deletion of unneeded recovery partition to gain space

I have a notebook PC with a recovery partition assigned letter D. But, I really don't need the recovery partition since I have a DVD recovery disc which was, in fact, used to restore the computer once and which created the current recovery partition.

My main question is this. When I view the Disk Management panel in Windows Vista, I see C as the first partition, followed G, H, and I, and then D. Is D really physically separated from C by partitions G, H, and I? I would like to delete the existing D and combine that space with C. But, I'd prefer that these parts of the hard drive be contiguous. So, does the sequence of partitions shown in Disk Management panel indicate an actual separateness of C and D? Can I see the actual physical designation of hard drive space using software? What programs might be used to do this?

Perhaps the question could be restated this way. Is a recovery partition normally put at the end of a hard drive? I admit I would guess it is. [If so, then I've answered my own question.] And, in that case, I'd need to shrink or delete G and then add that space to C rather than use the current D as additional space for C.

 

I don't have a machine with a recovery partition with which to examine this, but if you install the trial version of Easeus Partition Maste Pro, the Properties of each partition will give you the start sector. That would be the definitive answer.

I don't know whether the free edition can do this or not but it will resize and rearrange your partitions for you..