I believe so. If memory serves, I had to do that on an old laptop some time back. I can't recall for certain though, so don't want to push you in a direction that may cause issues.

Formatting C will still leave the partitions as is, just FYI.

Do you by any chance have any system files on D:? Users, ProgramData, pagefile, hibernation, etc? That may be what's causing you to be unable to delete the partition.

And I always thought it was the perfect cataclysm of a hard-drive, erasing among other things the OS, and leaving a clean slate for an implementation.

One of those over-rated things then, and a pity that, almost!

I'll probably see by summer (when my Win 10 dinge expires) if I am more entitled to my own c-dive in the upgraded OS, eh.
Thanks for asking, I appreciate it. :-)

Just some sort of "dump..." files - six of them - which I mercilessly deleted in my attempts to merge D: with C:. So now D: is empty, but still I can only shrink its volume, not delete it.

And even when I had unallocated space, I could not extend C: within the internal "disk management" tool of Win 8.1 on my laptop.

It sounds like you're trying to resize C: while running Windows on the same drive? IIRC, you can't do that; the volume isn't allowed to be in use while resizing.

You'll need to boot into something else - a Windows installation disk, a Linux-based utility CD, or possibly the recovery environment (depending on how your PC manufacturer has set that one up) and resize it from there.

If your C drive was located *after* your D drive on the disk (Disk Management will show you where on the disk the partitions are located), then I *think* you'll need the Linux-based option in order to move the partition over - I don't think that's built into the Windows partition manager, but it can definitely be done with a Linux disc.

For a usable Linux disc, GParted live should be pretty easy to use. I used that tool when I moved my Windows partition onto a pair of 3TB; it includes a nice GUI and it's about as easy to deal with as Disk Management. This route *will* be able to resize your partition (but you might want to have a Windows disk ready in case of boot problems).

If you don't have any blank disks handy, you can also make a bootable USB stick from the Linux CD using UNetbooin. (In that case, you can grab e.g. SystemRescueCD using its built-in downloader; that contains GParted as well.)

Also, word of caution: do *not* delete the EFI partition under any circumstance. Your system needs it to boot. (The recovery partitions should - at least in theory - be disposable, but it might make it harder for you in case you ever run into computer trouble, so I'd leave them unless you really, really need their space.)

I use MiniTool Partition Wizard for all my partitioning and formatting needs.

No this is not an advertisement haha. I just think it does a good job. Haven't had any problems arise yet after a few years of use now. It can be found on Giveaway Radar and mostiwant from time to time. Though, you may want to check compatibility with Win8/10 first. It works great for me and MUCH faster than windows' built-in partition manager, but I've been using it on Win7.

It's saved me from throwing away quite a few flash drives and SD cards. Not to mention recovering single boot from multi boot. (With the help of EasyBCD for MBR reconstruction)

There is plenty of freeware available to partition and reclaim space,they are a bit fiddly but will do the job.I would try this before reinstalling everything.

Well, C: is "boot" and "primary partition" so yes, I would guess.

And pray do not add insult to injury! (Being playfully melodramatic here, u do not, of course, and thx for offering advice.)

I am old-fashioned in a sense that I really like an installation disk for my OS - with this lap-top, I was given an USB stick with some sort of digital restoration possibility. I even imagine it is more an "image" than an actual operating system with repair utility, but maybe this is just me unfairly wishing for an OS CD.

The volume of physical memory attributed to the "boot" or "primary" is random within capacity, the way I see it, and I only wish I could randomize it myself.

What you suggest is that I should shift the booting action elsewhere to resize C: (as it is the boot drive). Do I understand you correctly?

(Understanding, first step. Figuring out how to possibly do, the next.)

I think I would probably first bite to bullet, upgrade to Win 10, as per replies here with Win7 and 10 this works - and then become truly despondent.

I am not really pro-tech - I do not even build my own rig, lol - so I hope you do not find me prissy when I say that I am always quite hesitant about free-ware, because one would want it to be vetted, and I am not in the know, as such.

And when my end-user sentiment tells me that the feature should be available by the provider, anyway, native.

Any freeware you would recommend, in this context? Or never needed, and cannot say?

I would advertise for Baldur's Gate, meaning promoting something good can be very helpful; and I did meanwhile google it, and this tool seems to have a strong endorsement, even if the sample size is only 13.

May I ask though: are you referring to the free ware, or the licenced version?

So what my C:\ drive is 232 GB
What specs is your SYSTEM? if you don't know you can use Piriforms speccy Install here then put your specs on here!

If everything you want there fits - good on you!

Edit: "if you save the day."

Windows 8.1 on Acer laptop. Pidgeot suggest Windows does not handle adjusting the boot drive.

Could be rather true for Windows OS, but from my boot-camping Win on Mac OS, I thought it was sort of normal to adjust main OS boot drive.

From the boot-camp installation, I have two booting partitions, but both were prompting an OS for sure: one for Mac and one for Windows. And the windows partition is carved out of the main OS partition.

You will have to search as I can't post links but there is a lot out there that is very good.

also I'm guessing you've somehow configured a Virtual Boot to windows 8.1 Cannot adjust boot drives by default you May need a third party program for that like partition magic but that might wreck your win 8.1 config okay you say you are running windows inside mac os?

okay how MUCH virtual drive space do you have in the win 8.1 setup?

You may have to run bootcamp and adjust it through there it may work!

okay which OS do you want to keep?

did you know windows has a compression feature!

Okay Here http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/windows-8-partition-manager/windows-8-disk-management.htm