Problem with partitioning my ext hdd

[bondgirl]

I bought myself a 2TB ext hdd and now I have a problem with partitioning correctly.

I have 3 partitions atm.
1x Fat32
2x NTFs

Now I want to resize the 2nd ntfs partition to get roughly 170gb unlocated space from it which should be merged with the 1st ntfs partition to increase its size. But I have no clue how to do this. Atm Im using "MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional 5.2" but I cant seem to find a way to merge unlocated space to the ntfs. Tried to create an ntfs partition out of the unlocated space and then merge with the 1st ntfs but that doesnt work either (rather I have no clue how to do so).
Anyone can help me out there without formating the 1st and 2nd ntfs partition?

Thanks in advance

[vesseblah]

Better partitioning tools allows you to resize (shrink or grow) partitions from both start and finish, but less than great tools do not have the functionality or only allows you to resize at the end of the partition. I've never heard of the program you're using, but it's entirely possible it can not do it.

Basically what you want to do is first resize the third partition smaller (cut piece off from start), then resize the second partition bigger from the end. Do not create fourth partition in the midlde as merging will not work.

[Azerox]

You can do this in Windows also (vista/7 atleast)

U need to get in disk management, and select NTFS1, rightclick and choose increase size, then u can add the unlocated space to the partition.

Atleast this how i do it, and u can decrease size again also with the same option (no lost of data ofc)

I never have used any other tool for doing this, because (imo) they are not needed.

Edit: You say unlocated, so why do u worry about formating .. its just a empty piece of space?

You dont have to format NTFS partition 1 ofcourse, but you cant (afaik) put 2 data containing partitions togheter.

Then u indeed might need a extra tool for it.

[bondgirl]

Thanks for the replies.

@vesseblah: dunno if its that unknown, it was "new" like 10month ago in my local pc store. Tho it was around 12€.

@ Nerzhak: Ok will try the disc management from w7. And I worried about the merging from the unlocated space to ntfs1, since the program might format ntfs1 b4 the merge. Would loose around 800gb of data then. And yes its unlocated (not even ntfs yet) so it might work.

Else what kind of tool would you recommend to do this safe?

[Dizey]

1. In windows 7 click START and type "DiskMgmt.msc" in the search box. Hit Enter.
2. In the Disk Management window you should see all of your computers volumes.
3. Right click the second NTFS partition on your external, and select Shrink Volume.
4. Follow the instructions, shrinking the volume by 174080MB. This will take a sec. so be patient.
5. Now right click the the first NTFS partition and select Extend Volume.
6. Follow the instructions to extend the volume by 174080MB that you previously unallocated for it.

Yeah, its that simple, and you don't need 3rd party software to do it! /bonk hehe

[Tonk]

do you have data on this drive? If so no matter what the tools say, I'd STRONLG recommend backing it up somewhere first

[bondgirl]

1. In windows 7 click START and type "DiskMgmt.msc" in the search box. Hit Enter.
2. In the Disk Management window you should see all of your computers volumes.
3. Right click the second NTFS partition on your external, and select Shrink Volume.
4. Follow the instructions, shrinking the volume by 174080MB. This will take a sec. so be patient.
5. Now right click the the first NTFS partition and select Extend Volume.
6. Follow the instructions to extend the volume by 174080MB that you previously unallocated for it.

Yeah, its that simple, and you don't need 3rd party software to do it! /bonk hehe

If I try this Im getting an error:

Disk Management failed. The object doesnt support this operation

/e: NVM. Ive done it the "russian" way. I just merged all the NTFS partitions back to one big one. Atleast everything works now properly. Tho the merge took 62mins. Moving almost 1 TB still takes some time

Thanks for the help.