My refurb TR2AP3 has 3 partitions - C:,D: and the recovery.  I’d like to be able to combine the C and D partitions into one without having to rebuilt the whole OS.  I’ve seen a post about using Partition Magic, but in reading the PM web site, there is some indication that a system partition can’t be merged.  Anyone have any experience with this?  I’m not as concerned wtih merging the recovery partition.

Thanks.

It’s partially true. You cannot directly combine/merge two partitions (there’s actually a good reason for this but we can discuss that later). There is a trick involved for combining the two partitions using Partition Magic (or similar utility).

You first need to delete one of the partitions (usually not the primary C: one for obvious reasons). So, in the case of the TR2s, that would be partition D: and E:. Of course, you want to make sure you have any data on these partitions backed up somewhere just in case.

Once the partitions are deleted, free space is created on the hard disk. At this point, you can then add this free space to your existing partition (C:) and make it the full size of the disk (~38GB or something like that).

gr00vy0ne response is right on the spot.

I went throught the motions myself as soon as I received my TR2AP3 last november.  The steps (if I remember correctly) were:

1) Create the recovery CDs using the included utility.
2) Move the D: drive content to the C: drive (not much to move in a new machine)
3) Use Partition Magic 8 (boot from the CD or a floppy) to release the recovery partition (about 5 GB) and delete the D: logical drive.
4) Extend the primary partition (and C: drive) to use all drive space.
5) Reboot… now you have a 37.2 GB C: drive (although no system recovery capability on board)

regards,
Marcelo

Hi mfabre,

Thank you for the basic step by step process.  I usually can figure things out without too much hastle but I am stumped on this one.  I just purchased Partition Magic 8.0.1 from Symantec’s site and downloaded the program.  I even created the emergency floppy disks.  Now my issue is this:

I have remove the 2 partitions (5gb image and 18gb drive d) and was ready to combine free space onto my drive C. Once I rebooted Partition Magic, it told me that it could NOT lock the HD since I was booting from it.  So my question is this, since I purchased Partition Magic from a download and there is NO bootable CD that I have of Partition magic. HOW the heck do I boot off either a floppy or CD to get Partition Magic to it’s thing!!  I have even created an MS DOS disk and still no luck, I just can’t boot off of either floppy disks and I Don’t have any Bootable CD’s!!

I would appreciate any help you or anyone else may have for me.  Step by step would be even nicer!!!  :D