Win7 Partition

[OldGuy]

My new PC has a too large C:.
I would like to partition it now.
Any tricks or gottchas if I use Win 7 to create a second partition on Disk
0?
Maybe run defragger first? If I do defrag analyze will that show me where
I can partition?

Sorry for all these post but my main computer died (now electronic trash)
and I am trying to get the new computer where I need it.
TIA

 

[Paul]

My new PC has a too large C:.
I would like to partition it now.
Any tricks or gottchas if I use Win 7 to create a second partition on
Disk 0?
Maybe run defragger first? If I do defrag analyze will that show me
where I can partition?

Sorry for all these post but my main computer died (now electronic
trash) and I am trying to get the new computer where I need it.
TIA

Go to disk management, using something like "diskmgmt.msc"
as the program to run. Or navigate there some other way.

Click on the partition you want to resize. Do a right
click, and see if there is a Shrink option. See
how far down, the Shrink will allow you to do it.
If the space freed up this way is sufficient, then
do the shrink, then create your new partition.

If you're going to go to the trouble of using
a defragger first, you might as well just
find a free Partition Manager. It can resize to
any feasible size, without help. The thing is, the
Windows defragmenters will not defragment files
larger than 50MB. (Because those are not an
efficiency issue.) As a consequence, the
Windows ones won't necessarily "move everything to
the left" like in the old days. If you purchase a
third party defragmenter, then it will move
things to the left for you. Just the Microsoft
one, is not guaranteed to do so.

To avoid all that annoyance, use Disk Management and
test to see how much it'll allow you to shrink. Maybe
you'll get enough that way, to save you some time.

Paul

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

My new PC has a too large C:.
I would like to partition it now.
Any tricks or gottchas if I use Win 7 to create a second partition on Disk
0?
Maybe run defragger first? If I do defrag analyze will that show me where
I can partition?

Sorry for all these post but my main computer died (now electronic trash)
and I am trying to get the new computer where I need it.
TIA

The Windows partition manager has some issues with shrinking partitions,
having to do with immovable files.

So I use free versons of MiniTool Partition Wizard and EaseUS Partition
Master.

 

[Ken Blake]

My new PC has a too large C:.
I would like to partition it now.
Any tricks or gottchas if I use Win 7 to create a second partition on Disk
0?

See Paul's reply, and let me add the following: what do you mean by
"too large"? How big is it, what do you think is wrong with that size
and why do you think it would be better to be smaller?

You might want to read this article I've written: "Understanding Disk
Partitioning" at
http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=326

 

[Wolf K]

See Paul's reply, and let me add the following: what do you mean by
"too large"? How big is it, what do you think is wrong with that size
and why do you think it would be better to be smaller?

You might want to read this article I've written: "Understanding Disk
Partitioning" at
http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=326

I don't think size is the issue, but preserving data may be. There's a
good reason to have a data-only partition: If or when you need to
re-install or repair the OS, you can keep your data out of that loop.

Anecdote:
I inherited a W8 computer from my son, who had loaded it with games,
which I didn't want. I created a data-only partition via Disk
Management, and moved all the data into it. Then I Reset the computer to
factory defaults, a painless process. The Reset app found both the new
partition and the external drive, and asked whether I wanted to keep
them as is. It reinstalled W8 on the C: partition, and left everything
else alone. Now I'm installing my must-have apps on it, starting with
Classic Shell. In a day or two, I'll transfer the 1TB drive from this
box to it. Not sure what I'll do with this box then, it has two 250GB
HDDs. Maybe backdate to W7, maybe make it a Linux box. Or give it away.

HTH

 

[OldGuy]

Ken Blake explained on 6/11/2013 :

See Paul's reply, and let me add the following: what do you mean by
"too large"? How big is it, what do you think is wrong with that size
and why do you think it would be better to be smaller?

You might want to read this article I've written: "Understanding Disk
Partitioning" at
http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=326

I will read that later.

Why? The drive is 2TB.
I want a logical System and Data drive.
And yes I will have more HDDs in the PC but they already are nearly
full (from the old PC).

I have a backup utility that automatically watches for file additions
and changes then makes a backup to a different HDD and/or NAS. It will
be monitoring the new C' (probably D data drive.

So this has nothing to do with stuff on Disk 0 and a crash since all
Data will be backed up automatically.

I also do a Macrium Reflect on the system for quick restores if the
need arises.

BTW: can anyone compare and contrast Macrium Reflect Free and Nero
Backup or Buffalo Backup utilities(came with the NAS) as related to
data. I will use Macrium Reflect Free to make a system Image.

Another reason for having a data partition, the Macrium Reflect Image
of the System Only C: is much faster.

 

[...winston‫]

Ken Blake explained on 6/11/2013 :

I will read that later.

Why? The drive is 2TB.
I want a logical System and Data drive.
And yes I will have more HDDs in the PC but they already are nearly full
(from the old PC).

I have a backup utility that automatically watches for file additions
and changes then makes a backup to a different HDD and/or NAS. It will
be monitoring the new C' (probably D data drive.

So this has nothing to do with stuff on Disk 0 and a crash since all
Data will be backed up automatically.

I also do a Macrium Reflect on the system for quick restores if the need
arises.

BTW: can anyone compare and contrast Macrium Reflect Free and Nero
Backup or Buffalo Backup utilities(came with the NAS) as related to
data. I will use Macrium Reflect Free to make a system Image.

Another reason for having a data partition, the Macrium Reflect Image of
the System Only C: is much faster.

Just for accuracy...
Since Windows 7
- The System Volume/partition on a drive contains the boot files
- The Boot Volume/partition on a drive contains the operating system
- the former is not assigned a drive letter, the latter is.

What you wish to accomplish is reduce the size of the Boot
Volume/partition and create an additional partition, assign it a drive
letter then use it for Data storage.

 

[Ken Blake]

Ken Blake explained on 6/11/2013 :

I will read that later.

Why? The drive is 2TB.
I want a logical System and Data drive.

Not to be insulting, but "I want" is not really a reason. Maybe you
should be organized that way and maybe you shouldn't, but if you
should, you need a good reason. "I want" is not really a reason.

 

[Paul]

Ken Blake explained on 6/11/2013 :

I will read that later.

Why? The drive is 2TB.
I want a logical System and Data drive.
And yes I will have more HDDs in the PC but they already are nearly full
(from the old PC).

I have a backup utility that automatically watches for file additions
and changes then makes a backup to a different HDD and/or NAS. It will
be monitoring the new C' (probably D data drive.

So this has nothing to do with stuff on Disk 0 and a crash since all
Data will be backed up automatically.

I also do a Macrium Reflect on the system for quick restores if the need
arises.

BTW: can anyone compare and contrast Macrium Reflect Free and Nero
Backup or Buffalo Backup utilities(came with the NAS) as related to
data. I will use Macrium Reflect Free to make a system Image.

Another reason for having a data partition, the Macrium Reflect Image of
the System Only C: is much faster.

What Macrium should do, is only record the sectors of a partition
that have data in them. If your OS and data files total 40GB of a
1TB partition, Macrium writes out only 40GB. Same with using
System Image from within Windows itself. Since many backup tools
use VSS, they're pretty clever about only recording the "busy" sectors.

It's true, if you separate /user/username from the rest of C:,
then backing up C: would only take 30 or 40GB maybe, while
your data partition (D: or whatever) could be as large as
your downloading tastes allow. And then you would be
separating the backup runtimes for those.

As for testing backup solutions, that's a lot of work, and
I'm too lazy for that If I get one that works, I generally
stop testing.

Paul

 

[Carpe_Diem]

Op 11/06/2013 20:16, Ken Blake schreef:

See Paul's reply, and let me add the following: what do you mean by
"too large"? How big is it, what do you think is wrong with that size
and why do you think it would be better to be smaller?

You might want to read this article I've written: "Understanding Disk
Partitioning" at
http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=326

I have read your article.
Isn't it possible that it is a little bit outdated (i.e. : before W7)?

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

Ken Blake explained on 6/11/2013 :

[]
Not to be insulting, but "I want" is not really a reason. Maybe you

That _is_ insulting, sorry! If OldGuy _wants_ to do something with _his_
computer, then he has a perfect right to do so! (Not to mention that he
has explained reasons in subsequent posts.)

should be organized that way and maybe you shouldn't, but if you
should, you need a good reason. "I want" is not really a reason.

It's usually - as it was in this case - shorthand for "I have a reason
to want to ...", without wanting to bore the readers with the reason,
which may or may not be interesting, but isn't relevant to the question
of _how_ to do it. (The implication of the above is that you're just
itching to tell him that it's not a good idea.)

(FWIW, my experience was as others have reported: I started with the
inbuilt utility, which couldn't move some files - which in my case were
about half way up the drive [around 250M of a 500M drive]. Since I
wanted [there's that word again!] a C: much smaller than half the drive,
I downloaded and used one of the free ones - I think it might have been
the Easeus one [I can't check as I was preparing the machine for another
person], which worked fine.)

 

[Wolf K]

On 6/11/2013 8:51 PM, Ken Blake wrote:
[...]

"I want" is not really a reason.

Yeah, but it works for advertisers.

 

[Ken Blake]

Ken Blake explained on 6/11/2013 :
My new PC has a too large C:.
I would like to partition it now.
Any tricks or gottchas if I use Win 7 to create a second partition
on Disk
0?

[]
Not to be insulting, but "I want" is not really a reason. Maybe you

That _is_ insulting, sorry! If OldGuy _wants_ to do something with _his_
computer, then he has a perfect right to do so!

Absolutely! He certainly has a right to do so. No argument from me.
But it didn't answer the questions I asked: "what do you think is
wrong with that size and why do you think it would be better to be
smaller?"

 

[Ken Blake]

Op 11/06/2013 20:16, Ken Blake schreef:
I have read your article.
Isn't it possible that it is a little bit outdated (i.e. : before W7)?

Yes, a little outdated. But the points it makes are still valid.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

Ken Blake explained on 6/11/2013 :
My new PC has a too large C:.
I would like to partition it now.
Any tricks or gottchas if I use Win 7 to create a second partition
on Disk
0? []
Not to be insulting, but "I want" is not really a reason. Maybe you

That _is_ insulting, sorry! If OldGuy _wants_ to do something with _his_
computer, then he has a perfect right to do so!

Absolutely! He certainly has a right to do so. No argument from me.
But it didn't answer the questions I asked: "what do you think is
wrong with that size and why do you think it would be better to be
smaller?"

I can see you're just itching to say why you don't think shrinking a
partition is a good idea.

I'm sorry, I just don't think the answer to "I would like to ... how do
I" do something should _start with_ "why?" with "That's a bad idea"
following shortly behind.

 

[Ken Blake]

In message <[email protected]>, Ken Blake

Ken Blake explained on 6/11/2013 :
My new PC has a too large C:.
I would like to partition it now.
Any tricks or gottchas if I use Win 7 to create a second partition
on Disk
0?
[]
Not to be insulting, but "I want" is not really a reason. Maybe you

That _is_ insulting, sorry! If OldGuy _wants_ to do something with _his_
computer, then he has a perfect right to do so!

Absolutely! He certainly has a right to do so. No argument from me.
But it didn't answer the questions I asked: "what do you think is
wrong with that size and why do you think it would be better to be
smaller?"

I can see you're just itching to say why you don't think shrinking a
partition is a good idea.

I'm sorry, I just don't think the answer to "I would like to ... how do
I" do something should _start with_ "why?" with "That's a bad idea"
following shortly behind.

You want to start a fight? Sorry, I'm not interested in fighting, and
this is the end of the thread as far as I'm concerned.

 

[OldGuy]

My new PC has a too large C:.

I would like to partition it now.
Any tricks or gottchas if I use Win 7 to create a second partition on Disk 0?
Maybe run defragger first? If I do defrag analyze will that show me where I
can partition?

Sorry for all these post but my main computer died (now electronic trash) and
I am trying to get the new computer where I need it.
TIA

Final report

And a couple of questions below.

C: is a Basic volume of Disk 0. Thete is a smal system partition in
fron of C: on Disk 0. C: was almost 2TB.
Shrink would NOT work!
Defrag said 0% even before I tried anyway.

EaseUS Partition Master (Manager) was a little quirky to set up but it
did a perfect job once I got past the one quirk that I had to fiddle
with.

Quirk: the partition size and location setup tool allow the use of the
mouse for coarse settings. The aarrow keys finely set the unallocated
before space BUT I could not figure out which keys finely set the after
space (the one that one would usually use).. And yest I read the help
but in that section there was no mention of keyboard keys.

Quirk???: other than A and B the lowest drive letter offered was G:
Before I started I had: C:, D: (DVD hidden drive), E: ext USB, L: and
M: NAS.
Where is F:?
OK, the real question is how do I show hidden drive letters?
I think F: may be related to the SD slot.

Anyway it is done.
C: is now 100GB and the rest is my Data G: partition.

Thanks all for participating.

 

[mick]

My new PC has a too large C:.

Final report

And a couple of questions below.

C: is a Basic volume of Disk 0. Thete is a smal system partition in fron of
C: on Disk 0. C: was almost 2TB.
Shrink would NOT work!
Defrag said 0% even before I tried anyway.

EaseUS Partition Master (Manager) was a little quirky to set up but it did a
perfect job once I got past the one quirk that I had to fiddle with.

Quirk: the partition size and location setup tool allow the use of the mouse
for coarse settings. The aarrow keys finely set the unallocated before space
BUT I could not figure out which keys finely set the after space (the one
that one would usually use).. And yest I read the help but in that section
there was no mention of keyboard keys.

Quirk???: other than A and B the lowest drive letter offered was G:
Before I started I had: C:, D: (DVD hidden drive), E: ext USB, L: and M: NAS.
Where is F:?
OK, the real question is how do I show hidden drive letters?
I think F: may be related to the SD slot.

Anyway it is done.
C: is now 100GB and the rest is my Data G: partition.

Thanks all for participating.

If you have slots for cards the they are usually assigned a drive
letter.

To show hidden drives look at this link:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/6969-drives-hide-show-empty-drives-computer-folder.html

To assign different drive letters see this link:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-vista/change-add-or-remove-a-drive-letter

 

[Ken Springer]

See Paul's reply, and let me add the following: what do you mean by
"too large"? How big is it, what do you think is wrong with that size
and why do you think it would be better to be smaller?

You might want to read this article I've written: "Understanding Disk
Partitioning" at
http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=326

How about the following for a reason, copied from Windows 7 Inside and
Out, Microsoft Press...

**********************

Although the organizational scheme that Windows has adopted for personal
data folders— the 11 visible subfolders of %UserProfile% (see Figure 8-5
on page 275)—is suitable for many users, the scheme has one potential
defect: it combines data and system files on the same physical volume .
For a variety of reasons, some users prefer to separate their documents
and other profile data . These reasons might include the following:
â— Large collections of data, particular digital media files, have a
way of overwhelming the available space on system volumes, eventually
necessitating their removal and relocation to a separate, larger volume.
â— Separating data from system files makes restoration easier in the
event of system corruption (for example, by malware).
â— Separation reduces the size and time devoted to image backups,
encouraging their regular use.
â— Separation can make it easier, when the time comes, to upgrade the
operating system.
In earlier versions of the operating system, we routinely recommended
that users accomplish this separation by relocating their user profile
subfolders . In Windows 7, an alternative makes equally good sense:
store personal data in folders on a separate volume, and then include
those folders in your libraries . (For information about using
libraries, see “Working with Libraries†on page 282 .) This approach
leaves you with a default set of profile folders, which you can still
use when it’s convenient to do so, but it keeps the bulk of your
personal information in a separate place .

***********************

Bullets #2 & 4 is why I do it.

--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.8.4
Firefox 20.0
Thunderbird 17.0.5
LibreOffice 4.0.3.3

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

On Wed, 12 Jun 2013 23:42:43 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"

My new PC has a too large C:.
I would like to partition it now.
Any tricks or gottchas if I use Win 7 to create a second partition
on Disk
0?
[]
Not to be insulting, but "I want" is not really a reason. Maybe you

[]
I can see you're just itching to say why you don't think shrinking a
partition is a good idea.

I'm sorry, I just don't think the answer to "I would like to ... how do
I" do something should _start with_ "why?" with "That's a bad idea"
following shortly behind.

You want to start a fight? Sorry, I'm not interested in fighting, and
this is the end of the thread as far as I'm concerned.

OK. Since I don't think you were going to answer the original poster's
request, that's fair enough.

It seems he's managed OK anyway.