Merging partitions with disk utility

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I've actually got a couple questions...

I'm running Leopard on a 500GB drive. I've got 2 partitions, each 250GB, named "Leopard" and "Local Disk". The OS is installed on "Leopard", and "Local Disk" is empty. Here's my question:

Is there any way to merge the 2 partitions and make the "Leopard" volume a fill 500GB? Can this be done in Disk Utility?

ALSO, how can I create an encrypted volume? Is this possible? Or can I only create an encrypted image? I wouldn't mind leaving the "Local Disk" partition if I could find a way to encrypt it. If you can help, please let me know.

Thanks!
 
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Without third party software, you cannot non-destructively merge your partitions. I have heard others recommend iPartition to do what you want, but have no experience there.
 
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When you select the second partition look on the right side of the partition diagram. If a line appears like "this partition will not be deleted" then you wont be able to merge it with disk utility else select the second partition which is empty and then click on the (-) sign at the bottom. Once the partition is deleted, you can drag the main partition till the end to make one partition.

But honestly I still haven't got the logic on which the disk utility decides whether it can delete the partition or not.
 
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I believe the surest way you can nondestructively merge the partitions with Disk Utility is by first copying all the files from "Local Disk" to "Leopard", then delete "Local Disk", and finally resize "Leopard".

As for encrypting a drive... will File Vault work, or is that only for a user's home folder? You can always check VersionTracker.com and search there for encryption software. Surely someone makes one.
 
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Yeah, I'm having a few problems. Here's what it shows when I try to partition:

Local Disk:

This volume will not be erased.
Size: 215.8 GB
Available space: 215.8 GB

Leopard:

This volume is the Startup volume, it can not be erased.
Size: 250.0 GB
Available space: 250.0 GB (eventhough it's almost full)

The plus (+) and minus (-) options are both greyed out for both drives. I'm not sure if it matters or not, but the OS is on the 2nd partition (so basically "Local Disk" comes before "Leopard"). I tried to use disk utility to copy the contents of "Leopard" to "Local Disk" and boot off of it, but I just got a black flashing cursor. I guess it's not a huge deal, just kind of annoying that I can't merge the two partitions. Any other suggestions?
 
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Download a live Boot CD called Gparted. its great for working with partitions
 
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Partition shows wrong size

I followed the instructions at that site and everything seemed to work fine, but now my finder still show shows the old size. i.e. the amount available is still really low...
 

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