[ljay406]

Ok, im new at this and someone partitioned my hard drive which i now dont want. I tried deleted it in the process of reformatting it in an effort to make the other side bigger and now i have lost half my hard drive. I know it sounds silly and im laughing at this as i write but can someone in simple lamens terms tell me how to get the other half back and then how to make it so my hard drive just has one big drive? I would sssoooo appreciate it, thankyou!

[slipend]

I'm afraid you have lost all the data on that side of your hard drive. What did you use to format it? Windows does say, "Are you sure you want to delete all data on this partition?"

Anywho, you can merge the two partition together by using a program by powerquest, search google for partitionmagic.

:)

[ljay406]

Thankyou slip end for replying so quickly, ok i know have lost all the data there and thats ok i dont mind, I wanted to merge the two sides while reinstalling windows xp professional, what i want to do 1st is recover the missing half so i can then go through the process of merging the two, can you help me with this?

[slipend]

No worries mate.

Right, you deffo need Partition Magic. Get this program then you will see the "Unallocated Space" which will be your deleted half. You then format that using partition magic, I'd imagine you would be formatting it using NTFS unless ofcourse you are using Win 98 or something. Then you can "merge" the two partitions together to make one big partition.

Hope this helps :)

[slipend]

Ahh, you can also format the unallocated space using your xp repair disc. Make sure you format using NTFS then use some program to merge the partitions together.

Sorry about double post :)

[ljay406]

So in lamens terms Slipend (remeber im a baby at this please be patient with me) how would i do that?

[slipend]

Ok, first of all you will need to change what your computer boots form.
Restart your PC and access the bios menu. Tell the computer to boot from your CD drive first then your hard drive.
Restart your computer again with your xp installation disc inserted. It should boot from that. You can then choose to install xp on your computer. There are a few menus etc but you should be able to format your "Unallocated space" to a NTFS format through that.
Once you have done all that you should be able to see both drives on your computer screen.

I'm afraid Im not too sure about merging them together without the use of some program.

TBH with you, the simplest way would be to download and purchase partition magic, go to google and search for that.

I'm sorry if I don't make any sense to you, it's rather hard to convey what I mean. :)

[ljay406]

Slipend how do i access the partion manager on xp?

[slipend]

XP does not have a partition manager, you have to do what I said earlier. Insert your xp disc and go from there.