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Thanks for that Cat. My problem (I'm not sure if you'd prefer me to start a new thread with this or not?) is that using the Windows Disk Management tool, when I re-installed Windows 7 (using the Recovery disks I'd made), the files must have been strewn out for miles - because I didn''t partition my new 1TB WD internal HDD before I started, I couldn't - and when I came to partition it (Shrink Volume, first) it said something like: Minimum Shrink size 490,000 MBs!

So then I tried to clone that into a small-ish partition I'd made on a brand new Seagate 1TB external USB HDD, hoping to make *that* bootable, so that I could then re-format and partition my internal drive properly. BUT the cloning spread the files over about 3 different partitions (on the Ext HDD) and wouldn't boot from it anyway.

I mean it was only 3 DVDs, which couldn't have been more than about 14.25 Gigs, maximum. And having a tidy mind, I wanted to squeeze it into as small a volume as possible.

I hope I've made it clear. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Thanks Cat (and Trainable too). I have now used it and agree that it is brilliant. It solved my partitioning problems that the Windows tool wouldn't even look at.

You're right in regard to the self made recovery discs, at least with HP, you're not given a choice of how much of the drive you want to use. The 100MB system partition is created, then the main (or "C") partition, followed by the recovery partition.

If afterwards you want to make space, you have to shrink your "C" partition in order to do so. It's best to use a quality defrag tool prior to doing this, as you'll free up more space to work with. If you can't afford one, or simply don't want to pay, Puran Defrag has one of the best, and free for home users. It does the things that the paid ones does, such as boot time defrag (for system & page file) and has a speed optimizer.

Puran Defrag can be found at:

http://download.cnet.com/Puran-Defra...-10723242.html

It says it's a 30 day trial, but on the home site, says free for home users. Even if you only get 30 days out of it, it's worth it, as it frees up space, during it's last pass it fills the gaps. It has almost a five star rating by CNET.

Hope it helps.

Best of Luck,
Cat