Disk Management - Delete and Extend

How to Delete and Extend a Partition with Disk Management in Vista​

   Information

When you Delete a hard disk partition (volume) you turn that partition into a unallocated (unformated) partition. You can then use this unallocated partition to Extend another partition to a larger size. For more information, see: Windows Help and How-to: Partition and Understanding Disk Partitioning
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Partition Type
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[TD]
Description
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[TR][TD]
Primary Partition
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[TD]
A type of partition created on a hard drive that can host an operating system and functions as though it were a physically separate hard drive. Also called a volume. Only up to four primary partitions, or 3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition can be created on a single hard drive. Primary partitions can be used to install and start an operating system. If you want to create more than three partitions, the fourth partition is created as an extended partition. See: Windows Help and How-to: What are system partitions and boot partitions? and The Storage Team at Microsoft - File Cabinet Blog : Understanding the error message "There is not enough space available on the disk(s) to complete this operation" when you create a volume
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[TR][TD]
Extended Partition
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[TD]
A type of partition on a hard drive that should be used if you want to create more than four Primary partition. Extended partitions can contain multiple logical drives that can be formatted and have drive letters assigned to them. An extended partition is a container that can hold one or more logical drive. Logical drives function like primary partitions except that they cannot be used to start an operating system. This option has been removed in Disk Management for Vista. For how, see: The Storage Team at Microsoft - File Cabinet Blog :How to create an extended partition in Windows Vista (Click Yes for Security Information)
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   Note

This can be handy, for example, if you have one hard drive with two partitions and would like to Delete the second partition and Extend the first (boot) partition with Vista back to one large partion (volume).

   Tip

The default location for Disk Management is C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc.

   Warning

• You will not lose any data on the partition (volume) that you are Extending. The partition you want to delete and use to extend another partion must be to the immediate right of the one you want to extend. You can cannot extend a partition from a deleted partition two or more partions to the right of it.
• All data on a partition will be lost when you Delete it. Be sure to back up any files that you want to save to a different location before you continue.

EXAMPLE: Before and After

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STEP ONE

To Delete a Partition

1. Open the Control Panel. (Classic View)​

A) Click on the Administrative Tools icon.​

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B) Click on Computer Management.​

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2. Click on Continue in the UAC prompt.​

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3. In the left pane, click on Disk Management under Storage. (See screenshot below step 4)​

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4. Right click on the volume (EX: E:\ ) you want to delete that is just to the right of the partition that you want to extend, and click on Delete Volume.​

NOTE: If your hard disk is currently set up as a single partition, then you cannot delete it. You also cannot delete a system partition (OS isntalled on), boot partition, or any partition that contains a virtual memory paging file, because Vista needs this information to start correctly. You will have to use the Vista installation disk to delete it.​

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5. Click on Yes to the confirmation prompt. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: This will leave the partition as unallocated (blank) with no drive letter.​

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STEP TWO

To Extend a Partition

6. Right click on the partition (EX: C:\ ) the is just to the left of the unallocated space that you want to Extend it into, and click on Extend Volume. (See screenshot below)​

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7. Click on Next for the Welcome to the Extend Volume Wizard window. (See screenshot below)​

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8. Select the amount of space in MB you want to use from the unallocated partition to use to Extend this partition. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: If you want to make one partition again, then select all of the available space for that one disk. If there were other drives with free unallocated space, they would be shown under the Available selection.​

WARNING: It is advised that you do not extend a volume on one disk with free space from another disk. If one of the drives has a hardware failure, then all the data on that partition (volume) will be deleted.​

A) Click on Next.​

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9. Click on Finish in the Completing Extend window. (See screenshot below)​

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10. You will now see the Disk Management console with the new Extended partition volume ready to be used. (See screenshot below)​

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11. Close Computer Management.​

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12. Click on Computer in the Start Menu and see your new Extened partition volume. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: In this example, we will have one large partition from the same hard disk now.​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Shrink and Create a Partition with Disk Management in Vista
• How to Change a Drive Icon in Vista
• How to Add, Change, or Remove a Drive Letter in Vista
• How to Change the Default Boot Partition in Vista
• How to Show or Remove Drive Letters from Displaying in Vista
• How to Rename a Drive in Vista
• How to Disable or Enable Low Disk Space Warning in Vista
• How to Increase Hard Drive Performance in Vista
• How to Restrict or Unrestict Drive Access in Vista
• How to Hide or Unhide a Drive in Vista
• How to Create a Drive Shortcut in Vista
• How to Mount or Dismount a Drive or Partition to a Folder in Vista
• How to Convert a FAT or FAT32 Volume to NTFS in Vista
• How to Recover Deleted Partitions in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8

 

[IvyGold]

I went through the initial steps of this tutorial and found that the first volume listed in Computer Management is a "Disk 0" or perhaps Disk capital-oh O.

Its status displays as Simple Basic Healthy (EISA Configuration)

What is this thing? The overall readout for the computer's harddrive?

Do I need to be worried about it if I want to delete the D: partition?

Background: I'm brand new to Vista, having inherited an Vista-driven Acer 4520 with almost no data on it. I'm a seasoned XP guy, with two Dell Inspirons rendered worn out.

This Acer belonged to a relative who was apparently upgrading her technology shortly before she passed.

Associated question: would Acer have shipped the laptop with this partition already in place, or would she have had needed someone do it for her?

It's a 120GB harddrive, with 51.14GB on C: and 50.89 on D:, yet 9.76GB on this mysterious Disk 0.

I'd like to merge all three into one C:.

(Many thanks for your work here! VERY well done!)

 

[Brink]

Hello IvyGold, and welcome to Vista Forums.

It is the number 0 for "Disk 0".

Since you have a OEM (Acer) computer, the C: drive is Vista. The D: drive is the OEM recovery partition used to restore Vista back to factory default on the C: drive. The "Disk 0" partition is a hidden EISA partition used by the recovery partition to restore all of the included programs that came with your OEM computer.

Unless you have a set of OEM recovery CD to use instead of these partitions to restore Vista with when needed, then I would not delete or mess with them.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[IvyGold]

Unfortunately the recovery discs haven't been found yet.

So are you saying not to mess with either non-C: partition?

My problem is that both C: and D: are 50 GB each, but I have an iTunes database of 55GB.

Following your instructions above wouldn't let me merge the D: GB's into the C:?

I'm OK leaving Disk 0 alone.


(And thank you for your help!)

 

[Brink]

IvyGold,

Do not touch the other partitions. If you do, you will not be able reinstall your OEM Vista again.


This may help with creating a set of recovery CDs of your own to use instead.

How to create ACER Vista Recovery disks

 

[IvyGold]

Excellent, I'll do the recovery DVD route before touching anything.

Why did Acer do this? Having two 50GB partitions destroys the usefulness of a single 100GB harddrive.

An afterthought: there's virtually no data on this computer, and thereby nothing to risk losing yet, so I was thinking about skipping getting up to speed with Vista completely and moving directly to the Windows 7 beta.

Would I be able to join the C: and D: partitions during that process?

(And of course doing so after creating the recovery DVD.)

Thanks again, I REALLY appreciate it!

 

[Brink]

IvyGold,

Yes, after you create and test the recovery CDs to be safe, you can delete the partitions during the installation of Windows 7 in the Drive (advanced options) step.

Clean Install Windows 7 Beta - Windows 7 Forums


You can get Windows 7 Beta here with a product key for activation.

Download the Windows 7 Beta

 

[IvyGold]

Excellent. I think that's what I'll do.

Thanks again, and see you in the Windows 7 forum in a month or two.

 

[Brink]

I'll be looking forward to seeing you there.

 

[ingeborgdot]

Hi zoltaaaan,

Welcome to Vista Forums.

I would recommend Acronis Partition Manager in the Acronis Disk Director Suite. It does a great job in Vista. You can download a free trial version of it to see if you like here.

Hard disk drive management software, partitioning manager and partition recovery utility

Shawn

Does the free trial actually work or will it show you how it works and then you buy.

 

[Brink]

Ingeborgdot,

I have not tried the latest version, but I believe that the free trial may be limited to how much you can repartition.

 

[ingeborgdot]

I think you are right. I guess $ is the only answer.

 

[SIW2]

Hi Ingeborgdot,

Acronis Disk Director appears to have serious issues with Windows 7. If you are thinking of getting 7 in the future, you may want to take that into consideration.

Paragon partition Manager 9 works well , so does Easeus Pro ( Easeus Home is for 32 bit only ) on Vista x64 and Win 7 x64.

You may be able to find Easeus Pro 2.1 free on magazines that come with software dvd's.

A free alternative is Gparted live cd

SourceForge.net: GParted: Downloading ...

Hope it helps

SIW2

 

[dforrest]

Hi Morphene,

If everything is on the same hard drive, then this would be normal for Disk Management since D:/ is already an extended partition from C:/. Disk Management can only change or use the part of the hard drive that is free at the end of the last unmovable file (allocated space) on the hard drive. (EX: XP installation, Vista Page file, System Restore Cache File, etc.)

The only way around this is to use a 3rd party disk management program like Symantec Partition Magic or Acronis Disk Partition Manager.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

You suggest "Symantec Partition Magic". I did not think that it was compatible with VISTA. Could you please advise whether it is?

David

 

[Brink]

Hi David,

That has been over a year since that post, so I do not know if it will still work in Vista or not after the updates since then. I would advise to use a more recent program instead.

Shawn

 

[Emil Musayev]

Dear Brink,

I bought SONY VAIO BZ11XN notebook with Vista Business SP1 32.
I want to delete Hidden Recovery Partition (OEM) to release space on my HDD without formatting and reinstall my software and updates.
I already created recovery discs with copy of my hidden partition.

If I just delete this partition via DISKPART or Acronis Partition Manager, my notebook will boot?

 

[brummyfan]

Dear Brink,

I bought SONY VAIO BZ11XN notebook with Vista Business SP1 32.
I want to delete Hidden Recovery Partition (OEM) to release space on my HDD without formatting and reinstall my software and updates.
I already created recovery discs with copy of my hidden partition.

If I just delete this partition via DISKPART or Acronis Partition Manager, my notebook will boot?

Sorry for barging in but I would suggest not to delete the Recovery partition because you might get an additional 10GB by doing so,when you have 200GB HD this is irrelevant. It is only my opinion as I don't know of your circumstances and requirements it is best for you to decide.

 

[Emil Musayev]

Thank you for information. And partly agree that It may irrelevant.
But I need additional space for virtual machines that I plan to use.

So, I just found interesting manual: Delete and Remove to Unlock EISA Hidden Recovery or Diagnostic Partition in Vista » My Digital Life

They confirm my idea about DISKPART:
"However, it’s recommended that users check with manufacturer first if the OEM provides any removal and deletion procedure or guide, such as those provided by Lenovo/IBM and HP. If none is found, it’s possible to remove the recovery partition from Windows Vista, by using advanced Diskpart, a text-mode command line interpreter based on scripts that manages hard disk, partition and volume in Vista "

Also I called to SONY Support and they recommend to delete partition by DiskManagement But after knowing impossibility of that way said that I should reinstall my system from recovery discs with losing all info.

So, if I'm right I can use DISKPART confidently to remove hidden partition, can I?

 

[Brink]

Hello Emil,

Yes you can use DISKPART to delete the D: OEM partition if you would like to.

Afterwards, you can use Disk Management on the now unallocated partition if you like.

Shawn

 

[Emil Musayev]

Hello Emil,

Yes you can use DISKPART to delete the D: OEM partition if you would like to.

Afterwards, you can use Disk Management on the now unallocated partition if you like.

Shawn

Why D:?
On my system this partition is hidden/system and without any assigned letters.

I just afraid that if I delete hidden partition some boot problems raised.

 

[Brink]

Emil,

Usually the OEM recovery partition is located on the D: Partition, and the hidden EISA partition with no drive letter is just the location of the drivers and free or trial applications files that came with your OEM computer. It will be safe to remove both of these since you have created both of these to DVD already to use instead.