How do I add Unallocated partition to my main partitiion in XP 32
Hello
I recently reinstalled Windows XP Professional (32 bit) and after the install I noticed the in the Control Panel > Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management that the C: drive has two partitions. The entire dirve size is approximately 250. But for some reason, during the install, it created a 127 C drive and an unallocated 337 unallocated drive.
I don't think the above configuration is a good idea. For one thing, I think it could adversely affect my Xp's performance to have such a small "C" drive.... I want as much space as possible on my C drive. Is there a way to move the unallocated space to my C: drive?
If so, how do I do it! :)
drives.jpg
I recently reinstalled Windows XP Professional (32 bit) and after the install I noticed the in the Control Panel > Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management that the C: drive has two partitions. The entire dirve size is approximately 250. But for some reason, during the install, it created a 127 C drive and an unallocated 337 unallocated drive.
I don't think the above configuration is a good idea. For one thing, I think it could adversely affect my Xp's performance to have such a small "C" drive.... I want as much space as possible on my C drive. Is there a way to move the unallocated space to my C: drive?
If so, how do I do it! :)
drives.jpg
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ASKER
thanks again!
First, with regards to your comment "... I think it could adversely affect my Xp's performance to have such a small "C" drive.... " ==> Actually, you'll get BETTER performance with that configuration. All modern drives use zoned sectoring, so the outermost cylinders have a notably better data transfer rate than inner cylinders. With the C: drive restricted to the outermost 1/4th of the drive, all system activity (boots, program loads, etc.) will be in those faster cylinders.
But as for what happened -- since you didn't intentionally create the 128GB partition, what almost certainly happened is you installed XP from an original (pre-service-pack) CD. That version only supports 28-bit logical block addressing ... not the 48-bit LBA that's required to use disks larger than 128GB. The result is it simply installed to the first 128GB of the disk. After you did the Windows updates and added the service packs, XP then recognized the entire disk -- so you can now "see" the rest of it. I'd simply create another partition on the rest of the disk to use for your additional data -- but if you really want to simply make C: use the entire disk, you can easily do so using any of several different partition management tools. The one I prefer is Boot-It NG ... an exceptionally reliable utility to have in your "toolbox" (although a bit "geeky"). http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-next-generation.htm
The free demo version of Boot-It will do what you need here. Just download it; create a bootable CD (using the included MakeDisk utiility); boot to the CD; select CANCEL at the first prompt; then OK. Click on Partition Work. Be sure you've selected the appropriate disk [HD0, HD1, etc. -- probably HD0 in this case ... but just note the partition display in the center -- it should show your current partition and the unallocated space]; highlight the partition you want to expand (the only one on the disk); then click on ReSize, select the new size (max); and let it finish (just a few seconds). Done :-)
But as for what happened -- since you didn't intentionally create the 128GB partition, what almost certainly happened is you installed XP from an original (pre-service-pack) CD. That version only supports 28-bit logical block addressing ... not the 48-bit LBA that's required to use disks larger than 128GB. The result is it simply installed to the first 128GB of the disk. After you did the Windows updates and added the service packs, XP then recognized the entire disk -- so you can now "see" the rest of it. I'd simply create another partition on the rest of the disk to use for your additional data -- but if you really want to simply make C: use the entire disk, you can easily do so using any of several different partition management tools. The one I prefer is Boot-It NG ... an exceptionally reliable utility to have in your "toolbox" (although a bit "geeky"). http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-next-generation.htm
The free demo version of Boot-It will do what you need here. Just download it; create a bootable CD (using the included MakeDisk utiility); boot to the CD; select CANCEL at the first prompt; then OK. Click on Partition Work. Be sure you've selected the appropriate disk [HD0, HD1, etc. -- probably HD0 in this case ... but just note the partition display in the center -- it should show your current partition and the unallocated space]; highlight the partition you want to expand (the only one on the disk); then click on ReSize, select the new size (max); and let it finish (just a few seconds). Done :-)
ASKER
As it turned out I had Partition Magic (from some other earlier issue I had).
So I ran it and fixed the particiion in about 2 minutes!
Thanks for your help!
Rowby