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Q: I have a 120 GB HD that has been partitioned into three 40 GB HD’s C,D,E. I just reinstalled windows XP onto the computer and I deleted the D and E assuming they would become part of the original C drive regaining a 120 GB HD, after I installed the OS, I now only have 1 40 GB HD, I installed Acronis Disk Director and it recognized the D and E drives now labled I (due to a second HD that has been partitioned as well). My question is if I re-install XP again and delete the C drive as well as the I drive will it combine them as it installs the OS onto the C drive?

A: Hello. You should be able to use Acronis Disk Director to combine the C and the I drive. My understanding is that you now have two drives containing the total disk space that your machine has. I downloaded the software and installed it and did a test. I was able to create a partition, then merge the two back together for the C drive using the following directions.

1. I selected the Automatic mode and clicked Ok.
2. I could now see the C drive and the Q drive.
3. Select Increase free space.
4. Highlight your primary drive, the C: drive.
5. Click Next.
6. Select the secondary drive that you want to take the memory from, for you it will be your I: drive.
7. Click Next.
8. Move the slider to the maximum size of the I: drive.
9. Click Next.
10. Reboot.

Once done you should see that the drives have been merged.

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