Need help with partitioning

[Guest]

Hey,

I am trying to use the Computer Management tool to partition my main C:
drive (160GB), but when I right-click and select shrink, it tells me there's
0 MB available to free up.
The drive does already have 5 partitions, but there is still 50GB free on
the main C: partition.

C: drive info says:
OS (C
128.96 GB NTFS
Healthy (System, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)

Do I need to delete a partition, if 5 is maximum available? I do quite need
this sixth, so deleting another is no bother really.

Cheers.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Gtpod.

Disk Management in Vista will shrink a volume, even the System Partition,
but there is (at least) one stumbling block: Unmovable files.

If some program or utility put a file way out at the end of the volume and
made it unmovable, then DM can't shrink the partition. Defraggers used to
show us which files were where, and which ones were unmovable. I haven't
done much manual defragging recently, but those programs seem much less
informative now. If you can identify the file, you may be able to delete
the program that uses it, then put it back after you shrink the volume.
Also, of course, more space than you realize may be used by movable - but
hidden - files, such as pagefile.sys and System Restore information.

Do I need to delete a partition, if 5 is maximum available? I do quite
need
this sixth, so deleting another is no bother really.

No, there is no practical limit on the number of volumes. As always, the
partition table on each HD has room for just 4 partitions, but one can be an
"extended partition", and we can create a dozen or more logical drives in
this extended partition. A logical drive can't be used to boot the
computer, but it can become the "boot volume" (note the counterintuitive
terminology) for Windows or Vista. In Vista's Help and Support file, search
for "logical drive" and then "What are partitions and logical drives?"

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta 2 in Vista Ultimate x64)

 

[Guest]

Hey R. C. White,

Cheers for your help, but I wonder if I could ask more of you; specifically,
how am I to identify the file that's keeping this drive from shrinking? I
don't know much about defragging outside of Windows' built in tool (which I
have recently run but had to cancel), and even so, if these don't work, which
other options are there to find out what files are at the end of the volume?

Or is there a way I can remove/alter pagefile.sys and the System Restore
information?

What may be an issue is that I am looking to shrink the drive by about 30GB,
so I need a large chunk of free space; should I just use a third party defrag
tool?

Cheers.

 

[AJR]

Gtpod - post is confusing (at least to me) - you state "...partition my main
C: drive (160GB),..." and "C: drive info says: OS (C) 128.96 GB NTFS..." and
continuing: "The drive does already have 5 partitions..." finally: "there
is still 50GB free on
the main C: partition...."

The figures don't "jive"! Evidently the five partitions are not on the C
drive as implied.

 

[Guest]

Hey AJR,

No, they're not, I was wrong sorry, and I have since altered them. Most of
the partitions have been unused for almost a year, so I have cleared them up
a bit. I now just have C: 128.96 GB + 10.00 GB free space.

Cheers.