# a strange har drive mystory

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by rat (star trek rules!) on Monday, 02-Mar-2009 9:23:54

hey all,
a couple days ago i was looking in my system info and found a 39 gb partition that isn't showing in any form other than there. i believe this left over from when i removed xp from this laptop and was wondering how i could get my vista partition to take over the empty space. having that extra 40 gigs or so would be helpful in someways. i'd like to manage it while still in windows if possible since my mom won't help me hardly at all when it comes to computer related issues.
any answers would be greatfully taken.

## Post 2 by KnuxDude (Account disabled) on Monday, 02-Mar-2009 15:11:57

lol this is easily answered on google. considering I have my MCTS in Vista, I can assist in this area. If you open disk management you right click on your C drive and select extend, however you need to be sure that the unallocated space is just that, unallocated space and not formatted. then you just extend your partition to that size.
Easy stuff here and I thought you were the king of vista...guess not lol. Once again, I prove my knowledge. Do homework before asking questions and they will no longer be mysteries. Perhaps the extended game playing has eroded your knowledge...

## Post 3 by TylerK (This site is so "educational") on Monday, 02-Mar-2009 17:53:01

What is MCTS?

## Post 4 by rat (star trek rules!) on Monday, 02-Mar-2009 21:10:27

cody, if you don't have something nice to say, shut your fat face. i haven't messed in drive management so i don't know much about it. an update, my disc manager doesn't see it for some reason, i'm only seeing it in system info.

## Post 5 by skpoet711 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Monday, 02-Mar-2009 22:25:08

rat
The reason why you may not be able to see the partition is because it has not been made "seeable" by windows
1. It is either unallocated
2. it might be behind a used partition
I have vista on one of my hds but then I don't even use it, so am not sure if vista even has a dos prompt. Perhaps it still does
If it does, use diskpart to "scan disk" then :list disk" and see if you see the space. If you don't, you do not have true dos on there, true dos really disappeared from xp, however diskpart does exist on xp
If the unused partition is behind a used one for example,
local c: system partition
D: data partition
unallocated space
The allocation tables shows that the unallocated space comes after the data partition. In this case, you can only expand the data partition to encumpus the unallocated space
Btw, you can not resize your partitions through windows without losing your data.. You must use a 3rd party software like partition magic if you wish your data to be preserved. after its been resized.
If the space appears before the local partition, then C can only be stretch over.
If you just wish to use the partition as is and not stretch it, then use disk management through right clicking the my computer icon to see your drive. But you stated that it can't see it. My only other practical solution for you is try to see if your dosk has diskpart, or lastly, get partition magic.

## Post 6 by KnuxDude (Account disabled) on Monday, 02-Mar-2009 23:06:38

Disk management should show all unallocated space. At least this is my understanding. MCTS is the microsoft certified technical specialist.
SKPoet is right in the sense that the unaloocated space can be used to extend a partition immediately before it int he list.

## Post 7 by skpoet711 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Tuesday, 03-Mar-2009 8:23:23

correction
list partition
not list disk, as list disk scans for your physical or rather, logical disk drives

## Post 8 by KnuxDude (Account disabled) on Wednesday, 04-Mar-2009 20:18:08

my point stands, use diskpart if ya really want to F things up good :p.

## Post 9 by rat (star trek rules!) on Wednesday, 04-Mar-2009 22:17:02

i've managed to find a copy of partition magic, so would be greatful for any tips on how to use it. have to be careful because this laptop is my only net equipped computer until my desktop gets back from the shop.

## Post 10 by The Lil Dark Piggy (This site is so "educational") on Friday, 06-Mar-2009 19:50:25

If you're going to use Partition Magic with Vista, won't work.

## Post 11 by monkeypusher69 (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Tuesday, 24-Mar-2009 13:17:30

unfortunately for partition magic the easiest way i can think of is to get some eyes to help you out boot to the cd and from in there you should be able to format your 39GB partition as NTFS which when back in vista will just show up as another drive in my computer, or eerr, computer as its now called in vista