Hard drive "unallocated" - trying to get it back

Please advise if  "hardware" is not the right category for this issue.
I have a Pavilion dv2660se running Vista 32bit Home Premium.  It all started with a system freeze over a week ago.  When attempting to reboot, the system would not come up - all attempts to repair or restore to a previous point failed.  I used my recovery disks to reinstall the system, but this failed.  So, after "chatting" with HP support, I ordered a new set of recovery disks.  When they arrived, I started the system restore with them.  After about 4 hours of loading software, the system seemed to get into an infinite loop of staying up for about 10 seconds then rebooting.  I was able to restart in Safe mode and ultimately in Selective Startup Mode with the installation program disabled so that I could look around.
I realized once I was in Disk Management that the C drive was showing only a total of 25GB (out of a 250GB drive), with only 556MB free.  There were no other drives or partitions shown.  The remaining 209GB showed as "unallocated" and I could not figure out a way to access it.  Just for kicks, I ran the hard drive diagnostics, and it showed everything as passing.
So, I got on "chat" again with HP support.  After some back and forth, I asked if I needed to reformat the entire drive.  They said yes, and had me run the recovery disk again to do that.  Well, there is no option for formatting the entire drive on the recovery disk, so it is going back through the restore process again until it gets to a point where I can look at things again.  And Chat said to get back with them at that point.
I'm not sure I want to go there again!  Does anyone have suggestions for next steps once the system gets back to a point where I can access it?  Appreciate any advice!
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Got it fixed!  I took a chance and got back on chat, this time with an agent who seemed to understand my problem.  He took me through a series of steps Shrink Volumes and Extend Volumes that then showed my total hard drive.  So, other than now having to go through the restore process again, I should be good!

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