System Drive: "Unmovable Files"?

[(PeteCresswell)]

New PC.

Has a single 1-TB drive.

Did a Computer | Manage | Disk Management | System (C | Shrink
Volume and it shrunk it by half with the admonition that "You
cannot shrink a volume beyond the point where any unmovable files
are located...".

Revisited that same functionality, and now it's offering to
shrink it by half again.

Can anybody say what is going on here?

My guess is that those "Unmovable files" are automagically
located in the center of the allocated space for some efficiency
reason and they can be relocated with each successive shrink.

i.e. I would like to hear that I am not trying to fool Mother
Nature and I can iteratively re-shrink until I reach my desired
size of between 60 and 100 gigs for the System partition without
hosing the system.

Am I on the right track?

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

New PC.

Has a single 1-TB drive.

Did a Computer | Manage | Disk Management | System (C | Shrink
Volume and it shrunk it by half with the admonition that "You
cannot shrink a volume beyond the point where any unmovable files
are located...".

Revisited that same functionality, and now it's offering to
shrink it by half again.

Can anybody say what is going on here?

My guess is that those "Unmovable files" are automagically
located in the center of the allocated space for some efficiency
reason and they can be relocated with each successive shrink.

i.e. I would like to hear that I am not trying to fool Mother
Nature and I can iteratively re-shrink until I reach my desired
size of between 60 and 100 gigs for the System partition without
hosing the system.

Am I on the right track?

Yes, as far as it will go (I don't know how far that is). Or you could
use a third party partition manager. AFAIK, they don't honor the
Microsoft restriction.

EaseUS, Partition Magic, and Partition Manager come to mind.

 

[Paul]

New PC.

Has a single 1-TB drive.

Did a Computer | Manage | Disk Management | System (C | Shrink
Volume and it shrunk it by half with the admonition that "You
cannot shrink a volume beyond the point where any unmovable files
are located...".

Revisited that same functionality, and now it's offering to
shrink it by half again.

Can anybody say what is going on here?

My guess is that those "Unmovable files" are automagically
located in the center of the allocated space for some efficiency
reason and they can be relocated with each successive shrink.

i.e. I would like to hear that I am not trying to fool Mother
Nature and I can iteratively re-shrink until I reach my desired
size of between 60 and 100 gigs for the System partition without
hosing the system.

Am I on the right track?

If you're using a certain brand of defragmenter, it will move
the pesky metadata file a bit more to the left. And that
results in the ability to do another shrink, after having
received the warning. That's how I shrank the 320GB C: partition
on my laptop, down to 40GB, using the Windows built-in shrink.
It was a "rinse and repeat" style operation.

What I can't figure out, is why Microsoft couldn't do this.
They must have at least one clever programmer on staff.

As for the position of the metadata file, my laptop is
still working thanks

Paul

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Paul:

That's how I shrank the 320GB C: partition
on my laptop, down to 40GB, using the Windows built-in shrink.
It was a "rinse and repeat" style operation.

...my laptop is still working thanks

Thanks! That was what I was hoping to hear.

 

[BillW50]

What I can't figure out, is why Microsoft couldn't do this.
They must have at least one clever programmer on staff.

You're kidding right? Have you seen the software that has come out of
Microsoft lately? They don't know how to make WLM even to quote messages
anymore. Nor do they know how to add a Start button in Windows. And did
you see that fish under Windows 8? Looks like somebody from kindergarten
had created it.

 

[Char Jackson]

You're kidding right? Have you seen the software that has come out of
Microsoft lately? They don't know how to make WLM even to quote messages
anymore. Nor do they know how to add a Start button in Windows. And did
you see that fish under Windows 8? Looks like somebody from kindergarten
had created it.

This latest "they don't know how to" stuff appears to be completely
made up. Do you have a cite, by chance?

 

[...winston]

"BillW50" wrote in message You're kidding right? Have you seen the software that has come out of
Microsoft lately? They don't know how to make WLM even to quote messages
anymore. Nor do they know how to add a Start button in Windows. And did
you see that fish under Windows 8? Looks like somebody from kindergarten
had created it.
WLM
- MSFT stopped worrying(working on) that feature 3 years ago.
Win8
- Start Button mean you have to use the Start Screen (the Start Screen has the MSFT store app...the era of free software is gone)
- Media Center in Win8 requires Win8 Pro ...and offered via the Anytime Upgrade, if Win8 Standard (fka Home in Win7) is the o/s, an
uprade to Pro (for a fee is necessary)
- Win8 Mail app only supports (Hotmail, Gmail, Exchange and IMAP..no POP3)
Fish
- gone in RTM

 

[Sam Hill]

"BillW50" wrote in message

You're kidding right? Have you seen the software that has come out of
Microsoft lately? They don't know how to make WLM even to quote messages
anymore.

And that's no more obvious than by simply reading the terrible quoting in
the reply by "...winston."

Nor do they know how to add a Start button in Windows. And did
you see that fish under Windows 8? Looks like somebody from kindergarten
had created it.
WLM
- MSFT stopped worrying(working on) that feature 3 years ago.

It's been obvious for years that MSFT stopped working on "decent software"
since .. well, since decades ago.

Win8
- Start Button mean you have to use the Start Screen (the Start Screen
has the MSFT store app...the era of free software is gone) -

Only in the Windows World. (Oh, I guess in the Mac World, too)

Media
Center in Win8 requires Win8 Pro ...and offered via the Anytime Upgrade,
if Win8 Standard (fka Home in Win7) is the o/s, an uprade to Pro (for a
fee is necessary) - Win8 Mail app only supports (Hotmail, Gmail,
Exchange and IMAP..no POP3) Fish
- gone in RTM

So, screw us POP3 users? Another typical underhanded Micro$haft trick.

 

[Jeff Layman]

Only in the Windows World. (Oh, I guess in the Mac World, too)

Still vast amounts of free software around for Windows
(Open/LibreOffice, Mozilla, etc). You can find loads here:
http://lists.thedatalist.com/

 

[Sam Hill]

Still vast amounts of free software around for Windows
(Open/LibreOffice, Mozilla, etc). You can find loads here:
http://lists.thedatalist.com/

Yes, I know that. I was making a reference to the Windows company, and
to ...winston's comment.

 

[BillW50]

In Char Jackson typed:

This latest "they don't know how to" stuff appears to be completely
made up. Do you have a cite, by chance?

Odd? Nobody else in this thread thought I made this stuff up. They all
commented on how real it is. The only difference in the opinion was the
severity of the reality.

 

[Char Jackson]

In Char Jackson typed:

Odd? Nobody else in this thread thought I made this stuff up. They all
commented on how real it is. The only difference in the opinion was the
severity of the reality.

Oh, it's definitely true WLM doesn't quote properly, but I didn't say
anything about that. I was referring to your claim that Microsoft
developers don't know how to do certain things. I asked what you based
that claim on. I suspect that you made it up.

 

[Char Jackson]

So, screw us POP3 users? Another typical underhanded Micro$haft trick.

Who cares what a built-in mail app does. Get your own mail app and
stop complaining.

 

[BillW50]

Who cares what a built-in mail app does. Get your own mail app and
stop complaining.

Maybe you don't care, but many users do. As other software are often
measured against what comes with Windows. And many users don't like it
when a common feature of Windows is suddenly removed by Microsoft. And I
don't remember Microsoft ever doing that before. It started with Vista
and it has been going downhill ever since.

 

[BillW50]

Oh, it's definitely true WLM doesn't quote properly, but I didn't say
anything about that. I was referring to your claim that Microsoft
developers don't know how to do certain things. I asked what you based
that claim on. I suspect that you made it up.

Oh that... that was poking fun at Microsoft at throwing the baby out
with the bath water. As Microsoft used to produce some really great
software. But all that has changed in the last few years. And you don't
have to be a rocket scientist to see it either.

Take Microsoft Flight Simulator for example. It predates Microsoft
Windows by three years and was around for 25 years. And it is the
longest running PC series ever. It even made it in the Guinness World
Records by awarding the series seven world records! [Gamer's Edition 2008]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Flight_Simulator#Awards

And what does Microsoft do? They laid off the whole development team
back in January of 2009. Some of the best and brightest programmers
worked there. And why? Who knows why? It wasn't because of sales, as it
was still selling well.

And it isn't just MSFS either. But Microsoft has done this for many of
its departments. It is like Microsoft is hell bent on its self
destruction. Go figure!

 

[Stephen Wolstenholme]

I was referring to your claim that Microsoft
developers don't know how to do certain things. I asked what you based
that claim on. I suspect that you made it up.

Most Microsoft developers work on one product at a time. There is no
need for them to know a lot about other products. They can't be
expected to know everything about every product.

Steve

--
Neural network software applications, help and support.

Neural Network Software. http://www.npsl1.com
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com

 

[Sam Hill]

Who cares what a built-in mail app does. Get your own mail app and stop
complaining.

First, WLM is not "built-in." You have to know about it, download it, and
install it yourself. And you well know it can't quote worth a dayamn.

Second, I've been using "my own mail app" since it was introduced in
2002: Thunderbird. It works very well. It especially knows how to quote!

 

[Char Jackson]

First, WLM is not "built-in." You have to know about it, download it, and
install it yourself. And you well know it can't quote worth a dayamn.

Second, I've been using "my own mail app" since it was introduced in
2002: Thunderbird. It works very well. It especially knows how to quote!

That's great. So exactly how are you getting screwed? Where's the
"another typical underhanded trick"?

 

[Sam Hill]

That's great. So exactly how are you getting screwed? Where's the
"another typical underhanded trick"?

I'm sorry you've lost the plot.

 

[...winston]

"Sam Hill" wrote in message

I'm sorry you've lost the plot.

Maybe not...

You're original comment was relative to no POP3 in Win8, not WLM.
<qp>
So, screw us POP3 users? Another typical underhanded Micro$haft trick.
</qp>

Char's comment was relative to the built-in mail app (again Win8)
<qp>
Who cares what a built-in mail app does. Get your own mail app and
stop complaining.
</qp>

You responded to Char's comment above with:
<qp>
First, WLM is not "built-in.
</qp>

i.e. WLM not being built-in is not relative to Win8's built-in Mail app.

Afiacs.. even with WLM's inability to quote properly following the plot was quite easy.