Remove Partition between C and D drives?

S

Shinsle

New Member
Hello,

I just got a new ASUS laptop. The hard drive is partitioned so that half the space is on C drive and the rest is on the D (DATA) drive.

I want to remove the D drive partition and allocate all the space to the C drive. I am using Vista. Is there some free partition software download that will allow me to do this?

Thanks for your time.

Shinsle
 
new asus laptop........are you sure before i say anything that you do not have a recovery on this partition? make sure 1st.
 
to echo what tremmor said, make 100% sure that D is not a recovery partition, because there is a good chance that it is. Its possible to shrink a partition in vista, which I recommend, but make sure about the recovery partition first.
 
Even if its not a recovery partition, which it most likely is, I would recommend keeping it that way. Have all your data on the D drive and operating system and programs on the C drive. That way when the time comes to reinstall windows, you won't need to backup your data cause its already on a different drive.
 
I originally was going to keep apps and such on C and videos, pics, and such on D, but the problem is I can't move my Administrator Folder to D and it doesn't make sens to keep the Administrator Folder with my name, Shinsle, if its not being used. So, I just decided to keep the C Administrator and get rid of the D. How do I find out if D is recovery? Thanks for your time.

Shinsle
 
The drive should be labeled as recovery in "computer" if Vista or "My Computer" if XP. What size is D drive? If around 10gb or less than its a recovery drive.
 
Then its not a recovery drive. But for safety sake, check the folders on that drive and make sure they don't sound like recovery software.
 
There aren't any folders or other data on the D Drive...it's completely empty. The only reason I'm investigating this procedure is because I am Type A guy and it frustrates when things aren't organized according to the way my mind works, ya know? Do you know how to shrink the Data D Drive capacity, not necessarily remove it all together?

I bough the laptop, ASUS X38Vm-X1 from Best Buy for $833 last week. Today, I went on BestBuy.com and found the same system for $799.00. When I went to Best Buy to get the difference refunded, the clerk's price match found it for $749, so, I got a $90 refund. It's an awesome system:

GeForce9600 ~ Upgradable
4GB DDR2 ~ Expandable to 8GB
320GB Hard Drive
Centrino 2 Processor
14.1" Display

For the money, I could not find anything even close. All I need now is to get disk drive space allocate the way I want it and I'm good to go.

Shinsle
 
You would need partitioning software like Partition Magic to resize partitions. But just to warn you, always back up your data in case something goes wrong.
 
no, with vista, you dont need to download any software. simply click start and search for "disk management." click the shortcut and right click on the drive (D) that you want to shrink and click "shrink volume." it will show you how many MBs are free to shrink and you can shrink some or all of them. now all you have to do is right click on your C drive and click "expand volume" and add the MBs you shrunk from D to C. hope that helps.
also, i have heard of hidden recovery partitions, so it may not be visible at all. in that case just delete D entirely and add it to C.
 
Above, Lucky said that it's possible to shrink the D drive in Vista. I did a cursory Control Panel check to see if I could figure out how, but was unsuccessful...it's third day on Vista Are you familiar with this procedure?

BTW, I thought your member name might refer to some Scripture verse, then I realized there's only 21 or so chapters in John.

Shinsle
 
I followed a tweak on Lucky's instructions by going through the Control Panel, which led me Disk Management. I found both the C and D Drives as well as a Primary Drive of 10.78 GB. I wonder if the Primary Drive is where the recovery files are stored? Anyway, I'll follow the shrink instructions above and see what happens. Thanks again for all the help everybody!

Shinsle
 
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that is rather odd that the primary drive (assume drive C) has so little space. it seems like it only has enough space for the OS, which is stupid in my opinion. anyhow, good luck - i was a bit rusty on the process myself, but i think it will work just fine. welcome to CF btw
 
Thanks,

I post now and again when I need to. BTW, I just got off the phone with ASUS customer service to have them walk me through the process. Their service department really isn't as good as people have said. The rep told me to hold on while he pulled my system up...while waiting for five minutes I had the D gone and the C expanded, then the rep just hung up without coming back on the line. What a joke! One of the reasons I bought the ASUS is because I had heard of their Great customer service, which clearly seems to have been puffed up a bit. Thanks for the tips. Take care.

Shinsle
 
You need to repartition the drive. Personally I would do it with fdisk and then reformat and reload the O/S. Time consuming but really the best way. But there are utilities like Partition Magic (commercial) or Aseus (freeware) that can do it. Since you don't have anything in the D partition, a partitioning utility should work ok. I never liked them personally but they have worked for countless people.
 
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