Can I combine two partitions into one?

[mangled]

Here's the deal:

100gb WD hard drive.

-Partition C is 30gb - contains OS and program files

-Partition D is 70gb - contains games, files, photos, etc...

I want to eliminate the partition so there's just one partition, C, containing everything. Don't want to split the drive up anymore. Is there an easy way to do this without having to wipe out drive D? Can I just combine the two somehow? Do I need Partition Magic to do this or is there something in Win XP I can do it with?

I do have a second physical hard drive, it's 40gb and is drive E. I could backup files from D to it if I have to.

Or, what I really don't want to do right now, do I have to reformat, wipe out the drive, eliminate the partitions and start over?

Thanks!

 

[Bullhonkie]

I know Partition Magic can merge partitions together as I've done so before with FAT32 partitions (though the newest version should be able to merge NTFS). I highly doubt it with the disk management in WinXP, but I haven't actually had any extensive use with XP so I can't say for sure.

 

[Booster]

I guess it's highly impossible to merge partitions. Unfortunately, you might have to reformat and reinstall.

 

[bacillus]

partition magic7 will allow you to merge partitions in xp though I seem to recall a 80Gb ceiling!

 

[DeviousTrap]

I also heard about the 80gb celing. What partition magic does is it makes the partitions into one and puts the contense of one of the partitions into a folder.

 

[mangled]

well, guess I'll wait until I'm ready to reformat....thanks!

 

[Poncherelli]

the newest partition magic will merge them for you

 

[mangled]

Originally posted by: Poncherelli
the newest partition magic will merge them for you

But what's with this 80gb limit others have mentioned?

 

[eno]

I just Downloaded Partition Magic 7.0 and I see that you can merge them. I am using one 40gig and one 60gig. Am not positive about the combined 100gigs on one drive. Just download it and check it out.

 

[mangled]

oh, and my paths will be screwed since my games are installed onto drive D, which I want to merge into drive C....

 

[eno]

THe program has something I believe that will fix all the path error of merging. THink it is called DriveMapper.

 

[Dogsbody]

Partition Magic 7.0 will merge partions and you can use DriveMapper to change the path for your games. It worked on my 80GB hard drive, but I've never tried it on anything larger. The Power Quest help page (FAQ's) says:

"PartitionMagic 7.0 has been tested on drives 80 GB and larger. It should run on most size drives, however, there may be limitations due to file system sizes."

Hope this helps.

 

[mangled]

Thanks everyone. I'll pick it up and try it.

From what I've read, partitioning up a physical hard drive really adds no benefit and if anything, can be more of a hindrence based on how the OS reads and stores stuff on the drive.....really paraphrasing here...