linderman

you cant merge or extend partitions from within windows tools

to accomplish such tasks you will need to purchase a partition modification program like the one mentioned above. The free version of PM 8.0 only lets you get a "feel" of the program, it wont actually make changes to your partition structure

the next best thing is just format the unallocated section, then you will be able to use it.

You may run into the 137 gig drive barrier anyway; after your merge the partitions.

if you want more info about that, then google for 137gig drive barrier Win XP

so; unless you have since added SP-1 or SP-2 (service packs) then merging your partitions alone is not going to be the answer anyway ???????

while in disk management / right click on the unallocated section of the hard drive and select "format"

after its done formatting , you can use the space