Merging a partition (How To)

K

knightrider1011

New Member
Hi, I have an older laptop with a hard drive that is split in half. (C and D)What I want to do is to just make it 1 hard drive with no partitions. (just C) How do I go about doing that? There is really nothing on the computer right now, no files saved, just Windows 2000 OS. Can I just reformat the hard drive and reinstall windows 2000? Is there a step by step procedure anyone has? I do not have that much experience with computers, I just know the basics. Thanks, KR
 
First you need a Welcome to the Computer Forum! http://www.computerforum.com/70672-official-welcome-thread.html and the reminder to new members to review the http://www.computerforum.com/52038-forum-rules.html

If the current C primary was fresh and recent I could simply advise deletion on the second and resizing the C to fill in the remaining space. But being new at this from your statement the best and easiet method is wipe the drive by deletion of both and create a new single primary for 2000 to go on.

If you have never used a partitioning tool like FDisk on a 3 1/2" boot floppy or a software like Partition Magic one quick method does require having a cd writer to burn a free download to cd-r. After removing the two now seen and creating the new NTFS type primary that still would need to be formatted.

For use on 3 1/2" floppy drive manufacturers have their own tools for cleaning a drive and even partitioning with Westen Digital now seeing one that will also format NTFS type partitions from floppy. You can also use the 2000 setup tools as well. The free Linux drive tool is called GParted live for cd if you don't have a floppy drive. That is the tool you will a cd burner to see put on a cd-r for both deletion of the two and to create the new primary. You then to format the new one later in order to see 2000 installed fresh.
 
Thanks for the reply, so it would best to just delete both C and D? If I do that will the computer allow me to put windows back on without any special things I have to do? Are you saying that deleting C and D basically wipes the computer clean? If the computer is wiped clean, won't I need a boot disk? Or can I just use the Windows 2000 cd I have? thanks KR
 
The two main things you would need are one a drive partitioning tool and a full version of 2000 to see a fresh copy installed. The drive tool will wipe the drive and create the new primary. 2000 can be setup with a set of floppies by that method to see the installer then proceed from there.

Any drive tool used would have to be on a bootable media like a floppy or cd in order to see this done. The platform independent version of the Linux tool known as GParted live for cd will delete the two present easy. But you would still need a 2000 setup disk to see the new primary formatted. The place to go for both floppy and disk image downloads for Linux and Windows alike is found at http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm
 
Since you've got nothing you need on there, and as long as you don't mind reinstalling windows that's the way I would 'merge' them, just delete them and recreate 1 big partition when installing windows.

The windows 2000 CD you have is all you need. During the install process you will be given a chance to delete partitions and you can recreate 1 big one after you delete them.

GParted can usually resize the partitions without damaging anything on the drive, so this method should save you the time of having to reinstall windows.
 
GParted has worked well here with both XP and Vista for resizing without seeing any loss of data integrity so far. I wasn't sure if the 2000 disk was like XP in having partitioning tools included especially if that was an upgrade or recovery disk(pre-install) and not full version disk there. Simply expanding the current first primary would obviously save reinstall time.

One thing noted here with using GParted over the MS tool included as with XP in mind and some asking for help when seeing 8mb or more unallocated drive space is from partitioning with the Windows installer. That seems to have been meant for throwing Windows on fast and not actually thorough in actual physical drive space available on different drives. GParted readily spotted 8mb on the end of the XP Primary here. Someone later was asking why space was seen at the beginning as well as the end of the drive. For most 8mb isn't noticed however.
 
Hi i am a newbie and i reformatted my computerin an effort to get rid of my partioned hard drive i deleted on side of it so now i seem to have lost that side....lol...and need to get it back so, can some tell me how to do that then i would appreciate it if someone could explain in lamens terms how to delete both partions and make one big one with a reinstall, i so would appreciate it.
thanks
 
New member alert means a Welcome to CF! http://www.computerforum.com/70672-official-welcome-thread.html and the reminder to review the http://www.computerforum.com/52038-forum-rules.html

The first thing you will need there is a drive partitioning tool after first backing up anything important off of your hard drive. Which version of Windows will you be running on the drive once cleaned and repartitioned would be the question to ask. 95? 98? ME? 2000? 2000 Pro? Windows Server2003 or 2005? XP? Home, Pro, Pro 64bit, Media Center Edition or Vista?

For 9x-ME that would be Fat16 for 95 and Fat32 for 98 or Millenium Edition(ME) while 2000 and newer is strictly installed on NTFS(NT File System) except for XP and that version's backward capatibility to Fat16/32.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top