Hard-drive partition ???

Question

I'd bought a new hard-drive for my laptop, just today.

When I did the partition, I could see 2 different partition, so I deleted one & had ONLY ONE partition of my hard drive (i.e. C drive showing the entire 40GB).

After that, I formatted the hard-drive & then installed the Windows XP. However, now when I reached the desktop, I can see TWO different drives i.e. "C" and "D" (I've one more i.e. "E", which is just my DVD-ROM drive).

Now, C=20GB & D=20GB. Is there a way, I could delete the "D" drive & have its 20GB transferred to "C" & have ONLY "C" drive as my ONLY hard-drive (rather than C AND D, at the moment), esp. without having to format & reinstall everything once again ???

If I leave things as it is then, if someone goes wrong in "C" drive like "bad sector" or something, then am I right assuming that I WON'T have to buy a new drive, since I could make do with "another partition" i.e. the D drive ???

Answer 1

firstly i dont understand how an unpartitioned hard drive got partitioned into 2 parts during an Xp install.. it never happens by default. you must've done it by mistake. or maybe the recovery software does it by default.

so if you dont have much data running on the lappy after the recent windows install, try to format it again and search for an option where you can remain the drive as unpartitioned.

personally i suggest you keep 2 partitions. the second one can be your data storehouse, the first (C drive) can hold system files and other crap..

it helps.. experience speaks.. during data crash and virus attacks partitions help a lot.. you'll save somthing. depending on where the damage is. either the system files or your data files.

besides, you dont get bad sector warnings so soon in modern day hard drives.. so dont worry about that..

Answer 2

This can be done very easily with a programme called Partition Magic 8.0 or higher. You get many options and it is safe to use if you follow the onscreen advice. It can also be done at a low level in dos but there is no going back if you make a mistake! I think you should see the retailer that you bought the new hard drive from...it has been used before.The drive you formatted would have been the C drive which should have been your entire 40GB if the hard drive was new.

Answer 3

Deleting one of two partitions does not cause the one left to be extended. You should either redo the installation, deleting all partitions and reformatting and repartitioning with one partition, or try Partition Magic to delete whatever extra partitions it finds and to extended the one you want into a single partition.

If you get bad sectors on a hard drive, immediately save everything you care about and get a new hard drive - the hdd is going and will soon enough fail.

Answer 4

Easiest way is to install a program like Symantec's Partition Magic or Acronis's Disk Director. These programs aloow you to resize, move or delete partitions from inside of Windows. No need to reboor or reinstall the opearting system.

Answer 5

Use a program like Partition Magic that will allow you to merge the two partitions creating one larger partition without destroying your data.

Answer 6

Nope. You have to delete all the partitions if you want only one to cover the whole drive

Answer 7

If you get a few bad sectors, get a new hard drive regardless of how many partitionjs you have. Something's wrong with the physical disk when you get bad sectors.

Answer 8

See if you can obtain a copy of Partition magic, a great program for your needs