Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated
partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I
can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 6/23/2026 7:06 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 23/06/2026 8:28 pm, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

Why do you want/need to add it to your C:?? Why not just make it your D:??

Alternatively, you could try adding it to your 'Recovery Partition', then move
the START point for your Recovery partition out towards the end of your drive (thus
effectively moving the 'Unallocated Space to being beside your C:) and then try
adding the Unallocated Space to your C:.

If that isn't possible, I'm sure someone will drop by to let US know. ;-P

Don't distract Fokke now :-)

To do this, the Windows Disk Management is not sufficient.

You need a third party Partition Management program
with the basic capability called "Move/Resize". That is
the workhorse function of a Partition Manager, the one you
use the most.

You do this:
1) Move Recovery Partition, 23.39GB to the right

That's all the third party Partition Manager has to do in this case.
That leaves a 23.29GB unallocated space to the right of the C: partition.

====>
+----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+
| C: | 23.39GB | Recovery Partition 842MB |
+----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+

Then, you could boot C: and use Disk Management and do an "Expand"
of C: by 23.29GB to finish the job.

+------------------------+--------------------------+
| C: | Recovery Partition 842MB |
+------------------------+--------------------------+

*******

I use Paragon Partition Manager 14 Free and the only
function it has that works, is "Move/Resize". There
is AOMEI, Easeus, the Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there
are bound to be a few more free ones out there as well.

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/paragon_partition_manager_express_free_edition.html

Name: pm14free_x64_eng.exe <=== the one I'm still using
Size: 53091632 bytes (50 MiB)
SHA256: 7F48097AC70AE6B27FCC5C40A10BBE7E42516DC7D73D0C48ABFFE1D50B2145CF

Name: pm_2014_free.msi <=== the Majorgeeks one
Size: 43603456 bytes (41 MiB)
SHA256: 37B11D8DD6BF53F62BF8197F824A11B3E51835D8A92F0CF10D8058BFB969128A

Paul

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 23/06/2026 13:06, Daniel70 wrote:

On 23/06/2026 8:28 pm, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated
partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I
can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the
C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

Why do you want/need to add it to your C:?? Why not just make it your D:??

I already have multiple drives. I want to enlarge my C: partition.

Alternatively, you could try adding it to your 'Recovery Partition',
then move the START point for your Recovery partition out towards the
end of your drive (thus effectively moving the 'Unallocated Space to
being beside your C:) and then try adding the Unallocated Space to your C:.

I don't know how to do that.

If that isn't possible, I'm sure someone will drop by to let US know. ;-P

Thanks for your message.

Fokke


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 23 Jun 2026 12:28:48 +0200, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I
can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

You'd need to use a third party partition manager software which has the capability to move partitions. Windows' built-in Disk Manager doesn't have
such capability.

First, move the Recovery partition to the end of the disk, so that the disk layout would be like this:

499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
23.29 GB Unallocated.
842 MB Recovery partition,

Then expand the System (C:) partition, so that the disk layout would be like this:

499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
231.46 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 23/06/2026 14:17, Paul wrote:

On Tue, 6/23/2026 7:06 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 23/06/2026 8:28 pm, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

Why do you want/need to add it to your C:?? Why not just make it your D:?? >>
Alternatively, you could try adding it to your 'Recovery Partition', then move
the START point for your Recovery partition out towards the end of your drive (thus
effectively moving the 'Unallocated Space to being beside your C:) and then try
adding the Unallocated Space to your C:.

If that isn't possible, I'm sure someone will drop by to let US know. ;-P

Don't distract Fokke now :-)

To do this, the Windows Disk Management is not sufficient.

You need a third party Partition Management program
with the basic capability called "Move/Resize". That is
the workhorse function of a Partition Manager, the one you
use the most.

You do this:
1) Move Recovery Partition, 23.39GB to the right

That's all the third party Partition Manager has to do in this case.
That leaves a 23.29GB unallocated space to the right of the C: partition.

====>
+----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+
| C: | 23.39GB | Recovery Partition 842MB |
+----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+

Then, you could boot C: and use Disk Management and do an "Expand"
of C: by 23.29GB to finish the job.

+------------------------+--------------------------+
| C: | Recovery Partition 842MB |
+------------------------+--------------------------+

*******

I use Paragon Partition Manager 14 Free and the only
function it has that works, is "Move/Resize". There
is AOMEI, Easeus, the Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there
are bound to be a few more free ones out there as well.

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/paragon_partition_manager_express_free_edition.html

Name: pm14free_x64_eng.exe <=== the one I'm still using
Size: 53091632 bytes (50 MiB)
SHA256: 7F48097AC70AE6B27FCC5C40A10BBE7E42516DC7D73D0C48ABFFE1D50B2145CF

Name: pm_2014_free.msi <=== the Majorgeeks one
Size: 43603456 bytes (41 MiB)
SHA256: 37B11D8DD6BF53F62BF8197F824A11B3E51835D8A92F0CF10D8058BFB969128A

Paul

Thanks, Paul. I instaalled a free partition manager (MiniTool Partition
Wizard Free 13.6) but it won't work. Which partition manager would you
advice me?

Fokke

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 23/06/2026 16:05, JJ wrote:

On Tue, 23 Jun 2026 12:28:48 +0200, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated
partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I
can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the C:
partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

You'd need to use a third party partition manager software which has the capability to move partitions. Windows' built-in Disk Manager doesn't have such capability.

First, move the Recovery partition to the end of the disk, so that the disk layout would be like this:

499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
23.29 GB Unallocated.
842 MB Recovery partition,

Then expand the System (C:) partition, so that the disk layout would be like this:

499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
231.46 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,

Thanks.
Which partition manager would you advice?

Fokke Nauta


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 23/06/2026 16:18, Daniel70 wrote:

On 24/06/2026 12:05 am, JJ wrote:

On Tue, 23 Jun 2026 12:28:48 +0200, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated
partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I
can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the C:
partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

You'd need to use a third party partition manager software which has the
capability to move partitions. Windows' built-in Disk Manager doesn't
have
such capability.

First, move the Recovery partition to the end of the disk, so that the
disk
layout would be like this:

499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
23.29 GB Unallocated.
842 MB Recovery partition,

Hmm!! I didn't notice this when I first replied but .... why are there
TWO Recovery Partitions (499MB and 842MB)??

I don't know.

Then expand the System (C:) partition, so that the disk layout would
be like
this:

499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
231.46 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,

Again/Still two Recovery Partitions. Why??

I don't know.

Fokke Nauta


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 23 Jun 2026 16:18:17 +0200, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Thanks, Paul. I instaalled a free partition manager (MiniTool Partition Wizard Free 13.6) but it won't work. Which partition manager would you advice me?

I'd use GParted. Download the ISO and use Ventoy to create a live USB.

<https://gparted.org/livecd.php>

(Don't forget to _backup_ your data!)

--
s|b

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 6/23/26 8:17 AM, Paul wrote:

I use Paragon Partition Manager 14 Free and the only
function it has that works, is "Move/Resize". There
is AOMEI, Easeus, the Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there
are bound to be a few more free ones out there as well.

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/paragon_partition_manager_express_free_edition.html

Name: pm14free_x64_eng.exe <=== the one I'm still using
Size: 53091632 bytes (50 MiB)
SHA256: 7F48097AC70AE6B27FCC5C40A10BBE7E42516DC7D73D0C48ABFFE1D50B2145CF

Name: pm_2014_free.msi <=== the Majorgeeks one
Size: 43603456 bytes (41 MiB)
SHA256: 37B11D8DD6BF53F62BF8197F824A11B3E51835D8A92F0CF10D8058BFB969128A

Paul

For those that are interested:
I found the one you pointed to. At least it has the same sha256, and filesize. https://h-mun.com/utilities/paragon-partition-manager-free-edition-64-bit/index.html

--
Mint 22.3, Thunderbird 140.12.0esr, Firefox 152.0.1
Alan K.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Fokke Nauta <fnauta@solfon.nl> wrote:

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I
can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition?

Disk Management in Windows has a lot of limitations. You'll need a 3rd
party disk manager. Some 3rd party disk managers are (freemium versions available):

Easeus Partition Manager
Minitools Partition Wizard
AOMEI Partition Assistant
Paragon Partition Manager
GParted

I've used the first 4, but don't leave them installed. I use them, I'm
done, so I uninstall them. If I needed one again, I'd go with Easeus or Minitool.

With those, you can simply drag the end of the C: partition to enlarge
it into the following unallocated space. I'm assuming you listed the partitions in order they exist on the drive.

Is the drive on which are those partitions an SSD drive? From the
factory, about 7% to 10% of the storage space for consumer drives, and
14%, or more, for enterprise drives, is reserved for overprovisioning
used for wear-leveling. You don't ever get to see this space. It is
not usable nor accessible to you. However, to increase the lifespan of
SSD drives, some tools, tweakers, or users will add unallocated space on
the SSD drive. Any unallocated storage space on an SSD is added to the
factory overprovisioning space. The more unallocated space, the larger
the overprovisioning space, and the longer longevity of the SSD drive.
There are plenty of online articles about overprovisioning of SSD
drives, so I won't bother finding them for you.

If you don't want to keep the unallocated space, or some of it, then do
as Paul suggests for reording the partitions (moving the last recovery partition to the end of the drive), and then enlarge C: into the
unallocated space (which is no longer at the end).

Was this the partition setup when you got the drive in a pre-built
computer running Windows? Or, is this how you configured the partitions
when you installed Windows? You list 2 recovery partitions. There
should be only one. However, Microsoft decided to up the minimum size
of the recovery partition to add more code. Typically it was positioned
at the tail end, so it could be enlarged into trailing unallocated
space. However, some users had their recovery partitions bounds by
other partitions after it. You could use 3rd-party partition managers
to move the recovery partition at the end, and move the other partitions foward, then move the recovery partition forward, and enlarge the
recovery partition into the unallocated space at the end. You couldn't
use Microsoft's update process or scripts, because it assumed the
recovery partition was already the last partition. Could be someone
decided to abandon the old 499MB recovery partition, and create and
designate a new one at the end of the then-current configuration.

Got room for another physical drive? If so, move your data files to a
new drive to make room on your old drive. Or move all those data files
onto removable storage (e.g., USB drives, optical discs), or to network storage. Review all the software you installed. If you don't use it
anymore, or it is a one-time usage program (you needed it, but haven't
used it since) then consider uninstalling all the bloat.

While Linux has a means of extending a partition by merging them
together transparently to the user, the closest in equivalent in Windows
is Storage Spaces. That would let you add a physical drive, and
effectively make C: larger.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/storage-spaces-in-windows-b6c8b540-b8d8-fb8a-e7ab-4a75ba11f9f2

However, as I recall, a limitation of Storage Spaces was you could not
include or add to the OS partition for Windows.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Fokke Nauta <fnauta@solfon.nl> wrote:

On 23/06/2026 14:17, Paul wrote:

On Tue, 6/23/2026 7:06 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 23/06/2026 8:28 pm, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

Why do you want/need to add it to your C:?? Why not just make it your D:?? >>>
Alternatively, you could try adding it to your 'Recovery Partition', then move
the START point for your Recovery partition out towards the end of your drive (thus
effectively moving the 'Unallocated Space to being beside your C:) and then try
adding the Unallocated Space to your C:.

If that isn't possible, I'm sure someone will drop by to let US know. ;-P >>

Don't distract Fokke now :-)

To do this, the Windows Disk Management is not sufficient.

You need a third party Partition Management program
with the basic capability called "Move/Resize". That is
the workhorse function of a Partition Manager, the one you
use the most.

You do this:
1) Move Recovery Partition, 23.39GB to the right

That's all the third party Partition Manager has to do in this case.
That leaves a 23.29GB unallocated space to the right of the C: partition.

====>
+----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+
| C: | 23.39GB | Recovery Partition 842MB |
+----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+

Then, you could boot C: and use Disk Management and do an "Expand"
of C: by 23.29GB to finish the job.

+------------------------+--------------------------+
| C: | Recovery Partition 842MB |
+------------------------+--------------------------+

*******

I use Paragon Partition Manager 14 Free and the only
function it has that works, is "Move/Resize". There
is AOMEI, Easeus, the Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there
are bound to be a few more free ones out there as well.

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/paragon_partition_manager_express_free_edition.html

Name: pm14free_x64_eng.exe <=== the one I'm still using
Size: 53091632 bytes (50 MiB)
SHA256: 7F48097AC70AE6B27FCC5C40A10BBE7E42516DC7D73D0C48ABFFE1D50B2145CF

Name: pm_2014_free.msi <=== the Majorgeeks one
Size: 43603456 bytes (41 MiB)
SHA256: 37B11D8DD6BF53F62BF8197F824A11B3E51835D8A92F0CF10D8058BFB969128A

Paul

Thanks, Paul. I instaalled a free partition manager (MiniTool Partition Wizard Free 13.6) but it won't work. Which partition manager would you advice me?

Fokke

"It won't work." No way to diagnose why the failure, or what you did
wrong, like try to change arrangement and enlargement in the wrong
order.

WHY wouldn't Minitool let you move the recovery partition (the last one,
not the first one)? As for why you have 2 recovery partitions, see my
other reply, but that is just a suspicion of cause.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

"Alan K." <alan@invalid.com> wrote:

Paul wrote:

I use Paragon Partition Manager 14 Free and the only function it
has that works, is "Move/Resize". There is AOMEI, Easeus, the
Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there are bound to be a few more
free ones out there as well.

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/paragon_partition_manager_express_free_edition.html

For those that are interested:
I found the one you pointed to. At least it has the same sha256, and filesize.
https://h-mun.com/utilities/paragon-partition-manager-free-edition-64-bit/index.html

I don't recommend getting any software from 3rd-party download sites
(the download link at the site you mentioned points to getintopc21.xyz)
when it is available directly from the product author. Hashes do not
guarantee authenticity. A rogue copy can be made to produce the same
hash.

The one Paul mentioned at MajorGeeks is old (c. 2014, version 10).
Paragon stopped providing their own free version, and moved to a
Community model.

https://www.paragon-software.com/us/free/pm-express/
(don't know the year model, looks like version 17)

From the edition comparison at:

https://www.paragon-software.com/us/free/pm-express/#edition_comparison

it can resize partitions, but move is not specifically mentioned. They
mention merge/split is not supported in their Community edition, but a
move should not incur either a merge or split. Move the 842 MB second
recovery partition to the *end* of the 23GB unallocated space. Then
enlarge the *end* of the C: partition into the remaining unallocated
space.

My concern is if the 2nd recovery partition can be moved while the OS is active. Maybe Windows must be quiescent to ensure the 2nd recovery
partition is not locked. That means making bootable media from where to
run the partition manager. The free version of Paragon, and many other
free partition managers should support a boot mode. Typically they
install Windows PE on the boot media, and add their program to it. Then
the user boots using that bootable media, so the normal Windows is never started.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2026/6/23 15:18:17, Fokke Nauta wrote:
[]

Thanks, Paul. I instaalled a free partition manager (MiniTool Partition Wizard Free 13.6) but it won't work. Which partition manager would you advice me?

Fokke

I use the EaseUS one; not saying it's best, it was just the first one I
tried last time I needed one, and it did what I wanted, so I haven't
looked for any other.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

I have never liked children, even when I was one.
- Miriam Margolyes (RT 2014/11/1-7)

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2026-06-23 16:18, Fokke Nauta wrote:

On 23/06/2026 14:17, Paul wrote:

On Tue, 6/23/2026 7:06 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 23/06/2026 8:28 pm, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated
partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I
can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the
C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

Why do you want/need to add it to your C:?? Why not just make it your
D:??

Alternatively, you could try adding it to your 'Recovery Partition',
then move
the START point for your Recovery partition out towards the end of
your drive (thus
effectively moving the 'Unallocated Space to being beside your C:)
and then try
adding the Unallocated Space to your C:.

If that isn't possible, I'm sure someone will drop by to let US
know. ;-P

Don't distract Fokke now :-)

To do this, the Windows Disk Management is not sufficient.

You need a third party Partition Management program
with the basic capability called "Move/Resize". That is
the workhorse function of a Partition Manager, the one you
use the most.

You do this:
1) Move Recovery Partition, 23.39GB to the right

That's all the third party Partition Manager has to do in this case.
That leaves a 23.29GB unallocated space to the right of the C: partition.

ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ ====>
ÿÿÿÿ +----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+
ÿÿÿÿ |ÿÿÿ C:ÿÿÿ |ÿÿ 23.39GBÿÿ | Recovery Partition 842MB |
ÿÿÿÿ +----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+

Then, you could boot C: and use Disk Management and do an "Expand"
of C: by 23.29GB to finish the job.

ÿÿÿÿ +------------------------+--------------------------+
ÿÿÿÿ |ÿÿÿ C:ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ | Recovery Partition 842MB |
ÿÿÿÿ +------------------------+--------------------------+

*******

I useÿÿ Paragon Partition Manager 14 Freeÿ and the only
function it has that works, is "Move/Resize". There
is AOMEI, Easeus, the Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there
are bound to be a few more free ones out there as well.

ÿÿÿ https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/
paragon_partition_manager_express_free_edition.html

Name: pm14free_x64_eng.exeÿÿÿÿÿ <=== the one I'm still using
Size: 53091632 bytes (50 MiB)
SHA256: 7F48097AC70AE6B27FCC5C40A10BBE7E42516DC7D73D0C48ABFFE1D50B2145CF

Name: pm_2014_free.msiÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ <=== the Majorgeeks one
Size: 43603456 bytes (41 MiB)
SHA256: 37B11D8DD6BF53F62BF8197F824A11B3E51835D8A92F0CF10D8058BFB969128A

ÿÿÿÿÿ Paul

Thanks, Paul. I instaalled a free partition manager (MiniTool Partition Wizard Free 13.6) but it won't work. Which partition manager would you advice me?

Fokke

He said: ®I use Paragon Partition Manager 14 Free and the only
function it has that works, is "Move/Resize". There
is AOMEI, Easeus, the Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there
are bound to be a few more free ones out there as well.¯


--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.
ES??, EU??;

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2026-06-23 18:28, VanguardLH wrote:

"Alan K." <alan@invalid.com> wrote:

Paul wrote:

I use Paragon Partition Manager 14 Free and the only function it
has that works, is "Move/Resize". There is AOMEI, Easeus, the
Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there are bound to be a few more
free ones out there as well.

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/paragon_partition_manager_express_free_edition.html

For those that are interested:
I found the one you pointed to. At least it has the same sha256, and filesize.
https://h-mun.com/utilities/paragon-partition-manager-free-edition-64-bit/index.html

I don't recommend getting any software from 3rd-party download sites
(the download link at the site you mentioned points to getintopc21.xyz)
when it is available directly from the product author. Hashes do not guarantee authenticity. A rogue copy can be made to produce the same
hash.

Not really. I asked ChatGPT on it, because I feel lazy to do my own
search and investigation:

®
If the file's **SHA-256 hash exactly matches the original**, the
probability that an attacker created a *different* malicious file with
the same SHA-256 hash is so small that, for practical purposes, it is considered impossible with current technology.

A few nuances:

### Scenario 1: The hash came from a trusted source

If you downloaded a file from an unofficial site and verified that its
SHA-256 matches the hash published by the software author (on their
official website, GitHub release page, signed release notes, etc.), then
you can be highly confident the file is identical bit-for-bit to the
original.

To forge a different file with the same SHA-256 would require a
**collision attack** on SHA-256. No practical collision attack against
SHA-256 is known.

### Scenario 2: The hash came from the same untrusted site

If the download site provides both the file and the SHA-256 value, the
hash doesn't help much. An attacker could simply publish a malicious
file and the corresponding hash of that malicious file.

In that case, the important question is whether the hash was obtained independently from a trusted source.

### How unlikely is a SHA-256 collision?

SHA-256 produces a 256-bit output. A random collision would occur with probability around:

[
\frac{1}{2^{256}}
]

for a specific target hash, which is approximately:

[
1 \text{ in } 10^{77}
]

That's vastly smaller than the number of atoms in the observable
universe (about (10^{80})).

Even the more efficient "birthday attack" collision search would require roughly (2^{128}) work, which remains far beyond any existing or
foreseeable computing capability.

### What should you check besides the hash?

For high confidence:

1. Verify the SHA-256 against the developer's official source.
2. Check a digital signature (GPG, code signing certificate, etc.) if available.
3. Download from the official site when possible.
4. On Windows, verify the Authenticode signature if the file is an
executable.

So if:

* the SHA-256 matches, **and**
* the hash came from a trusted source independent of the download site,

then the chance that the file was maliciously altered while retaining
the same SHA-256 is effectively zero with current cryptographic knowledge.
¯

...

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.
ES??, EU??;

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 6/23/2026 1:17 PM, Carlos E. R. wrote:

On 2026-06-23 18:28, VanguardLH wrote:

"Alan K." <alan@invalid.com> wrote:

Paul wrote:

I useÿÿ Paragon Partition Manager 14 Freeÿ and the only function it
has that works, is "Move/Resize". There is AOMEI, Easeus, the
Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there are bound to be a few more
free ones out there as well.

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/paragon_partition_manager_express_free_edition.html

For those that are interested:
I found the one you pointed to.ÿ At least it has the same sha256, and filesize.
https://h-mun.com/utilities/paragon-partition-manager-free-edition-64-bit/index.html

I don't recommend getting any software from 3rd-party download sites
(the download link at the site you mentioned points to getintopc21.xyz)
when it is available directly from the product author.ÿ Hashes do not
guarantee authenticity.ÿ A rogue copy can be made to produce the same
hash.

Gebus.

How is your knowledge of hashes ?
I don't know much, but here goes.

MD5 Cracked. And actively exploited. Not a good "authenticity check".
Perfectly fine if you need a way to detect disk corruption perhaps,
on some files under long term storage. It's just not resistant to a
determined adversary. It should not be used for verifying Internet files.

SHA1 Suspected to be cracked. Not trustworthy. Microsoft stopped signing Windows Update with this,
some time ago. In the middle of Windows 7, signing went to "SHA2" AKA SHA256.

SHA256 The basis of Bitcoin. If this one is cracked,
Bitcoin becomes worthless. This is how we keep
track of the properties of SHA256. The first thing
a person will do, when SHA256 is cracked, is make money
off it. That's how we'll know to not use SHA256 in newsgroups.

SHA256 will fail, when "Q Day" arrives. That's when "sufficiently
gifted" quantum computers arrive. Not every problem translates to quantum computing, so that's one of the difficulties, is making a
math problem, something that a quantum computer can solve. It
doesn't have its own article, but it stands as an "aspirational objective"
for the crypto community, being ready in time for the arrival of Q-Day,
when your opponent is better than you are.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-Day

"The day that cryptographic algorithms become vulnerable to quantum computing."

If you were wondering why some people have made and included
SHA384 and SHA512 in their hash suite, that is the "planning for
Q day" in action. There are cryptographers now, with their heads down,
racing to beat the clock, so we have new materials to secure
communications and so on. As it is, the NSA can record data trunks,
and when Q-Day arrives, they will be able to crack the materials
on their disk farm collection.

At the current time, it looks like elliptic curve is "resistant" to Q-Day,
but that is about the level of what I know about it. AES128 and AES256
might be OK on Q-Day. They're beefing up other things, as we speak.

*******

For today at least, SHA256 *is* sufficient for an authenticity check.
A one bit change in a SHA256 protected file, causes the entire
syndrome to change. And compared to MD5, SHA256 is just so so much
better than MD5, it isn't funny.

Paul

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 6/23/2026 10:18 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 24/06/2026 12:05 am, JJ wrote:

You'd need to use a third party partition manager software which has the
capability to move partitions. Windows' built-in Disk Manager doesn't have >> such capability.

First, move the Recovery partition to the end of the disk, so that the disk >> layout would be like this:

499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
23.29 GB Unallocated.
842 MB Recovery partition,

Hmm!! I didn't notice this when I first replied but .... why are there TWO Recovery Partitions (499MB and 842MB)??

Then expand the System (C:) partition, so that the disk layout would be like >> this:

499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
231.46 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,

Again/Still two Recovery Partitions. Why??

That could be the work of MBR2GPT at some point in the life
of the drive setup. The drive may have been MSDOS partitioned
at one time, and was transitioned to GPT. That sometimes
screws around the partitions. It's actually pretty hard to
randomly screw around the partitions... and end up with something
that works.

One thing to note, before everyone runs off and does a
victory lap, is the Recovery Partition, contains this info.

C:\$WinREAgent
Rollback\
Scratch\
Backup\
winre.wim 701,193,948 19 May 2026
boot.sdi 3,170,304 14 June 2026
ReAgent.xml 1,109 14 June 2026
location.txt

[WinRE Location]
Partition offset=117890351104 <=== booby trap!
Relative path=\Recovery\WindowsRE
OS Guid={8F4FA72F-3780-11EF-8CE3-B963A4DCEB9A}

This means, if you move the Recovery Partition as Fokke is
about to do, the status of reagentc could now return "Disabled".
Any time a Microsoft work of art is "taking note of something",
we have to be on our guard as they may use it against us.

You could try disabling Reagentc before doing the Partition Management.
Then when the dust is settled, re-enable Reagentc. I can't promise
anything, but it gives the thing one less reason to break.

As for the responses booting into Recovery Mode makes, I've never
had Recovery Mode do anything positive for me, so keeping
Reagentc enabled and working, is mostly... a waste of your time.
Like, a problem I'm working on, on the other machine, the
recovery procedure did squat. Some day, some day, I'm going
to discover something positive it has done. Hasn't happened yet.
Having a juggling ball animation for an hour, helps no one.

Paul


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I
can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

My EaseUS Partition Master 12.9 free version can do that.
I added unallocated 11 GB to C: a few months ago.
As another poster said, get C: and the unallocated spot next to each
other first. EaseUS can do that, too.
And, of course, make a back up of the entire drive first.
I prefer cloning first but others may backup differently.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 6/23/2026 11:22 AM, VanguardLH wrote:

Fokke Nauta <fnauta@solfon.nl> wrote:

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated
partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I
can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the C:
partition?

Disk Management in Windows has a lot of limitations. You'll need a 3rd
party disk manager. Some 3rd party disk managers are (freemium versions available):

Easeus Partition Manager
Minitools Partition Wizard
AOMEI Partition Assistant
Paragon Partition Manager
GParted

For this particular application, the choice of tool does not matter much.

*******

However, some of the things you may be "tempted to do" with your computer,
will cause the partitions to be put in non-monotonic order

Partition Number Offset [partition magic, in WinXP era, used to do stuff like this]
1 100MB
2 200MB
3 300MB
5 400MB
4 500MB

The Linux "gdisk" utility has a Sort option, that
can correct this. It does not take much time,
to re-number the partitions. The partitions are not moved.
The two GPT partition tables are edited for the change needed.

Partition Number Offset [After gdisk sort of GPT partition numbers]
1 100MB
2 200MB
3 300MB
4 400MB
5 500MB

Unfortunately, Windows does a little too much referral to
things via "Partition4", when using a GUID would have made
the environment insensitive to the first pattern. And if
you do execute a "sort" operation, you have to think carefully
about any Windows subsystems that are already wired wrongly
or are booby-trapped.

Paul

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2026-06-23 22:19, Paul in Houston TX wrote:

Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated
partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I
can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the
C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

My EaseUS Partition Master 12.9 free version can do that.
I added unallocated 11 GB to C: a few months ago.
As another poster said, get C: and the unallocated spot next to each
other first.ÿ EaseUS can do that, too.
And, of course, make a back up of the entire drive first.
I prefer cloning first but others may backup differently.

Another method of doing things, that sometimes is faster, is to clone
the entire disk into another, and then create back the disk in the order
and sizes wanted.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.
ES??, EU??;

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Macrium Reflect wrote on 6/23/2026 6:04 PM:

On 23/06/2026 11:28, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated
partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I
can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the
C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

I use Macrium Reflect to reorganise disk partitions. First, create a
backup of your hard disk using Macrium Reflect. Then, restore the backup
to the same hard disk that it was created from. When restoring, however,
you need to select the partition to restore. You can use this
opportunity to remove the extra recovery partition (the smaller one) as
it is not necessary to have two partitions for the same purpose. The restoration process allows you to drag and drop the partitions, arrange
them correctly, and fill up the empty space (23.29GB + 499MB) on the
hard disk (HD). Let us know if you would like us to provide a video
showing how to do this correctly without losing data.

I have read in the press that recent update has made efi partition
(100MB) give errors because it is too small for Windows 11 (not sure
about Windows 10?ÿ though)

Macrium worked well, but I don't know about later versions after macrium recently shit on all their users. Subscription only now.. Pay out the
ass, or GTFO.

But there are other partition managers that work fine.
Free, and with no "subscription" shit attached. With all of them, you'll
have to learn how to use them.



--- PyGate Linux v1.5.17
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 6/23/2026 7:04 PM, Macrium Reflect wrote:

On 23/06/2026 11:28, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated
partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I
can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the
C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

I use Macrium Reflect to reorganise disk partitions. First, create a
backup of your hard disk using Macrium Reflect. Then, restore the backup
to the same hard disk that it was created from. When restoring, however,
you need to select the partition to restore. You can use this
opportunity to remove the extra recovery partition (the smaller one) as
it is not necessary to have two partitions for the same purpose. The restoration process allows you to drag and drop the partitions, arrange
them correctly, and fill up the empty space (23.29GB + 499MB) on the
hard disk (HD). Let us know if you would like us to provide a video
showing how to do this correctly without losing data.

I have read in the press that recent update has made efi partition
(100MB) give errors because it is too small for Windows 11 (not sure
about Windows 10?ÿ though)

If you use your copy of Macrium Reflect, as soon as you open the program,
the size of the content in the partition is on display for the ESP partition. Usually that would be the FAT32 on the left. Mine is 53.4MB out of 100MB FAT32 (Win10 and Win11 OSes are what that controls).

Using diskpart, you can assign a letter to the partition, and look
at the files inside the ESP. Some of the things have weird properties.
It's FAT32, so it should have no permissions. Yet, you can get
"Permission Denied" on some attempts to do things in there. I have
also seen, in some tools, entries which are a red color as files,
and I don't know where these "properties" are coming from. The ESP
then, is a bit mysterious with respect to what a filesystem should be
doing.

Paul

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 23 Jun 2026 16:19:54 +0200, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Thanks.
Which partition manager would you advice?

Fokke Nauta

I recommend GParted. But only for the move operation (1st step only).

Use Windows's built-in Disk Manager for the resize/expand operation.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 23/06/2026 14:17, Paul wrote:

On Tue, 6/23/2026 7:06 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 23/06/2026 8:28 pm, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

Why do you want/need to add it to your C:?? Why not just make it your D:?? >>
Alternatively, you could try adding it to your 'Recovery Partition', then move
the START point for your Recovery partition out towards the end of your drive (thus
effectively moving the 'Unallocated Space to being beside your C:) and then try
adding the Unallocated Space to your C:.

If that isn't possible, I'm sure someone will drop by to let US know. ;-P

Don't distract Fokke now :-)

To do this, the Windows Disk Management is not sufficient.

You need a third party Partition Management program
with the basic capability called "Move/Resize". That is
the workhorse function of a Partition Manager, the one you
use the most.

You do this:
1) Move Recovery Partition, 23.39GB to the right

That's all the third party Partition Manager has to do in this case.
That leaves a 23.29GB unallocated space to the right of the C: partition.

====>
+----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+
| C: | 23.39GB | Recovery Partition 842MB |
+----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+

Then, you could boot C: and use Disk Management and do an "Expand"
of C: by 23.29GB to finish the job.

+------------------------+--------------------------+
| C: | Recovery Partition 842MB |
+------------------------+--------------------------+

*******

I use Paragon Partition Manager 14 Free and the only
function it has that works, is "Move/Resize". There
is AOMEI, Easeus, the Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there
are bound to be a few more free ones out there as well.

I have installed Paragon Partition Manager 14 Professional. I already
had this. But I can't do anyting with it. I can't move or enlarge a
partition.

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/paragon_partition_manager_express_free_edition.html

Name: pm14free_x64_eng.exe <=== the one I'm still using
Size: 53091632 bytes (50 MiB)
SHA256: 7F48097AC70AE6B27FCC5C40A10BBE7E42516DC7D73D0C48ABFFE1D50B2145CF

Name: pm_2014_free.msi <=== the Majorgeeks one
Size: 43603456 bytes (41 MiB)
SHA256: 37B11D8DD6BF53F62BF8197F824A11B3E51835D8A92F0CF10D8058BFB969128A

Paul

Fokke


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 23/06/2026 17:03, s|b wrote:

On Tue, 23 Jun 2026 16:18:17 +0200, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Thanks, Paul. I instaalled a free partition manager (MiniTool Partition
Wizard Free 13.6) but it won't work. Which partition manager would you
advice me?

I'd use GParted. Download the ISO and use Ventoy to create a live USB.

<https://gparted.org/livecd.php>

(Don't forget to _backup_ your data!)

I already backed up the image of the C: partition.
But I used Paragon Partition Manager 14 Professional. I forgot that I
had this installed. But it won't work.

Fokke

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 23/06/2026 17:25, VanguardLH wrote:

Fokke Nauta <fnauta@solfon.nl> wrote:

On 23/06/2026 14:17, Paul wrote:

On Tue, 6/23/2026 7:06 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 23/06/2026 8:28 pm, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

Why do you want/need to add it to your C:?? Why not just make it your D:?? >>>>
Alternatively, you could try adding it to your 'Recovery Partition', then move
the START point for your Recovery partition out towards the end of your drive (thus
effectively moving the 'Unallocated Space to being beside your C:) and then try
adding the Unallocated Space to your C:.

If that isn't possible, I'm sure someone will drop by to let US know. ;-P >>>

Don't distract Fokke now :-)

To do this, the Windows Disk Management is not sufficient.

You need a third party Partition Management program
with the basic capability called "Move/Resize". That is
the workhorse function of a Partition Manager, the one you
use the most.

You do this:
1) Move Recovery Partition, 23.39GB to the right

That's all the third party Partition Manager has to do in this case.
That leaves a 23.29GB unallocated space to the right of the C: partition. >>>
====>
+----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+
| C: | 23.39GB | Recovery Partition 842MB |
+----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+

Then, you could boot C: and use Disk Management and do an "Expand"
of C: by 23.29GB to finish the job.

+------------------------+--------------------------+
| C: | Recovery Partition 842MB |
+------------------------+--------------------------+

*******

I use Paragon Partition Manager 14 Free and the only
function it has that works, is "Move/Resize". There
is AOMEI, Easeus, the Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there
are bound to be a few more free ones out there as well.

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/paragon_partition_manager_express_free_edition.html

Name: pm14free_x64_eng.exe <=== the one I'm still using
Size: 53091632 bytes (50 MiB)
SHA256: 7F48097AC70AE6B27FCC5C40A10BBE7E42516DC7D73D0C48ABFFE1D50B2145CF >>>
Name: pm_2014_free.msi <=== the Majorgeeks one
Size: 43603456 bytes (41 MiB)
SHA256: 37B11D8DD6BF53F62BF8197F824A11B3E51835D8A92F0CF10D8058BFB969128A >>>
Paul

Thanks, Paul. I instaalled a free partition manager (MiniTool Partition
Wizard Free 13.6) but it won't work. Which partition manager would you
advice me?

Fokke

"It won't work." No way to diagnose why the failure, or what you did
wrong, like try to change arrangement and enlargement in the wrong
order.

WHY wouldn't Minitool let you move the recovery partition (the last one,
not the first one)? As for why you have 2 recovery partitions, see my
other reply, but that is just a suspicion of cause.

I don't know why there are 2 recovery partitions.
Now I use Paragon Partition Manager 14 Professional, but that won't wotk either.

Fokke


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 23/06/2026 19:10, Carlos E. R. wrote:

On 2026-06-23 16:18, Fokke Nauta wrote:

On 23/06/2026 14:17, Paul wrote:

On Tue, 6/23/2026 7:06 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 23/06/2026 8:28 pm, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the
unallocated partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk
Management program I can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition. >>>>> Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to
the C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

Why do you want/need to add it to your C:?? Why not just make it
your D:??

Alternatively, you could try adding it to your 'Recovery Partition',
then move
the START point for your Recovery partition out towards the end of
your drive (thus
effectively moving the 'Unallocated Space to being beside your C:)
and then try
adding the Unallocated Space to your C:.

If that isn't possible, I'm sure someone will drop by to let US
know. ;-P

Don't distract Fokke now :-)

To do this, the Windows Disk Management is not sufficient.

You need a third party Partition Management program
with the basic capability called "Move/Resize". That is
the workhorse function of a Partition Manager, the one you
use the most.

You do this:
1) Move Recovery Partition, 23.39GB to the right

That's all the third party Partition Manager has to do in this case.
That leaves a 23.29GB unallocated space to the right of the C:
partition.

ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ ====>
ÿÿÿÿ +----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+
ÿÿÿÿ |ÿÿÿ C:ÿÿÿ |ÿÿ 23.39GBÿÿ | Recovery Partition 842MB |
ÿÿÿÿ +----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+

Then, you could boot C: and use Disk Management and do an "Expand"
of C: by 23.29GB to finish the job.

ÿÿÿÿ +------------------------+--------------------------+
ÿÿÿÿ |ÿÿÿ C:ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ | Recovery Partition 842MB |
ÿÿÿÿ +------------------------+--------------------------+

*******

I useÿÿ Paragon Partition Manager 14 Freeÿ and the only
function it has that works, is "Move/Resize". There
is AOMEI, Easeus, the Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there
are bound to be a few more free ones out there as well.

ÿÿÿ https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/
paragon_partition_manager_express_free_edition.html

Name: pm14free_x64_eng.exeÿÿÿÿÿ <=== the one I'm still using
Size: 53091632 bytes (50 MiB)
SHA256: 7F48097AC70AE6B27FCC5C40A10BBE7E42516DC7D73D0C48ABFFE1D50B2145CF >>>
Name: pm_2014_free.msiÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ <=== the Majorgeeks one
Size: 43603456 bytes (41 MiB)
SHA256: 37B11D8DD6BF53F62BF8197F824A11B3E51835D8A92F0CF10D8058BFB969128A >>>
ÿÿÿÿÿ Paul

Thanks, Paul. I instaalled a free partition manager (MiniTool
Partition Wizard Free 13.6) but it won't work. Which partition manager
would you advice me?

Fokke

He said: ®I useÿÿ Paragon Partition Manager 14 Freeÿ and the only
function it has that works, is "Move/Resize". There
is AOMEI, Easeus, the Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there
are bound to be a few more free ones out there as well.¯

I now use Paragon Partition Manager 14 Professional.
But that won't work either.

Fokke

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 23/06/2026 17:21, Alan K. wrote:

On 6/23/26 8:17 AM, Paul wrote:

I useÿÿ Paragon Partition Manager 14 Freeÿ and the only
function it has that works, is "Move/Resize". There
is AOMEI, Easeus, the Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there
are bound to be a few more free ones out there as well.


https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/paragon_partition_manager_express_free_edition.html

Name: pm14free_x64_eng.exeÿÿÿÿÿ <=== the one I'm still using
Size: 53091632 bytes (50 MiB)
SHA256: 7F48097AC70AE6B27FCC5C40A10BBE7E42516DC7D73D0C48ABFFE1D50B2145CF

Name: pm_2014_free.msiÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ <=== the Majorgeeks one
Size: 43603456 bytes (41 MiB)
SHA256: 37B11D8DD6BF53F62BF8197F824A11B3E51835D8A92F0CF10D8058BFB969128A

ÿÿÿÿÿ Paul

For those that are interested:
I found the one you pointed to.ÿ At least it has the same sha256, and filesize. https://h-mun.com/utilities/paragon-partition-manager-free-edition-64-bit/index.html

Thanks. But I now use Paragon Partition Manager 14 Professional. That
was already installed. But it won't work either.

Fokke

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 24/06/2026 01:04, Macrium Reflect wrote:

On 23/06/2026 11:28, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated
partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I
can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the
C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

I use Macrium Reflect to reorganise disk partitions. First, create a
backup of your hard disk using Macrium Reflect. Then, restore the backup
to the same hard disk that it was created from. When restoring, however,
you need to select the partition to restore. You can use this
opportunity to remove the extra recovery partition (the smaller one) as
it is not necessary to have two partitions for the same purpose. The restoration process allows you to drag and drop the partitions, arrange
them correctly, and fill up the empty space (23.29GB + 499MB) on the
hard disk (HD). Let us know if you would like us to provide a video
showing how to do this correctly without losing data.

I have read in the press that recent update has made efi partition
(100MB) give errors because it is too small for Windows 11 (not sure
about Windows 10ÿ though)

I use Macrium Reflect as well to backup my C: drive.

Fokke


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 23 Jun 2026 18:26:51 -0500, Hank Rogers wrote:

Macrium worked well, but I don't know about later versions after macrium recently shit on all their users. Subscription only now.. Pay out the
ass, or GTFO.

Macrium 8.0.7783 still works for free unless something has changed.

Hasleo Backup Suite is still free: <https://www.easyuefi.com/backup-software/backup-suite-free.html>

I haven't used it myself (yet), but it looks and feels like Macrium.

--
s|b

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 24/06/2026 01:26, Hank Rogers wrote:

Macrium Reflect wrote on 6/23/2026 6:04 PM:

On 23/06/2026 11:28, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated
partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I
can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the
C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

I use Macrium Reflect to reorganise disk partitions. First, create a
backup of your hard disk using Macrium Reflect. Then, restore the backup
to the same hard disk that it was created from. When restoring, however,
you need to select the partition to restore. You can use this
opportunity to remove the extra recovery partition (the smaller one) as
it is not necessary to have two partitions for the same purpose. The
restoration process allows you to drag and drop the partitions, arrange
them correctly, and fill up the empty space (23.29GB + 499MB) on the
hard disk (HD). Let us know if you would like us to provide a video
showing how to do this correctly without losing data.

I have read in the press that recent update has made efi partition
(100MB) give errors because it is too small for Windows 11 (not sure
about Windows 10?ÿ though)

Macrium worked well, but I don't know about later versions after macrium recently shit on all their users. Subscription only now.. Pay out the
ass, or GTFO.

I have Macrium Reflect 7, but there is no problem.

But there are other partition managers that work fine.
Free, and with no "subscription" shit attached. With all of them, you'll have to learn how to use them.

Fokke


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 24/06/2026 14:59, Daniel70 wrote:

On 24/06/2026 10:42 pm, Fokke Nauta wrote:

On 23/06/2026 14:17, Paul wrote:

On Tue, 6/23/2026 7:06 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 23/06/2026 8:28 pm, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the
unallocated partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk
Management program I can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition. >>>>> Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to
the C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

Why do you want/need to add it to your C:?? Why not just make it
your D:??

Alternatively, you could try adding it to your 'Recovery Partition',
then move
the START point for your Recovery partition out towards the end of
your drive (thus
effectively moving the 'Unallocated Space to being beside your C:)
and then try
adding the Unallocated Space to your C:.

If that isn't possible, I'm sure someone will drop by to let US
know. ;-P

Don't distract Fokke now :-)

To do this, the Windows Disk Management is not sufficient.

You need a third party Partition Management program
with the basic capability called "Move/Resize". That is
the workhorse function of a Partition Manager, the one you
use the most.

You do this:
1) Move Recovery Partition, 23.39GB to the right

That's all the third party Partition Manager has to do in this case.
That leaves a 23.29GB unallocated space to the right of the C:
partition.

ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ ====>
ÿÿÿÿ +----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+
ÿÿÿÿ |ÿÿÿ C:ÿÿÿ |ÿÿ 23.39GBÿÿ | Recovery Partition 842MB |
ÿÿÿÿ +----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+

Then, you could boot C: and use Disk Management and do an "Expand"
of C: by 23.29GB to finish the job.

ÿÿÿÿ +------------------------+--------------------------+
ÿÿÿÿ |ÿÿÿ C:ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ | Recovery Partition 842MB |
ÿÿÿÿ +------------------------+--------------------------+

*******

I useÿÿ Paragon Partition Manager 14 Freeÿ and the only
function it has that works, is "Move/Resize". There
is AOMEI, Easeus, the Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there
are bound to be a few more free ones out there as well.

I have installed Paragon Partition Manager 14 Professional. I already
had this. But I can't do anyting with it. I can't move or enlarge a
partition.

Fokke, might this be because you are trying to use a program ON your
Hard Drive to alter the make-up OF that Hard-Drive??

Try installing your Partition Manager onto a USB Drive, then boot into
that USB Drive and see if you can make the required changes ..... after having Backed Up your main drive first.

OK, I will try that.

Fokke

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Wed, 6/24/2026 8:59 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 24/06/2026 10:42 pm, Fokke Nauta wrote:

On 23/06/2026 14:17, Paul wrote:

On Tue, 6/23/2026 7:06 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 23/06/2026 8:28 pm, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

Why do you want/need to add it to your C:?? Why not just make it your D:?? >>>>
Alternatively, you could try adding it to your 'Recovery Partition', then move
the START point for your Recovery partition out towards the end of your drive (thus
effectively moving the 'Unallocated Space to being beside your C:) and then try
adding the Unallocated Space to your C:.

If that isn't possible, I'm sure someone will drop by to let US know. ;-P >>>

Don't distract Fokke now :-)

To do this, the Windows Disk Management is not sufficient.

You need a third party Partition Management program
with the basic capability called "Move/Resize". That is
the workhorse function of a Partition Manager, the one you
use the most.

You do this:
1) Move Recovery Partition, 23.39GB to the right

That's all the third party Partition Manager has to do in this case.
That leaves a 23.29GB unallocated space to the right of the C: partition. >>>
ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ ====>
ÿÿÿÿ +----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+
ÿÿÿÿ |ÿÿÿ C:ÿÿÿ |ÿÿ 23.39GBÿÿ | Recovery Partition 842MB |
ÿÿÿÿ +----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+

Then, you could boot C: and use Disk Management and do an "Expand"
of C: by 23.29GB to finish the job.

ÿÿÿÿ +------------------------+--------------------------+
ÿÿÿÿ |ÿÿÿ C:ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ | Recovery Partition 842MB |
ÿÿÿÿ +------------------------+--------------------------+

*******

I useÿÿ Paragon Partition Manager 14 Freeÿ and the only
function it has that works, is "Move/Resize". There
is AOMEI, Easeus, the Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there
are bound to be a few more free ones out there as well.

I have installed Paragon Partition Manager 14 Professional. I already had this. But I can't do anyting with it. I can't move or enlarge a partition.

Fokke, might this be because you are trying to use a program ON your Hard Drive to alter the make-up OF that Hard-Drive??

Try installing your Partition Manager onto a USB Drive, then boot into that USB Drive and see if you can make the required changes ..... after having Backed Up your main drive first.

I expect I'm going to have to simulate this, to prove it works.

The Recovery Partition "reagentc" status is already broken, so
I don't have to worry about it.

[Picture] Paragon-PM14-Resize-Move.gif

https://postimg.cc/8jgFHrxW

https://imgur.com/a/e3Fg4Vl

Paul








--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 06/23/2026 4:09 PM, Paul wrote:

On Tue, 6/23/2026 10:18 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 24/06/2026 12:05 am, JJ wrote:

You'd need to use a third party partition manager software which has the >>> capability to move partitions. Windows' built-in Disk Manager doesn't have >>> such capability.

First, move the Recovery partition to the end of the disk, so that the disk >>> layout would be like this:

499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
23.29 GB Unallocated.
842 MB Recovery partition,

Hmm!! I didn't notice this when I first replied but .... why are there TWO Recovery Partitions (499MB and 842MB)??

Then expand the System (C:) partition, so that the disk layout would be like
this:

499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
231.46 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,

Again/Still two Recovery Partitions. Why??

That could be the work of MBR2GPT at some point in the life
of the drive setup. The drive may have been MSDOS partitioned
at one time, and was transitioned to GPT. That sometimes
screws around the partitions. It's actually pretty hard to
randomly screw around the partitions... and end up with something
that works.

One thing to note, before everyone runs off and does a
victory lap, is the Recovery Partition, contains this info.

C:\$WinREAgent
Rollback\
Scratch\
Backup\
winre.wim 701,193,948 19 May 2026
boot.sdi 3,170,304 14 June 2026
ReAgent.xml 1,109 14 June 2026
location.txt

[WinRE Location]
Partition offset=117890351104 <=== booby trap!
Relative path=\Recovery\WindowsRE
OS Guid={8F4FA72F-3780-11EF-8CE3-B963A4DCEB9A}

This means, if you move the Recovery Partition as Fokke is
about to do, the status of reagentc could now return "Disabled".
Any time a Microsoft work of art is "taking note of something",
we have to be on our guard as they may use it against us.

You could try disabling Reagentc before doing the Partition Management.
Then when the dust is settled, re-enable Reagentc. I can't promise
anything, but it gives the thing one less reason to break.

As for the responses booting into Recovery Mode makes, I've never
had Recovery Mode do anything positive for me, so keeping
Reagentc enabled and working, is mostly... a waste of your time.
Like, a problem I'm working on, on the other machine, the
recovery procedure did squat. Some day, some day, I'm going
to discover something positive it has done. Hasn't happened yet.
Having a juggling ball animation for an hour, helps no one.

Paul

More likely...
1. OEM built the device and places the initial Recovery partition at
the beginning of the disk. Later operation of the device, when WinRE
updates were included in the monthly update or stand-alone WinRE updates deployed, the 2nd recovery partition was created. This second Recovery partition became the active Recovery partition and in the design intent location(after the Windows partition).
2. The OP at one time clean installed Windows 10 on the device using
an older Media Creation Tool created media - USB, ISO, ISO mounted, DVD.
- more recent MCT created media resolved the problem of the older
media creating the Recovery at the beginning of the disk instead of the
GPT design intent location(immediately adjacent and after the Windows partition).

After imaging System, MSR, Windows and active Recovery..

I would probably try a different approach for this issue and a bit
different than some of the other's suggestion when using 3rd party
move/resize partition management software.
- Maybe use and older version of partition management software
- Open the partition manager in admin mode
- Disable the active WinRE(reagentc command)
- Move the unused(old, useless) Recovery(beginning of disk) to the end
after unallocated space.
- Delete the old Recovery increasing the unallocated space.
- Move the active WinRE partition after the unallocated space
- Resize the C using the unallocated space
- Renable the existing WinRE(reagentc command)

If that didn't work...a combination of third party partition manager
software and diskpart some of the above, but using diskpart to recreate
the WinRE partition(after disabling it and leaving 2 GB of unallocated
space, recreate WinRE in the 2 GB unallocated space and enable it), or optionally leave no unallocated space(C using all), then use diskpart to shrink C by 2 GB and recreate WinRE, then enable WinRE.
-

--
...w­¤?ñ?¤

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Fokke Nauta <fnauta@solfon.nl> wrote:

On 23/06/2026 17:25, VanguardLH wrote:

Fokke Nauta <fnauta@solfon.nl> wrote:

On 23/06/2026 14:17, Paul wrote:

On Tue, 6/23/2026 7:06 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 23/06/2026 8:28 pm, Fokke Nauta wrote:

Hi all,

When I look at Disk 1, I see:
499 MB Recovery partition,
100 MB EFI System partition,
208.17 GB System C:,
842 MB Recovery partition,
23.29 GB Unallocated.

The C: partition is almost full. I would like to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition. But in the Disk Management program I can't do that. I can not extend the C: partition.
Anyone has an idea as to how to add the unallocated partition to the C: partition?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

With kind regards,
Fokke Nauta

Why do you want/need to add it to your C:?? Why not just make it your D:??

Alternatively, you could try adding it to your 'Recovery Partition', then move
the START point for your Recovery partition out towards the end of your drive (thus
effectively moving the 'Unallocated Space to being beside your C:) and then try
adding the Unallocated Space to your C:.

If that isn't possible, I'm sure someone will drop by to let US know. ;-P >>>>

Don't distract Fokke now :-)

To do this, the Windows Disk Management is not sufficient.

You need a third party Partition Management program
with the basic capability called "Move/Resize". That is
the workhorse function of a Partition Manager, the one you
use the most.

You do this:
1) Move Recovery Partition, 23.39GB to the right

That's all the third party Partition Manager has to do in this case.
That leaves a 23.29GB unallocated space to the right of the C: partition. >>>>
====>
+----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+
| C: | 23.39GB | Recovery Partition 842MB |
+----------+ - - - - - - +--------------------------+

Then, you could boot C: and use Disk Management and do an "Expand"
of C: by 23.29GB to finish the job.

+------------------------+--------------------------+
| C: | Recovery Partition 842MB |
+------------------------+--------------------------+

*******

I use Paragon Partition Manager 14 Free and the only
function it has that works, is "Move/Resize". There
is AOMEI, Easeus, the Acronis Disk Doctor is retired, there
are bound to be a few more free ones out there as well.

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/paragon_partition_manager_express_free_edition.html

Name: pm14free_x64_eng.exe <=== the one I'm still using
Size: 53091632 bytes (50 MiB)
SHA256: 7F48097AC70AE6B27FCC5C40A10BBE7E42516DC7D73D0C48ABFFE1D50B2145CF >>>>
Name: pm_2014_free.msi <=== the Majorgeeks one
Size: 43603456 bytes (41 MiB)
SHA256: 37B11D8DD6BF53F62BF8197F824A11B3E51835D8A92F0CF10D8058BFB969128A >>>>
Paul

Thanks, Paul. I instaalled a free partition manager (MiniTool Partition
Wizard Free 13.6) but it won't work. Which partition manager would you
advice me?

Fokke

"It won't work." No way to diagnose why the failure, or what you did
wrong, like try to change arrangement and enlargement in the wrong
order.

WHY wouldn't Minitool let you move the recovery partition (the last one,
not the first one)? As for why you have 2 recovery partitions, see my
other reply, but that is just a suspicion of cause.

I don't know why there are 2 recovery partitions.
Now I use Paragon Partition Manager 14 Professional, but that won't wotk either.

Fokke

Still no information on just what it "won't work". Does the program
hang? Does it exit without prompting and no error? Does it say WHY it
"won't work"?

What is the first operation you attempt? Is it to move the 2nd recovery partition to the end of the drive? Just do one operation at a time.
Move the 2nd recovery partition, and commit that action.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:

Unfortunately, Windows does a little too much referral to
things via "Partition4", when using a GUID would have made
the environment insensitive to the first pattern. And if
you do execute a "sort" operation, you have to think carefully
about any Windows subsystems that are already wired wrongly
or are booby-trapped.

Moving the 2nd (last) recovery partition (partition 4) will not change
its partition index number. It was P4 before the move, and still P4
after the move.

.----.----.----.----.-------------------------.
| P1 | P2 | P3 | P4 | unallocated | '----'----'----'----'-------------------------'
^---------- move ---------V .----.----.----.-------------------------.----.
| P1 | P2 | P3 | unallocated | P4 | '----'----'----'-------------------------'----'

The old scheme in boot.ini to reference partitions by their relative
index order would remain intact after the move. Resizing the P3
partition into the unallocation space still doesn't change the relative indexing of the partitions.

.----.----.----.-------------------------.----.
| P1 | P2 | P3 | unallocated | P4 | '----'----'----'-------------------------'----'
^-- resize --V
.----.----.----------------.-------------.----.
| P1 | P2 | P3 | unallocated | P4 | '----'----'----------------'-------------'----'

Their GUID partition table is a new monster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

The disk manager tool moving around partitions would have to change the
LBA offsets in the GUI partition table. Really not much of a difference
from the old MBA partition table that specified cluster offsets for
where each partition started, and how long it was.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Because you might change your mind while making multiple changes to the partitioning layout, the partition managers let you select 1, or more,
actions but do not commit them until you choose everything you specified
is really what you want. After specifying what changes to make, do you actually tell the partition manager to apply (commit) those *proposed*
changes?

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2026/6/24 13:59:50, Daniel70 wrote:
[]

Fokke, might this be because you are trying to use a program ON your
Hard Drive to alter the make-up OF that Hard-Drive??

Although I'm not advocating it, I _think_ every time I have used a
partition manager, that _has_ been the case, and I've not encountered
any disasters that I can remember; I think sometimes it's not done what
I wanted, but no disasters. (I think the times when it didn't do what I
wanted, repeating the attempt - perhaps after a restart - was successful.)

Try installing your Partition Manager onto a USB Drive, then boot into
that USB Drive and see if you can make the required changes ..... after having Backed Up your main drive first.

Could it be that (my efforts worked, anyway) because when you initiate
the software, it loads into memory, and then runs from there?
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Hadrian's Wall has never been a border between Scotland and England. It
lies entirely within England but, when it was built in AD 122 by the
Romans as a defence against the raiding Picts, the future English were
still in Germany and the Scottish were still in Ireland.
- Michael Cullen, Skye, in RT 2014/12/6-12

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Wed, 6/24/2026 5:47 PM, VanguardLH wrote:

Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:

Unfortunately, Windows does a little too much referral to
things via "Partition4", when using a GUID would have made
the environment insensitive to the first pattern. And if
you do execute a "sort" operation, you have to think carefully
about any Windows subsystems that are already wired wrongly
or are booby-trapped.

Moving the 2nd (last) recovery partition (partition 4) will not change
its partition index number. It was P4 before the move, and still P4
after the move.

.----.----.----.----.-------------------------.
| P1 | P2 | P3 | P4 | unallocated | '----'----'----'----'-------------------------'
^---------- move ---------V .----.----.----.-------------------------.----.
| P1 | P2 | P3 | unallocated | P4 | '----'----'----'-------------------------'----'

The old scheme in boot.ini to reference partitions by their relative
index order would remain intact after the move. Resizing the P3
partition into the unallocation space still doesn't change the relative indexing of the partitions.

.----.----.----.-------------------------.----.
| P1 | P2 | P3 | unallocated | P4 | '----'----'----'-------------------------'----'
^-- resize --V
.----.----.----------------.-------------.----.
| P1 | P2 | P3 | unallocated | P4 | '----'----'----------------'-------------'----'

Their GUID partition table is a new monster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

The disk manager tool moving around partitions would have to change the
LBA offsets in the GUI partition table. Really not much of a difference
from the old MBA partition table that specified cluster offsets for
where each partition started, and how long it was.

I'm referring to the general case. Fokke is not affected by this.

If you use Partition Managers a lot, partitions can end up renumbered, instead of in the order you were expecting. The "diskpart.exe" and the "list partition" can show that mis-numbering. It can be fixed in Linux gdisk "sort" command.

That's one of the problems with PM applications. They're not all equal, and some have different side effects than others.

PowerQuest Partition Magic was one of the first to do that. On one
operation, it could have left the partitions in order (partition number monotonically increasing with partition offset) but this would require
editing the boot.ini of WinXP. So instead of editing boot.ini, it instead
puts the partition table out of order, so the boot.ini is still correct
for OS bring up. Macrium Reflect, uses the opposite priority -- it will
edit files on your disk, when an operation it carries out would break something. But the <defunct> PowerQuest people had religion, and only
did things a certain way, and that way was to *not* edit files, and
that knowledge was necessary, so repair people would know what to expect
from a philosophical point of view.

The collective fleet of Partition Management applications today, are
not consistent with one another, on side-effects. You as the user,
have to memorize a table of quirks, if you do a lot of this work.

The most serious and severe error, is when a Partition Manager causes overlapping partitions, and this risks corruption at some point.
Sometimes a *second* Partition Manager, will alert you to the
overlap of definitions, to you don't have to look too hard to find
this. Otherwise, it would be a damn nuisance to detect. The OS
may not alert you to the situation, whereas a Partition Manager is
doing these checks, of its own results, and it can apply that logic
when the Partition Manager is started. I might have been seeing
more of these on MSDOS partitioned disks (extended-logical, with overlaps).

This is just a cautionary tale. I want people who become "attached" to
the idea of Partition Management to know, there is a price to be paid for their usage. Some operations are "damn dangerous", such as "changing cluster size"
or "Merging two partitions". As long as you stick to "Move/Resize",
that's mostly well understood, and there aren't quite as many "fatalities"
with that command. The Acronis Disk Director [Discontinued] offered
to change cluster size, and I only noticed the damage quite by accident
later (files in System32 with "zero size" is pretty deadly). I had my
backup before I tested that command, because I figured their
staff were out of their freaking minds for having attempted that.

Paul

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)