Can't shrink active partition in vista

[Bruce Wayne]

hi,

I cant seem to shrink my active partiton in vista: Size of available shrink
space in MB is set to 0 (was 700 or so before my last defrag)

any ideas?

cheers,
bruce

 

[Mark]

This is what worked for me:
Ensure you have a complete backup!
Turn off Restore function and delete all restore points.
Shrink your drive. (40-45GB minimum?)
Turn on Restore function. Save a store point.

Store points were filling up a lot of drive space and get stuck out there on
the drive somewhere. They are unmovable, so shrink won't let you go less
than this used space even though there's lots of free space available.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

That's it - thanks mark, genuis

This is what worked for me:
Ensure you have a complete backup!
Turn off Restore function and delete all restore points.
Shrink your drive. (40-45GB minimum?)
Turn on Restore function. Save a store point.

Store points were filling up a lot of drive space and get stuck out there
on
the drive somewhere. They are unmovable, so shrink won't let you go less
than this used space even though there's lots of free space available.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Aargh - now I'm getting "There is not enough space available on the disk(s)
to complete this operation"
Any ideas on this one?

 

[Mark]

You made it too small?
40-45GB is just the OS. If you also install all your apps there, you'll need
more.

Somethings I do:
Move the Pictures, Music, Downloads, Documents folders to another
partition.
Create a partition on the second drive and force your page file to work
there.
Limit the number of restore points that can be made.

By doing this, your "C:" drive won't ever change much and can stay one lean
size all the time.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Nah definitely not too small (it limits you anyway on the dialoy) - can't
even reduce it by 700meg!
Here's the answer:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/windows-vista/msg/1fb38d01ab3f089d
am going to try a 3rd party tool though (bootit, acronis or partition
manager)
Cheers again!
- Andy

 

[Mark]

Also,
(Not know your system setup...)
You may have a couple of directories that don't need to be there anymore
such as Windows.Old, Office Setup Files, etc. These are HUGE space eaters if
you don't need the files anymore.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933212/

 

[Richard Urban]

The built-in shrink utility will be able to decrease the partition size till
it bumps against the first unmovable/locked system file.

If you want to decrease the partition further you will need a 3rd party Disk
Management tool. I use Acronis Disk Director suite. The latest posted
version (ver 10.0 build 2160) is 100% Vista compatible. After installing the
program, create the
emergency CD. Reboot the computer and boot up with this CD. Do your
partition work from there. You will not be hampered with locked files.


--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

 

[Mark]

Similar idea.
Hidden, non-moveable files that get created near the upper border of the
partition that prevent resizing it. I probably didn't have to worry about
this one since I simply moved the pagefile.sys to another drive.

 

[dennis@home]

You made it too small?
40-45GB is just the OS. If you also install all your apps there, you'll
need
more.

I hope not.. my C: drive is 40G and has 9G free after installing office 2007
and VS2005pro and few others.
6G of the used space is the pagefile and hybernation file.