Partitioning

[Sparky]

Using Win 7 / 64

My HD is 500 gig and I tried to shrink C drive to around 150 mg , but it
ended up being 250 ( perhaps my calculation was off ?)

I'd like to reduce it to 150 and allocated the spare 100 to another
existing partition ( J)

Is that possible using Disk Management ?

Thanks !

 

[philo]

Using Win 7 / 64

My HD is 500 gig and I tried to shrink C drive to around 150 mg , but it
ended up being 250 ( perhaps my calculation was off ?)

I'd like to reduce it to 150 and allocated the spare 100 to another
existing partition ( J)

Is that possible using Disk Management ?

Thanks !

In theory possible

but somehow you've tried it and failed

Hard to guess at what you did

 

[Sparky]

In theory possible

but somehow you've tried it and failed

Hard to guess at what you did

I'm going to nuke the lot and start again , so I guess I'll get another shot
at it ?

Thanks

 

[Andrew Gabb]

Using Win 7 / 64

My HD is 500 gig and I tried to shrink C drive to around 150 mg , but it
ended up being 250 ( perhaps my calculation was off ?)

I'd like to reduce it to 150 and allocated the spare 100 to another
existing partition ( J)

Is that possible using Disk Management ?

I had exactly the same problem with Win7/32.

I fixed it by turning off paging and recovery before shrinking. Recovery
is under system protection. Paging is harder to find, under System
Properties /Advanced /Performance Settings /Advanced /Virtual Memory
/Change.

Andrew

 

[philo]

I'm going to nuke the lot and start again , so I guess I'll get another
shot at it ?

Thanks

As long as data are all backed up...
sure delete and start over

 

[Sparky]

I had exactly the same problem with Win7/32.

I fixed it by turning off paging and recovery before shrinking. Recovery
is under system protection. Paging is harder to find, under System
Properties /Advanced /Performance Settings /Advanced /Virtual Memory
/Change.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew..I didn't think of that. I'll give it a try

 

[Walter R.]

The minimum size of the C: drive depends on where the files with a fixed
location are on your c: drive.

I just used Win 7 Disk Management to shrink my 500 GB C drive to 300 GB
(minimum allowed). I then created two new 100 GB partitions in the new
unallocated space.

 

[Sparky]

Hi Walter

That's basically that happened to me , although I was able to get C drive to
235g.

Why would there be a minimum size for C drive ?...unless it was under say 50
g?

Just curious of course. With my documents on the other partitions , I was
hoping for around 150 on C

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Sparky.

The problem is not with either the number of files on the partition, or even
with their size. The problem with trying to shrink the volume is the
LOCATION on the surface of the disk platter of UNMOVABLE files. If that 500
GB partition has a 20 KB unmovable file in its very last track, it cannot be
shrunk at all, even if that is the only file in the partition.

Most "unmovable" files are, in fact, movable - if you use the right program.
Many disk defragmenters can move such files to near the front of the
partition, removing that limit on shrinking the partition size. Some may be
dealt with by simply copying or moving them to another location; perhaps
moving to a different partition and then moving them back, letting the OS
find a new, more favorable location on the disk. Other files are more
difficult to deal with; you might even need third-party software, such as
some programs offered by Acronis, Raxco and others. Files that are
"unmovable" are often also undeletable. No, sorry, I don't have a list of
either unmovable files or programs to move them, but I'm sure there are
several readers here who can help with that.

Searching for "unmovable files" in either Bing or Google shows that this is
certainly not a new phenomenon. The first hits in Bing are to MSKB
articles, last updated in 1999, for MS-DOS. The page file is often
mentioned, but there are other files that can be unmovable.

Once the "unmovable" files have been moved - or simply deleted, if
appropriate - Disk Management should have no problem with shrinking the
partition to a size only slightly larger than the actual used space.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64

 

[Sparky]

Hi RC...

Thanks to a video on YouTube , I discovered the secret !

I used Perfect Disk to optimize the volume and sure enough , then I tried to
shrink it , I was told I could have the 100mg I was after.

Those little squares in the bottom of the display window seem to have
prevented by first attempt. Once they were ' up where they belonged ' all
was OK.

It's VERY frustrating when you're trying to do something and get ' stuck '
, but it's also rewarding when you find the answer ! It's a pity the lag
between the 2 takes so much time!

Thanks again

Sparky

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Sparky.

Great! I'm glad it worked out for you. And thanks for the feedback; it
will probably help others with the same questions. ;<)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64

 

[Sparky]

I was REALLY frustrated because I couldn't understand why I wouldn't allow
me to go any lower than 250g , but of course, once you understand the reason
, it makes perfect sense!

I have to say that I've found a LOT of useful information ( and some that's
not so great as well ) by just going to YouTube and searching.
It doesn't take very long and really , there's a wealth of information there
, and of course , it's all visual so you can see it in action.
Just a suggestion for others seeking ' Higher Wisdom' !

Best of the season to all the Happy Win 7 users !!!! <G> ( and good luck to
the ones who'll be joining us AFTER Xmas....)

 

[Gerard Bok]

Using Win 7 / 64

My HD is 500 gig and I tried to shrink C drive to around 150 mg , but it
ended up being 250 ( perhaps my calculation was off ?)

I'd like to reduce it to 150 and allocated the spare 100 to another
existing partition ( J)

Is that possible using Disk Management ?

Disk Management is rather limited in this respect.
It can shrink NTFS partitions, but it cannot move the MFT (Master
File Table), which is created roughly halfway the originally
assigned size.
That's why you end up with at least half that size. So, the limit
is set by the location of the MFT (and not by 'unmovable files')

You can, however, shrink to less than 50% if you use external
software that is capable of moving --or recreating-- the MFT.
(Either commercial products or Free software.)

 

[Augustus]

That's why you end up with at least half that size. So, the limit

is set by the location of the MFT (and not by 'unmovable files')

You can, however, shrink to less than 50% if you use external
software that is capable of moving --or recreating-- the MFT.
(Either commercial products or Free software.)

When I initially installed Win 7 64 on my wife's XP system, I first used
Acronis Disk Director to partition the 1.2 Terabyte drive in two equal
partitions so that she could dual boot and see whether or not her music and
digital sound editing software and hardware behave properly installed on a
64 bit flavor of Win 7. It seemed to go OK, but every day there were serious
disk error and file corruption on both partitions. Some minor, most serious.
Over 5 days it got to the point where I was sure the RAID controller or one
of the HDD controllers was flaking out. Huge pain. No manner of disk repair
or recovery would fix the issues. Turns out the partitioning done by Acronis
was the issue. The hardware was fine. I hosed everything and did a clean
install with Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit and no more issues. I can say is
that in the many years I've done this, using Partition Magic it's never
happened. Using the MS partition tools over the years I've never had this
happen. Probably done this procedure in excess of 50 times over the last 5
years. Used Acronis for the first time and it did.

 

[Gerard Bok]

I can say is
that in the many years I've done this, using Partition Magic it's never
happened.

But did you ever use PM on a disk over 196 GB in size ? ;-)

(In case you wonder: PM hasn't been updated for years.
When it was current, it's limitation to 192 was no big issue.)

 

[Bullwinkle's news]

But did you ever use PM on a disk over 196 GB in size ? ;-)

(In case you wonder: PM hasn't been updated for years.
When it was current, it's limitation to 192 was no big issue.)

PM is as usual been left on the vine by the company to die a slow death. I
would not use it in Windows 7.

However there is a program that is a good partition manager called Easeus
Partition manster new version is 4.1.1.0 and it works fine with Win7.

There is both a free version and a pay version. You can find them on their
web site (google or bing) Good luck and regards,

 

[Andrew Gabb]

Disk Management is rather limited in this respect.
It can shrink NTFS partitions, but it cannot move the MFT (Master
File Table), which is created roughly halfway the originally
assigned size.
That's why you end up with at least half that size. So, the limit
is set by the location of the MFT (and not by 'unmovable files')

You can, however, shrink to less than 50% if you use external
software that is capable of moving --or recreating-- the MFT.
(Either commercial products or Free software.)

Not my experience. I shrank 2 separate installations to less than 50%
using only W7. One I needed to turn off paging and recovery temporarily,
the other just worked.

Andrew