Extend system partition

I just got a new Vista pc, the computer saleman do the partition for me. Now
my pc is of 3 partitions, C: 12GB(system, boot, page file, active, crash
dump, primary parttion), E: 111GB(primary partition), & D: 54GB(logical
drive).

Now, my problem is I'm using up the space in C:, and have plenty left in E:
& D:. I tried to extend C: under the Disk Management, but the option "Extend
Volume" under C: is unable, which I don't know why. I shrinked D: and hv abt
46GB free space.

Is there any way I can put the 46GB into C: without any damaging? Thanks a
million

Hi, Ling.

I agree that 12 GB is not nearly enough for Vista, which is a real space
hog! That 12 GB is probably enough to get it up and running (and get you
and the computer out of the store so that the salesman can collect his
commission), but Vista GROWS! Rapidly! Unless you aggressively move some
of its default locations to another drive. But let's leave the discussion
of how much space is enough for another thread and concentrate on making
your Drive C: bigger.

The probable reason that you can't extend Drive C: is that there is no
contiguous Free Space immediately following C:. Drive D: starts immediately
after the end of Drive C:, so there is no empty space to extend C: into.
You could shrink D:, but it would shrink from the back end, leaving the
start of D: where it is now. So you'll have to do this in multiple steps.

Will all of your files on D: fit into that 46 GB of Free space? You might
create a new 46 GB volume there (Drive X:?) and move all those files into
it. Then delete the existing Drive D: and extend C: into that emptied
space.

Depending on how much space your files need, you might then create a new
Drive D: for the remainder of the freed space, move the files from the
interim Drive X: into it, then delete Drive X: and extend the new Drive D:
into that space.

Yes, I know it's a lot of steps, but it should get you a larger Drive C: -
and a smaller Drive D: - without needing to buy a third-party partitioning
utility. Of course, it's a great idea to have backups before starting a
project like this.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)

"Ling" <Ling@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:EA36A17E-0F38-48D6-A20E-803E55B0774F@microsoft.com...
> I just got a new Vista pc, the computer saleman do the partition for me.
> Now
> my pc is of 3 partitions, C: 12GB(system, boot, page file, active, crash
> dump, primary parttion), E: 111GB(primary partition), & D: 54GB(logical
> drive).
>
> Now, my problem is I'm using up the space in C:, and have plenty left in
> E:
> & D:. I tried to extend C: under the Disk Management, but the option
> "Extend
> Volume" under C: is unable, which I don't know why. I shrinked D: and hv
> abt
> 46GB free space.
>
> Is there any way I can put the 46GB into C: without any damaging? Thanks a
> million

basically, yes, but it depends on how the partitions are made

the deal is: you can extend only to the right, that is, the starting point
of the partition to extends cannot be relocated

if that is your case, to extend:
-backup any data you have in the partition to be erased
-right click on the partition to be deleted and choose delete volume
-it may be needed to delete once more in the logical partitions, not sure
right now, either way, the space should appear as "unallocated space"
-right click on the partition to extends and choose the extends option

if you have C E & D, and you want to "merge" C & D, im afraid it cannot be
done this way in just one step, though you can do it in several steps

if you have an external hd or not very much data in those partitions, save
all the data to C or the external hd, erase D & E, extends C to the right
amount and create D in the rest of the space, then move the data to its
proper locations, this is a bit shorter (2 partitioning steps, 2 data
movement)

if you dont have an external hd and the data wont fit in C, move the data in
E to D (being new hopefully will fit), erase E and extends C to the right
amount (if you want a second partition with e.g. 70GB, you should left
unallocated 70-54=16GB), now move the data from D to C, erase D and create a
new partition in the unallocated space, finally move the data once again as
needed

having free space is simply play with the partitiong & moving data to get
what you want, in xp this was almost impossible without 3rd party tools
because it did not have the "extends" option :-)

Thanks alot RC. Your solution just save my day/life + my computer

"R. C. White" wrote:

> Hi, Ling.
>
> I agree that 12 GB is not nearly enough for Vista, which is a real space
> hog! That 12 GB is probably enough to get it up and running (and get you
> and the computer out of the store so that the salesman can collect his
> commission), but Vista GROWS! Rapidly! Unless you aggressively move some
> of its default locations to another drive. But let's leave the discussion
> of how much space is enough for another thread and concentrate on making
> your Drive C: bigger.
>
> The probable reason that you can't extend Drive C: is that there is no
> contiguous Free Space immediately following C:. Drive D: starts immediately
> after the end of Drive C:, so there is no empty space to extend C: into.
> You could shrink D:, but it would shrink from the back end, leaving the
> start of D: where it is now. So you'll have to do this in multiple steps.
>
> Will all of your files on D: fit into that 46 GB of Free space? You might
> create a new 46 GB volume there (Drive X:?) and move all those files into
> it. Then delete the existing Drive D: and extend C: into that emptied
> space.
>
> Depending on how much space your files need, you might then create a new
> Drive D: for the remainder of the freed space, move the files from the
> interim Drive X: into it, then delete Drive X: and extend the new Drive D:
> into that space.
>
> Yes, I know it's a lot of steps, but it should get you a larger Drive C: -
> and a smaller Drive D: - without needing to buy a third-party partitioning
> utility. Of course, it's a great idea to have backups before starting a
> project like this.
>
> RC
> --
> R. C. White, CPA
> San Marcos, TX
> rc@grandecom.net
> Microsoft Windows MVP
> (Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)
>
> "Ling" <Ling@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:EA36A17E-0F38-48D6-A20E-803E55B0774F@microsoft.com...
> > I just got a new Vista pc, the computer saleman do the partition for me.
> > Now
> > my pc is of 3 partitions, C: 12GB(system, boot, page file, active, crash
> > dump, primary parttion), E: 111GB(primary partition), & D: 54GB(logical
> > drive).
> >
> > Now, my problem is I'm using up the space in C:, and have plenty left in
> > E:
> > & D:. I tried to extend C: under the Disk Management, but the option
> > "Extend
> > Volume" under C: is unable, which I don't know why. I shrinked D: and hv
> > abt
> > 46GB free space.
> >
> > Is there any way I can put the 46GB into C: without any damaging? Thanks a
> > million
>

Thank a million Jume. Your suggestion works.

"Jume" wrote:

> basically, yes, but it depends on how the partitions are made
>
> the deal is: you can extend only to the right, that is, the starting point
> of the partition to extends cannot be relocated
>
> if that is your case, to extend:
> -backup any data you have in the partition to be erased
> -right click on the partition to be deleted and choose delete volume
> -it may be needed to delete once more in the logical partitions, not sure
> right now, either way, the space should appear as "unallocated space"
> -right click on the partition to extends and choose the extends option
>
> if you have C E & D, and you want to "merge" C & D, im afraid it cannot be
> done this way in just one step, though you can do it in several steps
>
> if you have an external hd or not very much data in those partitions, save
> all the data to C or the external hd, erase D & E, extends C to the right
> amount and create D in the rest of the space, then move the data to its
> proper locations, this is a bit shorter (2 partitioning steps, 2 data
> movement)
>
> if you dont have an external hd and the data wont fit in C, move the data in
> E to D (being new hopefully will fit), erase E and extends C to the right
> amount (if you want a second partition with e.g. 70GB, you should left
> unallocated 70-54=16GB), now move the data from D to C, erase D and create a
> new partition in the unallocated space, finally move the data once again as
> needed
>
> having free space is simply play with the partitiong & moving data to get
> what you want, in xp this was almost impossible without 3rd party tools
> because it did not have the "extends" option :-)
>
>

Hi, Ling.

You're welcome. Glad I could help. ;<)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)

"Ling" <Ling@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9D356EEB-FDAB-4CB0-A010-169848E0976E@microsoft.com...
> Thanks alot RC. Your solution just save my day/life + my computer
>
> "R. C. White" wrote:
>
>> Hi, Ling.
>>
>> I agree that 12 GB is not nearly enough for Vista, which is a real space
>> hog! That 12 GB is probably enough to get it up and running (and get you
>> and the computer out of the store so that the salesman can collect his
>> commission), but Vista GROWS! Rapidly! Unless you aggressively move
>> some
>> of its default locations to another drive. But let's leave the
>> discussion
>> of how much space is enough for another thread and concentrate on making
>> your Drive C: bigger.
>>
>> The probable reason that you can't extend Drive C: is that there is no
>> contiguous Free Space immediately following C:. Drive D: starts
>> immediately
>> after the end of Drive C:, so there is no empty space to extend C: into.
>> You could shrink D:, but it would shrink from the back end, leaving the
>> start of D: where it is now. So you'll have to do this in multiple
>> steps.
>>
>> Will all of your files on D: fit into that 46 GB of Free space? You
>> might
>> create a new 46 GB volume there (Drive X:?) and move all those files into
>> it. Then delete the existing Drive D: and extend C: into that emptied
>> space.
>>
>> Depending on how much space your files need, you might then create a new
>> Drive D: for the remainder of the freed space, move the files from the
>> interim Drive X: into it, then delete Drive X: and extend the new Drive
>> D:
>> into that space.
>>
>> Yes, I know it's a lot of steps, but it should get you a larger Drive
>> C: -
>> and a smaller Drive D: - without needing to buy a third-party
>> partitioning
>> utility. Of course, it's a great idea to have backups before starting a
>> project like this.
>>
>> RC
>>
>> "Ling" <Ling@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:EA36A17E-0F38-48D6-A20E-803E55B0774F@microsoft.com...
>> > I just got a new Vista pc, the computer saleman do the partition for
>> > me.
>> > Now
>> > my pc is of 3 partitions, C: 12GB(system, boot, page file, active,
>> > crash
>> > dump, primary parttion), E: 111GB(primary partition), & D: 54GB(logical
>> > drive).
>> >
>> > Now, my problem is I'm using up the space in C:, and have plenty left
>> > in
>> > E:
>> > & D:. I tried to extend C: under the Disk Management, but the option
>> > "Extend
>> > Volume" under C: is unable, which I don't know why. I shrinked D: and
>> > hv
>> > abt
>> > 46GB free space.
>> >
>> > Is there any way I can put the 46GB into C: without any damaging?
>> > Thanks a
>> > million