Change the partition of an external drive using Disk Utility?

I wish to change partition scheme, sizes, in an external drive. All the partitions are MacOS extended (Journaled) and they map, according to the layout in Disk Utility, as follows: Partion 1, 2, 3,4 where 1 is at the top and 4, the bottom. I want to make partition 2 larger, so I decreased partition 1 by half. Now the layout is 1 a, 1b, 2,3,4., where 1b is now free space. Disk Utility will not allow me to increase the size of  partition 2 by dragging the corner. Which of the following options (if any) will allow me to increase the size of partition 2, without erasing the data, using Disk Utility:
Select partition 2 and manually writing a new value in the size box, equal to the present partition’s size plus the free space?
If I delete partition 1 completely, will I then be able to increase the size of partition 2?
If I delete partitions 1, 3, and 4, will I then be allowed to increase the size of partion 2?
Is there another option?
Thanks
(Actually, partition 3 is an eDrive, a data recovery utility created by TechTool Pro 7, so I don’t really know how it’s formatted.)
OS10.9.4, MacBook Pro, SeagateHD 1.5TB USB drive.

You cannot re-size the existing partitions in such a way that you can take the space from a shrunken partition and add it to another partition. Disk Utility cannot do that. If you have an existing partition that lives above another partition, then you can delete the lower partition in order to expand the upper partition into the freed up space. This concept applies to any additional partitions that are below another partition. Disk Utility can do this. You can resize down, but not up, except when creating new partitions. You would need third-party software such as iPartition 3.4.3 to accomplish that feat.

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