Partition question

Fanatic · 7 Mar 2009 at 20:59

Just wondering if gparted (or a similar app) would be able to merge E: and F: partitions, given that they are not contiguous (they are on the same RAID0 array).

Cheers.

Fanatic · 7 Mar 2009 at 21:17

Had a quick look using gparted, it didn't recognise the RAID array, came up as 2 disks both unallocated.

rpstewart · 7 Mar 2009 at 21:48

With that number of partitions and that much free space you should be able to jiffle things about just using explorer and disk management. Without seeing precisely how the partitions are ordered on the disk it's difficult to spot exactly what steps you need to take but it'll be do-able.

Fanatic · 7 Mar 2009 at 23:03

Because E and F aren't contiguous I can't delete E and then expand F using the unallocated space from E (in disk management). All my programs are on F and I guess if I just copy everything from F to E, then nothing will work as all the registry/shortcuts/paths are pointing to the wrong place.

C, E, F, are on a 2x250GB drive RAID0.
I, E, are on a 1TB drive.
H is on its own.

StephenLawUK · 8 Mar 2009 at 20:59

have you tried partition magic? i normally use that to merge partitions but never used it on a raid array, worth a try though.

IAmATeaf · 9 Mar 2009 at 11:30

Show us the view of the parts from Disk Management.

Fanatic · 9 Mar 2009 at 14:41

E and F are the wrong way round for Windows to be able to do it.

I have read that Partition Magic doesn't work with Vista.

ecat · 9 Mar 2009 at 14:51

Fanatic said:
Because E and F aren't contiguous I can't delete E and then expand F using the unallocated space from E (in disk management). All my programs are on F and I guess if I just copy everything from F to E, then nothing will work as all the registry/shortcuts/paths are pointing to the wrong place.

C, E, F, are on a 2x250GB drive RAID0.
I, E, are on a 1TB drive.
H is on its own.

Copy everything from F to E then change the drive letters ? May require a reboot for some changes. Change F to T, change E to F, test your new F partition, delete T. Can you now merge ?

You could try EASEUS Partition Manager, free for home use, it claims to work with Vista 32. http://www.partition-tool.com/

Fanatic · 9 Mar 2009 at 15:01

Might give the renaming thing a go. Though there is 159GB in way over 100,000 files. Could take a while

bledd · 9 Mar 2009 at 21:25

was it the newest version of gparted?

Fanatic · 9 Mar 2009 at 21:30

I believe so: 0.4.3-2 live CD.

freddie64 · 10 Mar 2009 at 09:26

Sorry if this is wrong (never used raid)

Could you just move data from F to D.
Delete E and F, then create a partition with the unallocated space.
Move data back to this and assign letter F.

Fanatic · 10 Mar 2009 at 11:44

I think so, I am going to try it. Though it is going to take ages

linktoinsanity · 10 Mar 2009 at 15:11

Fanatic said:
Because E and F aren't contiguous I can't delete E and then expand F using the unallocated space from E (in disk management). All my programs are on F and I guess if I just copy everything from F to E, then nothing will work as all the registry/shortcuts/paths are pointing to the wrong place.

C, E, F, are on a 2x250GB drive RAID0.
I, E, are on a 1TB drive.
H is on its own.

You could always change the drive letter on E to Z:, change F: to E: (therefore changing most registry entries for you) then merge Z into E: ...

rpstewart · 10 Mar 2009 at 15:33

Mattf121 said:
change F: to E: (therefore changing most registry entries for you)

Changing a drive letter assignment in Disk Management does not change any registry entries. That's why it gives a warning telling you programs may stop working if you proceed.

linktoinsanity · 10 Mar 2009 at 15:35

Funny, I thought it did, as I seem to remember it changing most of mine in the past...maybe not then.

Fanatic · 10 Mar 2009 at 18:01

Mattf121 said:
You could always change the drive letter on E to Z:, change F: to E: (therefore changing most registry entries for you) then merge Z into E: ...

I don't think changing the drive letters changes the partitions position on the disk, they still wouldn't be contiguous and I wouldn't be able to expand F to include E.