Extend partition in Windows 8

[mike13]

I am setting up a friends new computer running Windows 8. For some reason the 500Gig hard drive has two (250 Gig) partitions "C" and "D". Can I easily extend the main partition that has the operating systen on, to maybe 450 Gig within Windows 8 itself, and leave the other partition at 50 Gig, or do I need to use another program ?? I believe I have an older copy of Acronis Disc Director somewhere. Would that work easier, or can I do it just using Disc Management within Windows 8 ?? Thanks , Mike

[truexfan81]

no you cannot change the size of a partition while booted on it, use your disc director or download the gparted live cd, one thing to note however, depending on how frangmented the data is, expanding/shrinking partitions can take forever

[mike13]

truexfan81---Thanks for the reply, but now I have a problem. I deceided to download Paragon Manager 2013 (free). instead. it seemed to go OK, but I never really saw a huge increase in the one partition, so I kept trying a few times, and now I have everything messed up. If I look at MY COMPUTER, I see 4 drives. Gateway © 189 GB free of 224 GB, Data (D) 8.47 MB free of 101MB and this drive is in RED. then I see New Volume (E) 54.7 GB free of 54.7 GB, and last I see New Volume (F) 30.0 GB free of 30.1 GB If I add those drives up, I do not even come close to 500 GB. If I look in Disc Management, I see several items. And I always see an Unallocated partition. I would then click on it and tell it to open or whatever, then I would try to repartition it etc, It seems like I just kept making things worse. Anyway, is there a way to get back to the original state of the computer ?? If I did that system restore to its original state as when I bought it (a week ago) would the drives be fixed, or would they still be messed up. HELP, Mike

[truexfan81]

you messed up your partition table, if the drive had critical data on it, its time to look into recovery software (do not write anything to the drive until you have recovered as much as you can) or if nothing critical, delete all partitions and start over.

[Tripredacus]

A screenshot of Disk Management would help.

[mike13]

OK, will try to furnish a screenshot this evening. Mike

[mike13]

Tripredacus.....I was unable to furnish a screen shot, because I did not have any email program setup yet.

But all is now fine. I deceided to do that "Restore to factory condition" It took about 4 hours to do. However to my surprise, I still had those 5 partitions. I and others thought the computer would be set back to exactly as when I got it. Anyway, I downloaded Acronis to try to fix the partitions. When it was installing, I got a message that said it was not compatable with "dynamic discs" whatever that meant. Then I downloaded EASE US. That worked great. I was able to merge the five partitions to just one. I know I probably have set up two. but I did not want to press my luck. Happy camper, Mike

[jaclaz]

I and others thought the computer would be set back to exactly as when I got it.

Well, you will need to list "the others" that thought that , last time we talked about this same topic I tried (vainly, as it results) to explain you why that is a mere assumption (specifically proven wrong) unless you analyze/know WHAT actually the manufacturer has included in the "Restore" and HOW EXACTLY it is performed:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/163601-will-a-recovery-clean-the-hard-drive/

jaclaz