expanding primary partition on external HDD

Lofty123

Hi all,
I have a buffalo external HDD which has previously been partitioned. i want to connect it to my satellite receiver to record tv programmes.
It has 348 gb of space on the primary partition and 584 gb in unallocated space. Can I recover this space for use, and if so how?

advertsfox

Yes, you just need to use the Extend / Expand feature in Windows 7 onwards - very simple to do. Here's a guide:



http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2670-partition-volume-extend.html

Lofty123

advertsfox wrote: »

Yes, you just need to use the Extend / Expand feature in Windows 7 onwards - very simple to do. Here's a guide:



http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2670-partition-volume-extend.html

Sorry, should have mentioned i am running xp. Tried to do it using disk management but it wouldn't work, I think it has to be the same format as the allocated area, but i don't know how to do this...

advertsfox

Lofty123 wrote: »

Sorry, should have mentioned i am running xp. Tried to do it using disk management but it wouldn't work, I think it has to be the same format as the allocated area, but i don't know how to do this...

No it's actually an XP limitation, you will need third party software to do this. You can use Eues Partition Master, it's free for home use.

http://download.easeus.com/free/epm.exe

And a guide for doing so:

http://www.partition-tool.com/easeus-partition-manager/extend-ntfs-system-partition-without-reboot.htm

Capt'n Midnight

Just make sure you ctrl-click? on the space you want to extend into first (rtfm)


http://partedmagic.com/doku.php?id=downloads will do everything

Lofty123

Hi Advertsfox,
downloaded the software you recommended and have tried repeatedly but cannot re-size or merge the partitions, I keep getting this message:

"EaseUs Partition Manager found some error on the operating partition, please fix the error and try again"

I ran the check disk utility in the software and the surface map, both show no errors. Any ideas?

Lofty123

Problem now sorted, thanks for your help Guys.:D