unable to extend drive c

I have win 7 system with c drive and a small d drive ( unallocated) if 14 GB. however when I use the disk management option and right click drive C, the extend option is greyed out for some reason. Any ideas for a workround?

I imagine you'd need to use a 3rd part program like acronis disk director - this is because you cannot expand the partition which windows is working from, aside from the fact the windows utility may not be able to anyway. Try GParted too (free bootable linux live cd)

Edited by Pipexer (Mon 16-Nov-09 00:01:52)

It may be a recovery partition (if they are still used) so might be worth checking the PC docs. I'm not sure if they would show up as unallocated or not.

It wouldn't be Unallocated if it was assigned a drive letter, D:! It is most probably a Recovery Drive allocated by the PC manufacturer; most do use them.

The unalocated drive (14 GB), was originally used by Dell for system recovery (when vista was installa). I have deleted the volume and now installed win 7 on C, but I am saddled with this small partition which I cannot get rid. I can shrink it , but I am not sure what happens to the rest of it after shrinking!!.I can use it as drive D.

If you do a clean install you have the option of deleting all partitions.

Edited by Nervous (Mon 16-Nov-09 13:02:21)

Some manufacturers, like HP, provide a tool to remove the Recovery Partition and merge it with the System Partition.

I have looked into this as I have the same problem. It would appear that you cannot extend a drive unless it is to the left of the drive you want to get rid off.Or the drive you want to get rid off must be to the right of the drive you want to extend!!. If not the extend option is greyed out as it is in my case. The only way to resolve this is via third party software, unless somebody comes up with a workaround.