Resize partitions

[Andrew Rossmann]

Is it possible to resize partitions in Win7 without resorting to 3rd
party software, or having to reinstall everything?

Basically, most computers come with everything set up on one giant
partition. Do the stock Windows tools let you shrink that partition down
so you can create your own?

 

[Tester]

Is it possible to resize partitions in Win7 without resorting to 3rd
party software, or having to reinstall everything?

Basically, most computers come with everything set up on one giant
partition. Do the stock Windows tools let you shrink that partition down
so you can create your own?

No you can't without using third party tools like acronis Disk Manager
and/or Partition Magic. I believe partition magic isn't compatible with
Win7 so stay away from it.

 

[James Silverton]

No you can't without using third party tools like acronis Disk Manager
and/or Partition Magic. I believe partition magic isn't compatible with
Win7 so stay away from it.

Partition Manager used to work well but I don't think it has been
updated since Symantec bought it years ago.

--


James Silverton, Potomac

I'm "not"
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Stan Brown]

Is it possible to resize partitions in Win7 without resorting to 3rd
party software, or having to reinstall everything?

Basically, most computers come with everything set up on one giant
partition. Do the stock Windows tools let you shrink that partition down
so you can create your own?

Yes, this is part of Windows 7 -- and that's a good thing, because
the once-excellent Partition Magic is now owned by Symantec, and we
all know what that implies.

Click the Start button and type
create partition
to bring up the disk and partition manager.

 

[richard]

Is it possible to resize partitions in Win7 without resorting to 3rd
party software, or having to reinstall everything?

Basically, most computers come with everything set up on one giant
partition. Do the stock Windows tools let you shrink that partition down
so you can create your own?

You certainly can.
Once you have the disk manager open, you will probably notice there is no
available space.
So you have to shrink the single partition to begin with.
Once you've done that, partition the new unallocated space as desired.
Shouldn't take more than a minute at the most.

 

[Flint]

Is it possible to resize partitions in Win7 without resorting to 3rd
party software, or having to reinstall everything?

Basically, most computers come with everything set up on one giant
partition. Do the stock Windows tools let you shrink that partition down
so you can create your own?

It is indeed possible to resize partitions in Windows 7.

You need to use Windows Disk Management tool, and the 'shrink volume'
or 'expand volume' features in the context-menu in order to resize them.

Having said that, the 'shrink volume' feature is rather limited
however, and may not let you shrink a partition/volume as small as you
might be able to with other partition management software. This is
partly because Windows seems to have a problem dealing with moving
meta-data around. If you find Windows doesn't let you shrink a
partition to a desired size below a certain point, you'll need to use
third party software. There are several free tools, one of which is
the Hiren's BootCD which an .iso image of can be downloaded at:
http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

 

[Flint]

Is it possible to resize partitions in Win7 without resorting to 3rd
party software, or having to reinstall everything?

Basically, most computers come with everything set up on one giant
partition. Do the stock Windows tools let you shrink that partition down
so you can create your own?

A couple of other tools


MiniTool's Partition Wizard (Home Edition)
http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

EaseUS Partition tool
http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/resize-partition-windows-7.htm
Freely downloadable home edition:
http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm

 

[Peter Jason]

Leave it alone. You don't need more than one partition.

This is what I have done with a HDD of 1Tb. HDDs are so cheap, just
buy more for your other partitions.

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

Is it possible to resize partitions in Win7 without resorting to 3rd
party software, or having to reinstall everything?

Basically, most computers come with everything set up on one giant
partition. Do the stock Windows tools let you shrink that partition down
so you can create your own?

You can not resize the partitions without a third party tool. I have
used Partition Wizard under Windows7 32b with no problems. You can find
it here;

http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services

Web site: http://csdcs.site90.net/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)90.net

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

It is indeed possible to resize partitions in Windows 7.

You need to use Windows Disk Management tool, and the 'shrink volume' or
'expand volume' features in the context-menu in order to resize them.

Having said that, the 'shrink volume' feature is rather limited however,
and may not let you shrink a partition/volume as small as you might be
able to with other partition management software. This is partly because
Windows seems to have a problem dealing with moving meta-data around. If
you find Windows doesn't let you shrink a partition to a desired size
below a certain point, you'll need to use third party software. There
are several free tools, one of which is the Hiren's BootCD which an .iso
image of can be downloaded at: http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

In theory if the volume were properly defragged you could use the tool.
Since I only tried it a few times and it failed every time, I used
Partition Wizard which can be found at;

http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services

Web site: http://csdcs.site90.net/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)90.net

 

[Flint]

In theory if the volume were properly defragged you could use the
tool. Since I only tried it a few times and it failed every time, I
used Partition Wizard which can be found at;

http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services

Web site: http://csdcs.site90.net/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)90.net

In theory is correct. In practice however, it isn't just a metadata
issue, it's also MFT fragmention, location of MFT fragments, swapfile
size and location, system locked/unmovable files in general.

Defragging will help to a degree, but quite often by itself it simply
won't let you shrink a volume below a certain point to a desired size
and the *only* way to force a partition to resize is to do so outside
of windows.

I use MiniTool's Partition Wizard myself, and I bought it because it
was considerably less expensive than Acronis Disk Director, but could
also do non-destructive dynamic disk to basic disk 'back conversion'
running natively from within Windows.

 

[Flint]

You can not resize the partitions without a third party tool. I have
used Partition Wizard under Windows7 32b with no problems. You can
find it here;

http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

Actually you can indeed resize partitions with Windows own Disk
Management tool. I've done it many times. You just can't always
resize them downward as small as you like without a 3rd party tool.

Just recently had a brand new HP laptop I wanted to partition the
500GB drive's "C:" drive into a 60GB "C:" and the balance of drive
space for a "D:" partition so I could move the user folders there. I
was able to resize the C: drive down to 183GB partition, but no
further without using Partition Wizard outside of Windows.
Ultimately, I did get the C: drive down to 60GB however, but Windows
own Disk Management's 'Shrink' volume partition did initially shrink
the c: drive down to 183GB.

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

In theory is correct. In practice however, it isn't just a metadata
issue, it's also MFT fragmention, location of MFT fragments, swapfile
size and location, system locked/unmovable files in general.

Defragging will help to a degree, but quite often by itself it simply
won't let you shrink a volume below a certain point to a desired size
and the *only* way to force a partition to resize is to do so outside of
windows.

I use MiniTool's Partition Wizard myself, and I bought it because it was
considerably less expensive than Acronis Disk Director, but could also
do non-destructive dynamic disk to basic disk 'back conversion' running
natively from within Windows.

Hi MFB,

I felt it necessary to say because Microsoft is offering a tool that
cannot do the job. Unfortunately, people will attempt to use it and at
the least cost them time (as in wasted).

If nothing else I feel that at least occasionally people should be made
aware of what they are using before they use/depend on it to do the job.

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services

Web site: http://csdcs.site90.net/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)90.net

 

[Paul]

Actually you can indeed resize partitions with Windows own Disk
Management tool. I've done it many times. You just can't always resize
them downward as small as you like without a 3rd party tool.

Just recently had a brand new HP laptop I wanted to partition the 500GB
drive's "C:" drive into a 60GB "C:" and the balance of drive space for a
"D:" partition so I could move the user folders there. I was able to
resize the C: drive down to 183GB partition, but no further without
using Partition Wizard outside of Windows. Ultimately, I did get the C:
drive down to 60GB however, but Windows own Disk Management's 'Shrink'
volume partition did initially shrink the c: drive down to 183GB.

Using the method I came up with, I didn't need to leave Windows
to shrink C:.

The combination of the Disk Management "shrink" function, plus
defragmentation with Raxco PerfectDisk (downloaded evaluation
copy), got me from 320GB down to 30GB. It took multiple passes,
because PerfectDisk wouldn't push everything to the left in one
try. But multiple cycles of defrag/shrink/defrag/shrink eventually
got the job done, and all without leaving Windows.

I didn't invent this. I first tried the Windows 7 built-in shrink function,
and got greeted with getting stuck at only a 50% shrink. Then, I
did a few searches, and someone mentioned in there, that if you had
the right defragmentation tool, you could do better. It took a while,
but eventually I got what I wanted.

Paul

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

Actually you can indeed resize partitions with Windows own Disk
Management tool. I've done it many times. You just can't always resize
them downward as small as you like without a 3rd party tool.

Just recently had a brand new HP laptop I wanted to partition the 500GB
drive's "C:" drive into a 60GB "C:" and the balance of drive space for a
"D:" partition so I could move the user folders there. I was able to
resize the C: drive down to 183GB partition, but no further without
using Partition Wizard outside of Windows. Ultimately, I did get the C:
drive down to 60GB however, but Windows own Disk Management's 'Shrink'
volume partition did initially shrink the c: drive down to 183GB.

I hate to flog a dead horse, but almost only counts in horse-shoes. For
a lot of people, especially those non-technical types who want their
computer to be nothing more than a tool, they don't want to have to try
a couple of different things (time is money and unlike money time can
not be recovered/replaced once it is loss).

I am glad you have had some luck with the MS tool to be honest, I
haven't had any luck with it so I don't use it and if someone tells me
that they need to do a re-partition, I point them to a tool that I know
works.

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services

Web site: http://csdcs.site90.net/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)90.net

 

[Flint]

Using the method I came up with, I didn't need to leave Windows
to shrink C:.

The combination of the Disk Management "shrink" function, plus
defragmentation with Raxco PerfectDisk (downloaded evaluation
copy), got me from 320GB down to 30GB. It took multiple passes,
because PerfectDisk wouldn't push everything to the left in one
try. But multiple cycles of defrag/shrink/defrag/shrink eventually
got the job done, and all without leaving Windows.

If it works fine, I just don't feel like taking multiple defrag
'wacks' just to partition a drive. It's kind of the tail wagging the
dog.

I've heard of Raxco PerfectDisk, although I haven't used it because I
couldn't see what it offered over the venerable Diskeeper between the
pay version defraggers. For my clients, I generally use Auslogics
defragger (its free), but by the time I install and config that, I've
already done the partition shrinks I need to do. Between, my
Partition Wizard Boot media CD, or my Hiren's BootCD, I usually like
to do the partitioning first, separate the user's folders/files from
Windows OS files by locating each on their own partitions, and in
addition, if I can, create a dedicated partition ofr use by EaseUS
ToDo Backup as a custom recovery partition where I create and store a
backup image of the entire environment (if the customer doesn't want
to spend the money for another HD for backup purposes).

 

[Flint]

I hate to flog a dead horse, but almost only counts in horse-shoes.
For a lot of people, especially those non-technical types who want
their computer to be nothing more than a tool, they don't want to have
to try a couple of different things (time is money and unlike money
time can not be recovered/replaced once it is loss).

I am glad you have had some luck with the MS tool to be honest, I
haven't had any luck with it so I don't use it and if someone tells me
that they need to do a re-partition, I point them to a tool that I
know works.

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services

Web site: http://csdcs.site90.net/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)90.net

No problem. Generally I agree about using the right tool for the job.
I just don't like to recommend _any_ partitioning tools (even
Windows *own* shrink function) to _any_ non-tech types. To much to
get them into trouble with if they don't understand what they're
doing. Like you, I haven't had much luck with it either on resizing a
boot drive downward. I've almost always had to resort to a 3rd party
tool myself.

 

[Stan Brown]

You can not resize the partitions without a third party tool.

I've seen that FALSE information posted twice in this thread alone.

This was one of the improvements in Vista, according to Bott's
/Windows 7 Inside Out/. I have no experience with Vista, but I can
attest that I have repartitioned my hard drive in Windows 7 with
nothing but the native tools. As I posted Saturday:

Click the Start button and type
create partition
to bring up the disk and partition manager.

 

[Gordon]

"Tester" wrote in message

No you can't without using third party tools

Not true at all. You can certainly shrink the one partition to create space
to add a second partition within Windows 7. The only proviso is that the
built-in Windows Disk management tool will not shrink the partition beyond
the first immovable file it encounters. if that creates enough space to make
the second partition then fine. And if it doesn't, then yes a third-party
tool will be needed.

 

[Gordon]

"Stan Brown" wrote in message

Click the Start button and type
create partition
to bring up the disk and partition manager.

Only one major problem - the built-in Disk manager will NOT shrink any
partition beyond the first immovable file it encounters - in which case if
the space created is not enough, then a third-party app will be needed...