Advice: Merge or resize

Here is my current HD setup:

Drive 1
C - 10GB primary partition (almost full)
D - 280GB secondary partition (about 50GB free)
Drive 2
E - 290GB
Drive 3
F - 465GB

My problem is that my primary C partition (which I thought was a good idea at the time) frequently fills up. I've moved everything I can to D other than Windows and system folders and a few applications.

I would like to either:
a) merge C and D without losing data
b) resize C to include some of the empty space on D
c) Image D and move to E and THEN merge C and empty D into one.

My concern with merging is the fact that applications will be directed to the wrong drive letter. Does DD fix the registry to change drive letters that programs are applied to?

Thanks for any advice.

 

farm,

I'd forget merging any two partitions, anywhere. Potentially uncertain results.

That's what I'd do. Resize D: drive 10 GB smaller and then resize C: drive 10 GB larger. Make sure you work from the boot CD and not from Windows.

 

So I need to create a boot CD and use that rather than boot into Windows of the HD?

 

If I transfer the entire contents of D to E (essentially changing physical drive and drive letter) is there a way to quickly find all the references to "D" and change them to "E". OR, do I just have to try and change everything manually (shortcuts, etc.) and wait for conflicts to discover what else needs to be changed.


Actually another thought just came up.
Can I transfer all of D to E and then change drive E's designation to "D", thereby keep all the programs referenced on drive D??

 

If that's what you want to do then yes, that should work. If you have room to copy all of the files on your existing drive D to your existing drive E, then do that first, leaving the current logical partition D empty. Then boot to the Disk Director CD and delete the D partition on your first hard drive. After deleting the partition, resize the C partition to fill the entire drive. Reboot into Windows and you should find that the D drive letter is unassigned, so you can now use Windows Disk Management to change the drive letter on your second hard disk from E to D.