Is it possible to extend a partition over another?

[jjnguy13]

I currently have 150GB set aside for a Windows xp pro partition and 100GB set aside for an Ubuntu partition.

I planned on trying to get away from windows and use Unix, however I can't seem too.

So, now I have 100GB of wasted space, and I wanna stretch my windows partition over my whole drive (destroying Ubuntu of course).

I was wondering if this is possible.

I am currently using the Grub boot loader to choose which partition to boot into(Ubuntu is the default >.<).

Is there any way to do this w/out a total wipe of my hdd?

 

[apocalyp5e]

You can use Partition Magic or any other partitioning software out there.
Get a cd called hiren's boot cd from the net. Boot from it and go to partitioning tools and resize your partitions. You can just delete the linux partition first, then extend the windows partition over the empty space.

Anyone reading this, this cd is awesome with so many tools. NO PC tech should be without it.

Best of luck.

 

[jjnguy13]

Thanks for the quick help!

Is there any risk involved?

 

[belvdr]

Thanks for the quick help!

Is there any risk involved?

Yes, if you wipe that partition without putting the Windows bootloader in place first, your system may not boot.

Boot to your XP CD, go to the Recovery Console and login. Then type:

fixmbr

and follow the prompts. Exit and reboot and the system should boot with just Windows now. After that, you can delete the Linux partitions and do what you wish.

 

[jjnguy13]

Yeah, I was wondering if using teh GRUB would cause problems. I'll see if I can figure that out. TY

 

[DrMaV]

Hey,

I used "gparted", http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

on a number of drives, and it works great.

It will boot you into a partition front end, then, you may use gparted as necessary to resize, add, delete, extend, even change the format to ntfs, fat32, or whatever, with what ever partition.

Very powerful!

Has my highest "ease of use" honors.

Has saved me many times or having to reinstall windows to change the size of the partitions, or even change the OS.

Feel free to ask any questions.

later

 

[jjnguy13]

Do you know if I still have to worry about re installing the windows boot loader?

 

[belvdr]

Yes, gparted/parted does not do bootloaders. That's the job of grub/lilo/Windows.

 

[jjnguy13]

Ok, well, I guess I need to find a Windows XP disk then.

Thanks again.

 

[apocalyp5e]

why are we even taking about boot loaders?.. All you want to do it wipe the linux partition and resize the windows partition over where the linux was right?.
Just use partition magic it will do it all for you and it is on that cd unless you already have this application. If you need to make the windows partition bootable the partition magic does that for you.

 

[jjnguy13]

If I wipe the Linux partition my hdd will not know where to boot from because that is where it gets its boot info.

The windows boot loader was easy enough to install though.

 

[ches111]

JJ

SwissKnife is a great little FREE app too. It is a WinXP based app and can handle both Fat32 and NTFS extension of the partition.

Swissknife can do most of the things that Partition Magic can do with the exception of moving data. PM has a leg up there. (this is NOT your case so do NOT worry about that)

All you will need to do to restore the nt boot loader (I am guessing you com into grub right now because of your dual boot) is the following steps:

Grab WinXP install disk,

Go into restore during install (have admin password available if you added an admin account).

At that restore prompt (a few questions to answer before you get here but easily answered) type:

fixmbr
fixboot c:

You might have to also try a bootcfg /repair but only do this if the first two do NOT work.

Hope this helps..

 

[jjnguy13]

@ everyone: Thanks for the help. I successfully reinstalled the windows boot loader, deleted the linux partition and stretched the windows partition over the rest of my drive.

Again, thanks a bunch!