Converting 'Extended (Logical)' Partition to 'Primary'

[Raistlin]

Simple question, probably a damn complicated answer.

I have a 100GB 'Extended (Logical)' partition, and I need it to be a 'Primary' partition.

1. Is it possible to convert it?
2. If so, how?

Thanks

---------- Post added at 21:43 ---------- Previous post was at 21:38 ----------

Forgot to say, there's not much data on there at the moment - so I can remove it all if that helps the process.

Would rather avoid touching the other primary partition though (the one with ths OS on).

[Jon T]

Partiton magic will do it(i think), or Acronis Disk Director.

[Sir John Luke]

If you're not bothered about losing (or backing up/restoring) the data, can't you just use Windows (if you're running Windows) to delete the extended partition and create a primary in its place?

If not, as Jon T says, or Paragon Hard Disk Manager.

[keyholder]

Rob Dont use partition magic its absolutly Kack, so much its not worth ****in on.

Acronis Disk Director as jon T says, is ya best bet & does so without loosing data no need to backup restore etc.

Converting is pretty simple, it will give u a wizard or a manual operation.

Njoy

[Graham M]

Originally Posted by keyholder

Rob Dont use partition magic its absolutly Kack, so much its not worth ****in on.

Qualify this statement.

[keyholder]

ok, every time ive used PM, its crashed or frozen, everytime ive converted with it, its crashed, rendering the pc to reboot at every reboot which involved a reformat. Ive lost a few GB of space when partitioning drives, when formating the hd with Pm it will pop up an error, format with windows or in dos its fine. Maybe just a bad experience. However it is very easy to use. BUT i Will not use again.

Everytime ive used Acronis DD, not a single problem. Also very easy to use.

[popper]

PM is fine, its worked every time for me unlike above ,or you might try GParted LiveCD
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php, i v not tryed a 'Logical' partition, to a 'Primary' partition with that as PM has served me so well, but i think GP can do that too without loosing data and its free OC.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/features.php

[Raistlin]

Thanks guys, I'll take a look at some of these suggestions when I get home this evening

[Caspar]

Rob, out of interest why are you using basic disks on FAT32 partitions?


And not the preferred NTFS?

[Raistlin]

They're both NTFS partitions.

The Windows installer created them when I re-built the laptop.

[Caspar]

Primary and Extended partitions are BASIC type, which is FAT32.

I'd advise you to use NTFS simple volume.

You can convert upto NTFS with no data loss.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Caspar

Primary and Extended partitions are BASIC type, which is FAT32.

I'd advise you to use NTFS simple volume.

You can convert upto NTFS with no data loss.

The type of partition has nothing to do with it's format.

One of the machines I use at work is a PC with two partitions on one disk, both formatted as NTFS, but the disk type is "Basic"

[Chicken]

The type of partition has nothing to do with the format of any drives within that partition. My drives on this PC are (simple) Primary Basic partitions formatted as NTFS.

[CHiLL]

It's always handy having a copy of Hiren's Boot CD, or Engineers Boot Disc.

I Partition Magic has always worked well for me. The only time it hasn't is when the disc it was on was damaged. (Scratched)

[southwell]

Originally Posted by keyholder

Rob Dont use partition magic its absolutly Kack, so much its not worth ****in on.

Ive never had any issues with it on any system ive used it on.

Will diskpart do what you require? (the one built into Windows)