hdd question

[Merlin]

I have a 250 gig hard drive but when I installed it the windows 137 gig thing was in force so I just made a second partition with the remaining space. I would like to turn it into one 250 gig HDD now. How to I fix it so windows can recognize the full drive size and would I have to completely re- install my OS to make the change or could I just merge the two partitions??

[Major_A]

Slipstream SP1 or higher (SP3) into your XP install.
XP SP3 Download:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en
Slipstream Utility (Autostreamer):
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Syst ... amer.shtml

[DaddyRabbit]

You could try GPARTED : http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted ... s/0.4.6-1/

I've used this a couple of times with no issues. There are newer version but the GParted project recommends this one as some people are having issues with the newer versions resizing NTFS partitions.

Download the ISO, burn it to CD, and boot from the CD and make sure to read the documentation.

As always; BACK UP FIRST!!! (standard disclaimer)

[Merlin]

Slipstream SP1 or higher (SP3) into your XP install.
XP SP3 Download:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en
Slipstream Utility (Autostreamer):
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Syst ... amer.shtml

I have installed ALL windows recommended updates for XP. I saw several notes on these saying not to use if you are updating one PC alone?? What part of my situation are these supposed to fix? Keep in mind please, that I know a little about hardware and nothing about software.

[DaddyRabbit]

Slipstreaming in the SP will allow you to build an install disk that will support > 137GB partitions. In your situation you want to resize the partition without re-installing so if you are at XP SP1 or better you'll be fine (though slipstreaming the SP into an install media will be helpful if you have to re-install in the future).

[Merlin]

I am sorry but I have not idea what you mean by slipstreaming in the SP. Would you mind giving me a step by step on what I need to do to make my HDD one partition at its full capacity without re-installing windows?

[Major_A]

Slipstream "injects" the service pack into the install. After you install a fresh copy of Windows you don't have to install the service pack via Windows Update. Did you download and take a look at the Autostreamer software? It's easier to use than nLite or doing it through the command prompt.

For your case you will have to use a partition software to regain the remaining available space. Check out the drive manufacturer's site for partition software. I know Western Digital uses Acronis software and that's what I've used in the past.

[DaddyRabbit]

If you refer to the links that Major_A provided. Autostream will take your original XP install CD and the XP SP3 file and merge the two crating a new XP install CD that will allow you to install WinXP SP3 directly to larger drives. To be honest I would do this before trying any partition resize work at home so that if you hose the partitions on the disk in the resizing process that you can, at least, re-install XP SP3 directly to the full size of the drive.

The link I provided above is to GParted. Gparted is a Linux Live CD that can be booted and used to resize and manipulate the file systems and partitions on a disk. This must be done with EXTREME CAUTION ensuring that you have GOOD BACKUPS first! There are also commercial tools available that do this as well.

There is also the option of using something like Acronis True Image Home http://www.acronis.com with this you can make an image of your disk and restore it back resizing the partition in the process. This not only ensures that you can resize the partition but also ensures that you can restore your system to a new drive at any point in the future without re-installing everything from scratch. I would recommend this to anyone as a backup solution, Acronis has saved my butt multiple times in the past (there is also Norton Ghost)

[DaddyRabbit]

Slipstream "injects" the service pack into the install. After you install a fresh copy of Windows you don't have to install the service pack via Windows Update. Did you download and take a look at the Autostreamer software? It's easier to use than nLite or doing it through the command prompt.

For your case you will have to use a partition software to regain the remaining available space. Check out the drive manufacturer's site for partition software. I know Western Digital uses Acronis software and that's what I've used in the past.

Thanks for the info Major_A, I didn't realize that WD had upgraded their suite, that's cool! Won't help me much as I own True Image already but will help others.

Merlin,

If your drive is a Western Digital you can download the WD only Acronis package here http://support.wdc.com/product/download ... dc_lang=en

For Seagate http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?l ... 04090aRCRD

[Major_A]

No prob. Been using Acronis for a few years now and I won't be going back to Ghost.

[DaddyRabbit]

Me too, just cool that WD has gone that extra "unadvertised" step to include a full up package for free even with OEM drives.

[Merlin]

My hdd is seagate so I downloaded their utility. I guess I will make an image of my drive on a USB drive using Seagates utility and then try to partition fix. My OS is updated to SP3 but The disk is SP1 and I have disks from MS for SP2 and SP3. I assume the reason for needing to Slipstream and make an instll disk is that SP1 will not support the over 137 GB partition while SP3 will, so I need a complete SP3 disk in order to partition a 250 GB drive?

[DaddyRabbit]

My hdd is seagate so I downloaded their utility. I guess I will make an image of my drive on a USB drive using Seagates utility and then try to partition fix. My OS is updated to SP3 but The disk is SP1 and I have disks from MS for SP2 and SP3. I assume the reason for needing to Slipstream and make an instll disk is that SP1 will not support the over 137 GB partition while SP3 will, so I need a complete SP3 disk in order to partition a 250 GB drive?

I am suprised that you still had the size limit if your install CD was SP1. You only need an install disk if you plan on reinstalling (wouldn't hurt to have an install disk with SP3 included though). I didn't look too closely at the Seagate utility as I have all WD drives but if it allows you to make a backup image before you try to resize the partitions you should do so.

[Merlin]

I used this after making an image of my curent HDD onto a back drive http://www.partition-tool.com/giveaways/epmpro/ I saw an article on C-Net about it. It worked soo easily. It was a slider bar, moved it over to enlarge the boot drive up from the 137 it had and click apply...presto done! no hassles at all.