Melding Unallocated Space Into Partition C
on my laptop I have partitions S,C,& Q plus an area labeled "unallocated" - I see these when I use Windows 7 disk management utilty - C doesn't appear next to the "unallocated" region - will disk director allow me to reposition C next to "unallocated" and then meld "unallocated" into C ?
my goal is to increase the size of C - also, I'm a newbie at this stuff !
attached the screen shot .
Are you planning on using the Lenovo Recovery partition? If not, you could delete it and use Disk Management to resize the Windows partition larger. You could also check in the installed programs and see if there is an option to remove the recovery partition.
Another option is to move the recovery partition to the end of the drive. This would place the unallocated space after the Windows partition and allow it to be resized.
Do you know if the Recovery partition still works? Can you boot into it when the computer starts? Moving the partition may render it unusable. It may also cause a booting error (depends on the setup).
Do you have a current backup image of the drive? This is recommended before making partitioning changes.
Do you have a Windows 7 DVD? If not, consider creating a repair CD in case any boot repairs are needed. Select Start >> All Programs >> Maintenance >> Create a System Repair Disc.
i have the original HDD which has everything i need - it's running low on space and so i got the bigger one - did a backup to an external and there was an option to create recovery media including boot capability on the external - after the backup was finished i swaped drives, booted from the external, & then restored everthing; i think now i can only boot from C , is that correct ? how would i know where i'm booting into ? the screen shot shows boot only in C .
from what you're saying it seems like if i continue to backup to the external and create that repair DVD then i wouldn't need the Q partition .
in win7 disk management there's an option to delete Q.
can Acronis move Q and resize C if I should go that route ?
The drive is actually booting the System Reserved partition, which is correct for your system configuration. You are correct that likely you can't boot into the recovery partition on the new drive. These often break when any drive/partition changes are made.
Current image backups are usually a much better choice than using the recovery partition -- unless you want to return to the factory state. However, even in this case, most users prefer to just keep an image of the original system and use that if the need arises.
It sounds like you should be able to delete the recovery partition. You can then extend the C: partition to use the space. This can be done in Windows using Disk Management. DD could also do it, along with adding the option to move the recovery partition.
thanks for the tips - i'll just play around with that 2nd disk - i've got duplicate data/programs on both the old hard & the external.
when i bought the bigger hard drive from Lenovo i never thought it would be his complex to increase C space - i can't help but think that Lenovo is still influenced by their IBM heritage with laptops & PCs - they intend their laptop sales to go to corporate clients who have IT departments that can figure out all this stuff.
a local guy also said that he would use Ghost to do the job - but then i incur another cost - that SSD was pricey to begin with !
Mudcrab, rather than tinker blindly with the new internal HD, I thought the following steps would do the trick - please review and comment if you have the time -
(1) Move enough temporarily off old HD to create enough working space to create a "factory" set of DVDs.
(2) Delete Q partition from new HD
(3) Use Windows 7 (W7) disk management to extend C partition
(4) Use W7 to create repair CD
(5) Use W7 backup capability to create future periodic system image as backup
thanks again, Ubermax
PS - are these threads archived so I can search by username in the future to recall them ?
and please look at my next thread - thanks
Mudcrab, i looked into booting from the System Repair Disk CD- in the event of a crash and getting a new hard drive - i guess i have to set BIOS to have the CD listed first in the boot order - since i've now deleted Q partition and all the Lenovo goodies one of which is the blue ThinkVantage button that i think allows entry to BIOS, how would i set the BIOS??
Ubermax:
Most Lenovo PCs have a boot menu that you can access by pressing F12 as the machine starts up. From the menu you can select which device to boot from without needing to enter BIOS setup.
Just to add, if you want the Lenovo Toolbox and ThinkVantage items back they can be download from the IBM/Lenovo website under your models' name.
I have an X61 I deleted the recovery partition (made a complete disk image first so i cna always restore back to factory condition if I sell the laptop) extended the C:\ to take up the space and then downloaded and install the ThinkVantage products.
That 156GB spare you have can then be either added to your new super size C: partition or better (in my opinion) format the 156GB into another partition. Disk Director can do that for you, but make only one change at a time, otherwise things can become confusing.
thanks Colin - I like the Lenovo tools - knowing that they can be downloaded is an ace in the hole - from reading the online user manual for DD, i.e. Volume Operations/Resizing a Volume ( section 5.2) , it appears that i can append the "unallocated" space ( see below) to C and therefore wouldn't have to delete the Recovery Partition (i.e. Q ).
Do you agree based on your knowledge of DD ?
I've attached screen shots of my old and new drives from the Windows 7 disk management utility - note that the new drive has a C & an oversized Q partition - I would use either DD or Windows 7 disk management to shrink Q and create "unallocate" space - then use DD to append as noted above.
