free space back to the Vista partition, but if I try to "expand volume" of the Vista partition, it won't let me take that free space.
My only choices with the "free space" appear to be either create another "simple volume", or to delete it (as all other options are greyed out) and if I do that Disk mgmt says the partition will be inaccessible.

Is there any way I can add that space to the existing Vista partition ?
Disk Mgmt shows the drive partitions from left to right as dell utilities (and unaccessible)55mb, windows recovery 10gb, Vista 104gb, and then the free space 35 gb.

Before you try anything make sure you have a reliable means of getting back to where you are now.. like image backup/restore program. The Vista disk management gizmo won't let you do anything until you delete the free space. If it is after Vista in the disk layout then you shouldn't have a problem.

Make sure you backup because it seems hairy when you delete the free space. You'll feel better about chancing it if you know you can get your system back to the status quo.

Imaging programs that actually work are available for $50 or less these days so look around. I have Vista Home Premium 32 bit and I've used Paragon Drive Backup Personal for awhile now. I've done a few restores and I haven't seen a problem. It's easier if you have say an external USB 2.0 HD large enough to hold a bunch of backups(and of course you can park other files too.)

If you can afford to invest a couple hundred bucks for the software and drive then you'll have a reliable image backup/restore system. Esp. if you mess with multi-boot
it's a good idea.

thanks Miles. I have both the image dvd from Dell, and a newer image backup made with macrium reflect (free version) just in case. With the dell image of course, it will put it back to oem condition , meaning w/o updates etc, while the newer image will /should have me back to where it is now...with the free space LOL.
Just afraid to delete the free space w/o knowing I can then add it back to the Vista partition....dont want to make more work than I need to.

Can't have your cake and eat it too. The alternative is to get a third party non-destructive partition/resizing utility. It's kind of like expanding the kitchen. First
you have to knock down the wall. No mess, no additional space.