Remove partition

[Footbacon]

I've had my Vaio for about a year and desperately need to remove the partition to get some more space.

I've got all of my docs, music etc on an external hard drive but still there's hardly any space left on c:

Downloaded Partition Magic last night to try and merge C: & 😧 When I tried to merge them it said I needed more space to do so! Then something went wrong and I think I've deleted the D:. I *think* that the third one down in this screenshot is my D:, but it's called '*' instead now.



Have I completely screwed it up? How do I get the 😧 back and how do I remove the partition?

[Footbacon]

Me again!

This isn't really the right place to be asking but maybe one of you can give a link to somewhere that can help.

When uninstalling programs I uninstalled my DVD burner, DVD Burning Xpress. I've reinstalled it and tried to burn something but it won't work. The program seems to be running fine but when it finishes and says that the DVD has been burnt, the disc doesn't eject and the DVD is still blank. I've checked the disc properties and made sure that the 'enable CD recording' box is ticked but I'm still having no luck.

The device status says that it's working properly but it's not. And the troubleshooter is rubbish.

I get the feeling that the problem is not with DVD Burning Xpress, but with my DVD burner. Any ideas on how I can figure out how to fix it?

Cheers

[Blencogo]

Hi Footbacon,

What model Vaio do you have?

Have you tried using another DVD burner to see if that works?

[Footbacon]

VGN-FJ1S_W

I've just tried downloading DVD Santa to see if it'll work with that but I keep getting an error message saying it's encountered a problem and needs to shut down whenever I run it.

Can you recommend another one for me to try out?

[Blencogo]

You should have Roxio DigitalMedia SE 7 installed on your Vaio. Have you tried that?

What are you trying to burn? You are not trying to Drag and Drop Files to DVD?

Too many DVD burning programs tend to cause conflicts.

Check in Device Manager that your DVD/CD-ROM drive has no yellow errors next to it. Also check that your Primary IDE Channel has no errors (You will find this in IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers).

Failing this, I would uninstall ALL DVD burning software and reinstall just one.

[Footbacon]

Hi Blencogo,

I uninstalled both Santa and Xpress, found a different burning program and tried that but still no luck.

Something I've just noticed is when I click the properties of the F: and go into the recording tab is that it's unticked itself. Also, I'm not familiar with how it looked before messing around with it at the weekend, but the F: recording tab says 'desktop CD recording' and the only box to tick is 'enable CD recording'. Is that right or should it say 'enable DVD recording'?

I'm trying to burn an AVI file

Another dumb question: where exactly do I find the Device Manager area?

Thank you

[Thalamus.]

Another dumb question: where exactly do I find the Device Manager area?

Hi Footbacon

To open Device manager go to Start > Run > type devmgmt.msc and press OK..

[Footbacon]

Cheers Thalamus

Okay, can't see any error messages in there.

IDE ATE/ATAPI doesn't show anything either. There's only a general tab and then it says IDE ATE/ATAPI controllers. No error messages.

Uninstalling all burning programs and reinstalling just one hasn't worked either.

Anything else I can try?

[rich912]

Hi Footbacon,

I’m afraid that this is a long shot, but just for the hell of it try disabling the IMAPI service (Start > Run > services.msc > enter > scroll down to IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service > Double click and under startup type select disable > Apply.

Re-boot and test your burning software. If this has no effect then reverse the process and set to manual (startup type).

[Footbacon]

Hi Rich,

Just tried doing that but on starting up Xpress found *another* problem! Every time I open it up I get 'Xpress has encountered a problem and has to close' Uninstalled it, reinstalled and the same thing happens again. I've had this happen before with Santa ages ago but can't remember how I fixed it that time.

I'll keep tampering.