Extending a primary partition !

[sasha007]

Hi,

I want to extend my primary partition ( C) on which the OS is installed .
See below :



When i try to extend C , extend volume option is grayed out .
As you can see i have a free contiguous space of 37 GB next to C .

What is the problem ??

[krishnandu.sarkar]

Well, generally Extending Primary partition(Specially OS Partition) are not allowed from inside Windows. It incurs High Risk of Data loss.

Download EASEUS FREE Partition Manager Software. Free Partition Magic alternative for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 and Windows Server 2000/2003/2008. Hard Drive partition software. and see if you can do it. If not, you can try creating partition on that free space and merge them together.

Otherwise, you may need to use some Live CD Partition Manager to perform this. In that case try GParted -- Live CD/USB/PXE/HD

[asingh]

Easeus will do it easily.

[nisargshah95]

Try Partition Assistant Home edition (free version).
Download FREE AOMEI Partition Assistant - Partition Manager for managing disk partition.

Here I've uploaded a video for resizing C: using Partition Assistant, about 1MB. Download and watch it.

Video1.wmv

Watch it in players other than WMP (VLC prefered). Video doesn't look good in WMP...
PS - Hope some day I'll also get the HD space you're having

[Vyom]

I think, OP can't extend the C: partition, since the partition which is to be added is a part of Logical Drive.
Maybe he can transfer all data to the 1TB hard drive (Disk 1), and re partition all the drives accordingly on Disk 0.

[nisargshah95]

Originally Posted by vineet369

I think, OP can't extend the C: partition, since the partition which is to be added is a part of Logical Drive.

I don't think so. Even all my partitions are logical. Still I'm able to resize my partitions using Partition Assistant. See the video I uploaded in my prev. post.

[sygeek]

OP has continous space available after the primary partition, so I guess he probably should be able to resize the partition. Also, try using GParted..

[asingh]

He can free space from E;F or extend from the 32.26GB unallocated.

[nisargshah95]

He can try that.

Originally Posted by asingh

He can free space from E;F or extend from the 32.26GB unallocated.

AFAIK he can't do that. He can only allocate space to C: by shrinking the next drive, which is the free space. The disk management is not allowing him to doso because C: is the system drive. So if he uses tools like easeus or Partition Assistant then he can do it. When I resize my C: using Partition Assistant, it asks me to reboot and then before Windows loads it does the resizing and then it again reboots and then my C: is easily and safely resized. I've tried it.

[asingh]

I was able to extend my C:. Not sure what you did.

[Cool Comps]

Isnt there somthing like you can only make 3 partitions on one hdd?
Because i could only make (C) , (D) , (E)

BTW What does the "Mark Partition as Active" feature do?

[nisargshah95]

Originally Posted by Cool Comps

Isnt there somthing like you can only make 3 partitions on one hdd?
Because i could only make (C) , (D) , (E)

No. It's not like that. I've made 5 partitions on one.

Originally Posted by asingh

I was able to extend my C:. Not sure what you did.

Ohk. Sorry, didn't know that . Maybe it can work then.

[Cool Comps]

oh. How to make 5 partitions on one?
Is there any need?
How will it help?

BTW What does the "Mark Partition as Active" feature do?

I marked drive C Active. How will it help/ not help.

[nisargshah95]

Originally Posted by Cool Comps

oh. How to make 5 partitions on one?
Is there any need?
How will it help?

No. It does not help much. 3 is good. It's just that about four years back when I gave my PC for formatting the guy made 5 partitions and gave me. So I've kept them. But seriously there's no use keeping 5 partitions on a mere 80GB drive!

Originally Posted by Cool Comps

BTW What does the "Mark Partition as Active" feature do?

I marked drive C Active. How will it help/ not help.

Here is your answer - Mark Partition As Active

[lalam]

It's really risky doing this since you might end up losing data or your OS could get corrupted. To re-install is much more secure than doing this according to i.
Anyways you can only extend your C drive if you shrink the one right next to it, which usually is D.
In your case i think you should just right click on the green block and delete it, then you should be able to extend C.

[asingh]

Originally Posted by lalam

It's really risky doing this since you might end up losing data or your OS could get corrupted. To re-install is much more secure than doing this according to i.
Anyways you can only extend your C drive if you shrink the one right next to it, which usually is D.
In your case i think you should just right click on the green block and delete it, then you should be able to extend C.

No it is not risky at all. Why are we all here scaring the OP. It is much better to do this then a full re-install.

[sygeek]

:sigh: The green block is the Unallocated space located just after the primary partition (which means, it is possible to extend the primary logical partition). Either the OP can try the softwares above or if he wants to be extra careful then he can try running GParted LiveCD.

[nisargshah95]

Originally Posted by asingh

No it is not risky at all. Why are we all here scaring the OP. It is much better to do this then a full re-install.

I agree. I could do it without any kind of hindrance and it was smooth.

[aswin1]

Man you need to format the free space to NTFS . Then you wiil be able to extend C.

[doomgiver]

Originally Posted by Cool Comps

oh. How to make 5 partitions on one?
Is there any need?
How will it help?

BTW What does the "Mark Partition as Active" feature do?

I marked drive C Active. How will it help/ not help.

there are 2 types of partitions, primary and logical.
you can have :
1. 4 primary
2. 3 primary, 1 extended

extended partition can have ANY number of partitions inside it, these are called logical partitions, and they can only exist inside an extended partition.

currently, i have 3 primary and 4 logical partitions on my hdd, so its not very hard or tough or scary.

if you want to have more partitions, use GPARTED

Boot problem
^ i think this will help

Using Parted Magic an Introduction
^parted magic live cd.... very good software which integrates gparted, follow the instructions here.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/pmagic-4.5.iso
^ parted magic .iso. burn or make a bootable usb.

[Cool Comps]

thanks

[Zangetsu]

OP hasn't replied.....

well OP can also try Partition Wizard

[krishnandu.sarkar]

Guys, stay in topic.

[Liverpool_fan]

What you do is get a Gparted Live disk or use an Ubuntu Live CD if you have it. Run Gparted. Resize the extended parition (shrink) from the left to leave unallocated space ( free space in extended != Unallocated free space). And then extend your /dev/sda1 (C:) to take up that free space.

If you wish to be extra safe, do the steps above except the last one of extending the partition in Gparted, and reboot. Boot back to Windows and then extend the partition. You'll see the unallocated space as "Black" now and will be able to extend the partition with ease.

Backup any data before performing the steps. Just in case.

[Cool Comps]

ok but guys hopw to hide the system reserve thing so that it doesnt show up in 'Computer'