Need to reallocate memory from D to C

Help- I'm stuck! I badly need the unused space on D drive, so I used disk management to delete the partition and tried to extend that space to C. I am not allowed to, I think it may be a dynamic drive. Should I repartition D using disk mgmnt and if so, should this be an extended or primary partition- I really would like to allocate all this space to C, If I repartition, how can I use that memory? I have a separate XP OS disk, so I don't need D drive wasted on that.. I get into these "learn by doing modes"...., now I have 13 gigs unallocated and it is really eating away at me, all that space, so little time... (this is a Sony Vaio laptop w/XP)
Thanks to anyone who can help!

 

Welcome to Major Geeks.
First, let's get our terminology straight. 'Memory' refers to RAM, or the actual physical sticks with several chips on them that plug into the motherboard. There are several types; the common these days is DDR and DDR2. What you're talking about is not memory. You're talking about hard drive storage capacity, and free space on the hard drive. This is completely different than memory. I just wanted to straighten this out to prevent future confusion.
Now, for your problem. From what I understand, you have one hard drive that has been split into two partitions; drive C: and drive D:. Drive C: is almost full, and drive D: has free space that you'd like to 'add' to drive C:. This can be done without losing the data on C:, but not without losing the data on D: Here's what I would do: back up any data on D: to CD or DVD or external drive. Go into Disk Management and delete the D: partition. DO NOT do anything to the C: partition. Use this link http://www.majorgeeks.com/BootIt_Next_Generation_d646.html and download BootIT-NG and use it to create a bootable CD or floppy disk. It says 'Shareware' but you can create the boot media without having to pay the registration fee (if I remember correctly). Restart the PC and boot to theBootIT-NG CD or floppy that you just created. When it starts up, it you will prompt you to install BootIT to the hard drive; select NO to enter maintenance mode. I haven't used BootIT in a bit so this next part is a bit hazy but it's easy to figure out. If I remember correctly, click on Partition Work, then click on Resize. You'll probably be prompted which drive/partition you want to resize; if you only have one hard drive, it should be selected by default. BootIT will show you the current partition size and how much space is available. So expand C: to the size you want, click Go or OK and let it work. BootIT can take some time to perform the resize, and it may appear to lock up or freeze, but it hasn't. Just be patient; it will inform you when the operation has been completed. Click the Reboot button and be sure to remove the BootIT-NG disk when restarting. That's it!

Good luck!
:major
[dlb]

NOTE: it has never happened to me, after doing over two dozen resizes with BootIT-NG, but data loss is always a very real possibility when playing with partitions. Make sure that anything you consider important is backed up BEFORE doing ANY partition work. This applies to drive C: and drive D: and any other drive that you're doing any partition work on. Remember to always answer NO when BootIT asks if you want to install it to the hard drive.

 

dlb-Thank you so much for this clear and comprehensive assistance! I also appreciate you helping me out with the terminology- I am self taught with what I know of computers, and often I can't find the assistance I need on line because I am not expressing myself in the correct terms, so all corrections like that are a great help. I will work with this tonight and your quick reply is one more reason why I am so happy to be part of the majorgeeks community- tks! kat

 

thank u so much major dlb- houston we have lift off, we have ignition! Microsoft wanted $50 to give me this information, Sony was more forthcoming but so concerned about their liability that they went all around the horse and barn wanting me to get recovery disks from them etc- 15 minutes and I have viable working space on my laptop. The more I ask, the more I learn, and now I can pass it on to others. And I didn't lose a file at all. All that lovely useable space, right there for my taking! To me, that's about as good as a charge card at Macy's. I am in 'puter heaven! AND- every time I am able to do work like this on my own, I am more encouraged to learn more and do more.
Luv you entirely sir!

 

just a note here- it was so good that Major dlb was on the ball teaching me terminology and all, and the walkthrough provided was perfect- we forget how much people need to be taught. I was asked to work on a 'puter tonight- the young man had formatted his hard drive, though he really had no business doing so- luckily I have an XP disk. he said "well, I backed up my stuff!" Yes- he backed it up to C drive. Then he formatted C drive.
What can you say from there? He saw all the spyware on his computer and thought it was viruses, so he drowned the baby to save some water. Well, now he has a nice clean slate to work from. With all the money these kids spend on their new toys, I am so pissed that the companies are too cheap to include a separate OS disk. I assume his system came with a recovery disk, but he had no clue. This lovely 18 month old Gateway was so covered with sticky oogly yuck (highly technical term, that) I didn't even want to touch it to begin with.

 

Must have been the chocolate.

 

Hey dib, thanking you is the least I could do. It really set me up to be able to do this work myself, learn more, and just make my 'puter more capable for me. Having you there to teach me was REALLY good- I fix my own plumbing, had to take one Thanksgiving, go online and find great guys who walked me through fixing my furnace and saving my tenants at that time some problems- my dad raised me to DO not hire it out. Every time some one like you teaches me, I can pass it on. That is SO valuable. You're doing a good thing. I try to teach younger, low income girls how to be independant- you are helping that. Thanks again. After I did this well, I sent the geeks link to other friends, 1 of whom has already done well by it- get a smile from that- u earned it! Best- kat