How can I convert two partitions to one?

[TKHDebater]

I just bought an Acer laptop for law school and its 100gb HD came split in two partitions. Is there a way to meld the two partitions without losing data and just have one rather than two, without losing data? Thanks

Tristan

 

[stevty2889]

Partition magic can merge partitions, however there is still a chance of failure, in which case you would lose the data. I've had it happen once out of about 15 times.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

I don't know if it will keep the data on the second one, but you can run "diskpart.exe" and it will combine the two partitions. I used it when I upgraded my RAID 5 disks, and I had some remaining space. Great program that comes with windows.

 

[Nocturnal]

Partition Magic ftw although I'd do a data backup prior to attempting the merge as I have heard of PM messing up and causing data loss.

 

[TKHDebater]

Thanks, free is better....

 

[TKHDebater]

Alright, looking at diskpart.exe and even with the help file I can't seem to figure out how to merge the partitions.... any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Just a second, let me find my screen shots on how to do it...

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Screen shot #1
Screen shot #2
Screen shot #3

Screen shot #2 is the really pertinent one, with 1 & 3 being before & after. You can see how I fumble-fvcked my way through it, but the correct commands are in there...

 

[TKHDebater]

awesome, thanks

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: TKHDebater
awesome, thanks

You know, I was thinking about it, and I think that the volume might only extend onto unformatted space. I'm not sure. But the program is useful, and there might be commands in there for doing what you want to do...