Vista - Extending partition

I've found my way into the disk manager. It reads as follows:

1st - 47MB - Healthy - EISA Configuration (system area, I'm guessing?)
2nd - 14.65GB - Unallocated
3rd - C - 218.13 GB NTFS (approx 200 GB free)

I'm wanting to absorb the unallocated area into my main C drive, but I think
it's giving me problems since that space is BEFORE the formatted drive. Is
that correct? If so here is my plan of attack, as ugly as it is:

Shrink C by 30 GB
Rename C to D
Format newly "extra" space as E
Move all my files onto the new E
Format original unallocated space as C
Delete D & E, which will now be AFTER C
Expand new C to absorb D&E's now-unallocated space

That sure sounds like a royal pain-in-the-you-know-what. 2 questions.

1 - Will it work?
2 - Is there an easier way to skin the cat?

~Vol

"Vol" <Vol@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B783BD86-016B-4D90-A898-ADAE96F62EF6@microsoft.com...
> I've found my way into the disk manager. It reads as follows:
>
> 1st - 47MB - Healthy - EISA Configuration (system area, I'm guessing?)
> 2nd - 14.65GB - Unallocated
> 3rd - C - 218.13 GB NTFS (approx 200 GB free)
>
> I'm wanting to absorb the unallocated area into my main C drive, but I
> think
> it's giving me problems since that space is BEFORE the formatted drive.
> Is
> that correct? If so here is my plan of attack, as ugly as it is:
>
> Shrink C by 30 GB
> Rename C to D
> Format newly "extra" space as E
> Move all my files onto the new E
> Format original unallocated space as C
> Delete D & E, which will now be AFTER C
> Expand new C to absorb D&E's now-unallocated space
>
> That sure sounds like a royal pain-in-the-you-know-what. 2 questions.
>
> 1 - Will it work?
> 2 - Is there an easier way to skin the cat?
>
> ~Vol


Someone should be able to suggest a free or cheap partition manager, that
would be a pretty simple option.

--
Can't think of a sig at the moment.
Read this instead.

That would be great. I don't plan on buying anything since it's only for a
single use.

"Lord Takyon" wrote:

> Someone should be able to suggest a free or cheap partition manager, that
> would be a pretty simple option.

You appear to be wanting to remove your OEM Recovery partition, and the area
making it bootable. Is that what you want to do? Have you checked out the
options in your OEM's Recovery Manager? You may be able to use that wizard
to make restore DVD's, and then have the wizard remove the partition.


"Vol" <Vol@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B783BD86-016B-4D90-A898-ADAE96F62EF6@microsoft.com...
> I've found my way into the disk manager. It reads as follows:
>
> 1st - 47MB - Healthy - EISA Configuration (system area, I'm guessing?)
> 2nd - 14.65GB - Unallocated
> 3rd - C - 218.13 GB NTFS (approx 200 GB free)
>
> I'm wanting to absorb the unallocated area into my main C drive, but I
> think
> it's giving me problems since that space is BEFORE the formatted drive.
> Is
> that correct? If so here is my plan of attack, as ugly as it is:
>
> Shrink C by 30 GB
> Rename C to D
> Format newly "extra" space as E
> Move all my files onto the new E
> Format original unallocated space as C
> Delete D & E, which will now be AFTER C
> Expand new C to absorb D&E's now-unallocated space
>
> That sure sounds like a royal pain-in-the-you-know-what. 2 questions.
>
> 1 - Will it work?
> 2 - Is there an easier way to skin the cat?
>
> ~Vol

"dean-dean" wrote:

> You appear to be wanting to remove your OEM Recovery partition, and the area
> making it bootable. Is that what you want to do? Have you checked out the
> options in your OEM's Recovery Manager? You may be able to use that wizard
> to make restore DVD's, and then have the wizard remove the partition.

I think that summarizes it. It's a Dell PC that came with all sorts of
pre-installed junk. First thing I did was fully format the machine with a
fresh copy of Vista & then manually installed only the software I needed. I
only recently realized this extra partition was there & now I'm trying to
figure out how to get rid of it.

I'll try your method to see what happens, but I'm also interested in a
"freebie" partition manager if anyone can point me to a decent one.

You can download- BootIt NG,
that will let you use it for 30 days free!

You have to install it to do your partitioning,
and then remove it when you are finished.

--
Jerry

One thing money can't buy,
The Wagging Tail of a Dog.

"Vol" <Vol@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7B3AF81F-6104-4C17-BA06-86E22B03B962@microsoft.com...
> "dean-dean" wrote:
>
>> You appear to be wanting to remove your OEM Recovery partition, and the
>> area
>> making it bootable. Is that what you want to do? Have you checked out
>> the
>> options in your OEM's Recovery Manager? You may be able to use that
>> wizard
>> to make restore DVD's, and then have the wizard remove the partition.
>
> I think that summarizes it. It's a Dell PC that came with all sorts of
> pre-installed junk. First thing I did was fully format the machine with a
> fresh copy of Vista & then manually installed only the software I needed.
> I
> only recently realized this extra partition was there & now I'm trying to
> figure out how to get rid of it.
>
> I'll try your method to see what happens, but I'm also interested in a
> "freebie" partition manager if anyone can point me to a decent one.

BootIt did the trick!!!!! It was really spooky monkeying around with
partitions containing live data, but it worked like a champ. BootIt has a
"slide" feature that allowed me to move the C drive backwards. Once the
unallocated space was at the END of the drive, the native Vista tools pulled
it right in.

Once again, all is well in the PC world (at least until the next little bug
pops up!)

Thanks for the great suggestion.

~Vol

You are welcome, Vol.
Glad it did the job for you.

--
Jerry

One thing money can't buy,
The Wagging Tail of a Dog.

"Vol" <Vol@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:54EB4AFD-4E00-434B-AA8D-AD856D4417BB@microsoft.com...
> BootIt did the trick!!!!! It was really spooky monkeying around with
> partitions containing live data, but it worked like a champ. BootIt has a
> "slide" feature that allowed me to move the C drive backwards. Once the
> unallocated space was at the END of the drive, the native Vista tools
> pulled
> it right in.
>
> Once again, all is well in the PC world (at least until the next little
> bug
> pops up!)
>
> Thanks for the great suggestion.
>
> ~Vol