Merging Hard Drive Partitions

[ubersyanyde]

I just got a HDD out of an old computer and put it in to my current one. I did this so I have a second drive to record game footage on to. However, the HDD is partitioned and still has a bunch of old files that I don't need on it like XP and programs.

Is there a way to merge the partitions and format everything? I'm using Windows 7 x64.

 

[Limecake]

I can't honestly tell you first hand that this program will work but apparently it does:

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/pm-express/index.html

get the free version, it should allow you to resize/delete partitions. which isn't the same as merging the two, however if you're just going to format everything anyway it shouldn't make a difference.

EDIT: I heard you might be required to 'register' the free version on install. here's another program that does essentially the same thing

http://download.cnet.com/EaseUS-Partition-Master-Home-Edition/3000-2248_4-10863346.html?tag=mncol%3bpop&cdlPid=10982635

 

[Smooth Operator]

You find programs for this all over the place, just make sure there are no critical files on those partitions because they may get corrupted.

 

[OneCatch]

Is there a way to merge the partitions and format everything? I'm using Windows 7 x64.

You can do this using an inbuilt program on Win 7. If you type in "Disk partition" into the start menu searchbox, you'll get a result "Create and format hard disk partitions". Click that, and a utility will pop up that shows all drives that are plugged in:

The top one (red) will probably be your boot drive, and will probably be partitioned, but leave that alone!
The one below (yellow) that should be your newly installed HDD. Mine has two partitions, "Joe's Drive", and the other one is nameless because it's formatted for Mac backup.

You can delete a partition by rightclicking on it and selecting "Delete Volume". It'll change from blue to black and be called either 'Unallocated Space' or 'Free Space' (can't remember which).

Once all the partitions are deleted, re-create a single one (or as many as you want) by right clicking on the newly created unallocated space and pressing create volume. You'll get a few windows asking about the size and format and so on.
I'd recommend using NFTS as a format rather than FAT32 if your going to be using it to store large amounts of video - FAT32 has a max file size of 6 GB, whereas NFTS doesn't.
Anyhow, work through those windows and then you're sorted!
Feel free to message me if you have any questions or problems!

 

[Zantos]

OneCatch has it right, though I think you can just expand the partition you want into the unallocated space without having to delete the data you do want to keep.

In fact, I'm fairly sure when I sorted the partitioning on my laptop, it automatically absorbed unallocated space into the nearest available partition after a while.

 

[OneCatch]

OneCatch has it right, though I think you can just expand the partition you want into the unallocated space without having to delete the data you do want to keep.

In fact, I'm fairly sure when I sorted the partitioning on my laptop, it automatically absorbed unallocated space into the nearest available partition after a while.

ubersyanyde: Yeah, Zantos is right about not needing to delete every partition. But if you're going to do that, bear in mind that it's always good practice to backup any data you need onto a separate drive before altering partitions - expanding partitions can (very occasionally) corrupt files stored in the partition being expanded.

Zantos: Unallocated space shouldn't be absorbed into partitions automatically. Were you using some kind of "disk clean" or "improve efficiency" program on your laptop? Those sometimes tinker with disk space allocation, and could have had the side effect of putting the unallocated space to use when it next run itself.

 

[Zantos]

Zantos: Unallocated space shouldn't be absorbed into partitions automatically. Were you using some kind of "disk clean" or "improve efficiency" program on your laptop? Those sometimes tinker with disk space allocation, and could have had the side effect of putting the unallocated space to use when it next run itself.

To be honest, it only did it once, and that was the first time I messed with partitions. There's every chance that I clicked something by accident. Mind you, it was a new laptop before it had undergone the cleansing, so something in that myriad of useless bloatware might have done it.

 

[OneCatch]

Zantos: Unallocated space shouldn't be absorbed into partitions automatically. Were you using some kind of "disk clean" or "improve efficiency" program on your laptop? Those sometimes tinker with disk space allocation, and could have had the side effect of putting the unallocated space to use when it next run itself.

To be honest, it only did it once, and that was the first time I messed with partitions. There's every chance that I clicked something by accident. Mind you, it was a new laptop before it had undergone the cleansing, so something in that myriad of useless bloatware might have done it.

Yeah, that was probably it then.
Also, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a "cleansing" ritual - I thought I unusually OCD about it!
First things I do on buying a new PC:

*Shudder in horror at the latest iteration of IE.
*Download Firefox and Avast, relegate IE and trial antivirus to the naughty corner of my HD.
*Go through the 'Add or remove Programs' list mercilessly hunting for bloatware.
*Have a little rant to whoever is at hand about said bloatware as I kill it with fire.

Yet something *always* survives!