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Extend boot drive on Windows 7?
I just replaced my 67 GB C drive on my Inspiron E1705 laptop with a new 320GB hard drive. I restored from an image backup. The system is up and running, but all the extra space on the new drive is marked as unallocated.
When I try to use Computer Management to extend the C drive to use the extra space by right clicking, that option is greyed out.
I understand there are programs I can purchase that will handle this, but it seems amazing that Windows won't.
Can someone give me a solution?
A screen shot of the Computer management screen is shown below.
theflash1932
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August 15th, 2011 09:00
The answer is as complete as you'll find for the information you provided, but with what you added to your original post, let me elaborate on my answer:
If you don't have anything on the 2GB partition or the 4.64GB partition that you want to keep, then delete them. Even though they seem small, they probably hold your recovery partition information ... if you choose to delete them, I would contact Dell for an installation disk in the event you need to reinstall the OS at some point.
You cannot extend C: to utilize the 223GB of space without either third-party software OR deleting both of the small partitions. Partitions can ONLY* be extended into ADJACENT Unallocated Space. All a third-party solution would do is "move/slide" the partitions to the end of the disk, putting the Unallocated Space next to C: so you could Extend C: into it, so unless you delete both smaller partitions, this will be the only way you will accomplish it.
* Again, you can do this (extend into non-adjacent space) if you convert the disk to Dynamic, however, this conversion is NOT reversible, and in my opinion, for most users, it is just a can of worms better left unopened.
theflash1932
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August 14th, 2011 21:00
A "basic" disk can only have 4 primary partitions. In order to have more than 4 partitions, it is required that the fourth partition be an "extended" partition. Then multiple "logical" partitions can be created within that extended partition. Your options are as follows:
1. Delete your 4.64GB partition, then create a new extended partition to include the new space, then recreate your 4.64GB logical partition (if you have a good reason for keeping such a partition), and a logical partition with the remaining disk space,
2. Use a partitioning utility to move/slide/rearrange/extend your partitions to the size of your liking. Just remember, the 4-partition rule will still apply. This is a limitation not of Windows but of all MBR disks, or
3. Convert your disk to "dynamic". This will allow many more than 4 primary partitions. This, however, comes with many other potential issues, and I would not recommend this approach.
BROnstott
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August 15th, 2011 07:00
I don't think this answers my question. I don't know why I have 4 partitions. I guess it came that way from Dell. I didn't create them. As far as I know, I only need two - one for the boot partition and one for the hard drive. Perhaps one of the others is for the original configuration. Perhaps another is for creating restore points.
I would like to extend the C partition to include the 223 GB in the unallocated part of the drive. How can I do that?
I don't think that 223 GB is being used for anything.
Philip_Yip
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August 15th, 2011 11:00
Try EASEUS Partition Manager. The Home Version is free, it will do what you need. I had to use it in a similar situation.