Can I combine hard drive partitions

[SidBlunt]

Hi,

I have a PC running Windows 98. The guy who initially set up the machine seperated the hard drive in to 4 partitions, drives C: D: E: and F:

I want to change this and just have one partition, the C: drive (like any normal person!).

If I delete all of the files out of drives D: E: and F: is there a way I can combinr the empty space in to the C: drive (can Fdisk do this?)

Otherwise I will have to save everything off on to CD and reformat the whole machine with one drive partition.

Any advice will be welcomed!

CW

 

[ski]

You can make a single C partition using fdisk, but it will also destroy all data on the entire HD.

If you do not want to save everything onto CD's, then you can use 3rd party software, like Parition Magic, to make one big C partition without destroying any data.

Also, if your system is old, then it may not recognize the entire HD if it's made into a single partition.

 

[diogenes10]

I believe partition magic will do this for you.
I have a hard drive with exactly that arrangement and I need to combine the c and d partitions. I expect, after proper backups in case of problems, to be able to do that with partition magic.

---Editorial Comment----- "any normal person" ??? Some normal persons find more than one partition to be helpful and effective setups. I have seen recommended -- in a variety of places --- the establishment of at least two partitions, one for the operating system and programs and the other for your application data. After trying that for a few months I have found that to be a very helpful arrangement in managing my computer. It makes data backups much easier for me than they used to be and it is also easier to deal with the program area when you have problems.
----- end Editorial Comment ------- .

It's 10 O'Clock ( somewhere! ).
Are your registry and data backed up?

 

[SidBlunt]

Thanks for the advice! I may well get hold of Partition Magic as it looks like it will save me a lot of headaches!

By the way I was not casting aspursions on those with multple hard drives! I'm sure its a great setup for those who need it. However the PC in question is my mothers and she is not a technical person. So she's saved everything in to the C drive by default (which is now full) and has 3 virtually empty drives left!!

Thanks again

 

[cdogg]

Also keep in mind that in older systems (pre-Pentium II era), many BIOS's did not allow for partition sizes greater than 2GB (or 8GB depending on the version) without using Drive Overlay software.

But yes, assuming that your BIOS does support larger partitions you should be able to use an app like Partition Magic to merge the partitions.

Also realize that the file system must be FAT32 to have partitions greater than 2GB.




~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind";
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[diogenes10]

One source for you, if you dont have other options in mind, is eBay. You can usually find older versions fairly inexpensively there.

It's 10 O'Clock ( somewhere! ).
Are your registry and data backed up?

 

[SidBlunt]

Thank you all. I have bought and downloaded Partition Magic and will give it a bash tonight.

If it doesn't work you owe me $60! You can all chip in if you like!

 

[cdogg]

One last minor detail - make sure you [red]backup[/red] any critical data first, as no task is a guaranteed "walk-in-the-park".

You never know when a power failure, power spike, or simply a software crash might occur.




~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind";
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[diogenes10]

Heed cdogg's post.

I want to leap right in and do mine because I think it will be a "walk-in-the-park". That desire is tempered by the fact that I have seen 1 or 2 posts over the last few months concerning failed partition magic projects due to odd situations -- so I'm waiting until I have the time to do the proper backups (and restore them if something goes wrong) before I do my project.

-------------------------------------
It's 10 O'Clock ( somewhere! ).
Are your registry and data backed up?

 

[spamhog]

If you decide to keep at least 2 partitions, you can set Win98 up to keep the "My Documents" and "Desktop" folders on another drive.

Even better, assuming the 4 partitions are the same size and that the PC can manage 1 partition twice as large as the ones have now, you could do like this:

1) Leave the operating system and applications on the 1st one.

2) Leave one partition as large as the first one at the END of the drive.

3) Make ONE large data partiton in the middle out of the two current ones.

4) Use X-teq X-setup to tell Windows to put all the data folders (My Documents, Desktop, Application Data, My Pictures, My Music etc.) on the big, middle partition. The files can then be copied by hand.

5) Copy all the files from the first partition to the last. This will give you a backup of Windows for the day it messes itself up. You can't do so in Windows (it won't copy open system files) but Norton Ghost or any Linux rescue floppy or live CD can do that (time to learn a bit of Linux to service Windows, instead of spending money on apps you can do without)

This way, no matter how messed up Windows becomes, there will be a copy of it on the third drive.

If you later install more software, polish it up further, and are satisfied it's a good install, you can make it a milestone to remember, and copy it all onto the 3rd drive.

Highly recommended for moms!


As an aside, yes, do backups, but once you get the hang of it, hacking up partitions is both great fun and not very dangerous.

My favorite tools are free:

- Ranish Partition Manager: fits into a DOS boot floppy, nice table with info on partitions, very good primer on partitioning on the website

- The various fdisk / cfdisk in Linux: more brutal and simple, can prep a disk for the most outlandish operating systems

- Partition Resizer: another DOS application, simple, as far as I remember it's capable of moving and resizing partitions without destroying the data.

I hope it helps.


Filippo / spamhog
Computer Victim (as in "fashion victim&quot - Milan, North Poldavia -

http://filippo.ru.ru

40% WinME, 40% Linux (Debian, Libranet, Vector, Lycoris), 20% Win98, trace amounts of Win2k, xBSD, QNX