1

I have got a new laptop with Windows 7. It has a 500gb HDD and it is partitioned to 3 volumes. Now I want to install Windows 8 in it. I shrunk 2 volumes (D: & E:) to get the enough space for installing Windows 8, but I have got two different unallocated spaces.

I want to merge those two unallocated spaces. How can I do that?

I did not find any option to merge them.

Volume  Volume Before Shrunk  Amount Shrunk  Unallocated space
  D       132GB                 32GB           32GB
  E       132GB                 32GB           32GB

How can I merge these two unallocated spaces to install Windows 8 in that combined space?

1
  • Move out all data from E and delete it. Reduce size of D by 32GB. You should get 132+32 GB of unused space at the end. Now, Make a new 100GB of E to restore from your backup. Then, make your merged 64GB partition (F?) .
    – nik
    Apr 11, 2013 at 3:49

2 Answers 2

2

You can easily resize and move partitions using PartedMagic.

Easiest way to get started with PartedMagic is to prepare bootable USB stick. Download unetbootin, choose Parted Magic from drop-down list, insert USB stick (1GB+), and create new Parted Magic live USB:

make PartedMagic using unetbootin

Once USB stick is ready, boot from it, resize your partitions as you see fit, and move them around. Depending on partition sizes, this process can take a while (1-2 hours).

Typically it works great, but one word of caution: backup critical data in case something is screwed up. Also, avoid moving Windows bootable partition if you can. It typically works, but moving only secondary partitions is much safer to avoid nasty surprises. In my experience, probability of losing data using PartedMagic is low, but not 0. To date, I did this many, many times, but lost data just once.

2
  • The Parted Magic ISO is no longer available for free. You have to download it from the partedmagic.com website for $4.99, instead of using UNetbootin, and choose Diskimage instead of Distribution, above.
    – Steve
    Jan 7, 2014 at 8:31
  • you are right that partedmagic gone commercial. however, it is will bundled with UBCD (Ultimate boot CD), and still works great.
    – mvp
    Jan 7, 2014 at 10:30
0

Insert the OS bootable installation media (DVD/Pendrive), select the installation option and the installation partition selection window will appear. In that window, delete the shrunked partition(s) and select the unallocated space the create the new partition(s) as per your requirements.

Note: Please take the backup of data of which you are going to delete the partition.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .