BleepingComputer.com: How to extend partition?

Hi,

I have a 500GB hard disk in my PC, but only one partition of around 40GB size. The rest of the disc is unformatted.

I extended the partition, when I started running out of space for the media center features of Vista, but found that I couldn't record - I <think> this is because I had extended the partition, but into disk space which was unformatted. Does that sound right?

I assumed that when extending the partition, the added space would be formatted at the same time, but it seems not.

I subsequently shrunk the partition back to the original size.

So, can anyone give me step-by-step advice on how to extend my partition and end up with usable space?

Thanks!

What I've always done with partitioning is download the GParted Live CD here. You can also get one to boot from USB, I've just always used the CD. Anyway, just boot up from that, and you should be able to extend, format, split, and manage your partitions just about any way you want!