Partitions

[Guest]

Ok, so I had Windows XP running on a 160 gig HD. I partitioned 30 gigs of
that for Windows Vista when RC1 came out. So I installed it, then I totally
got rid of XP because it dosent even compare to Vista. But now my problem is
that I have 130 gigs of free space that I cannot add on to my Windows Vista
partition! The error PartitionMagic gives me is
Vista NTFS is version 3.1 and the rest of your 130 gigs in NTFS version 3.0
What can I do to get all my space back?

 

[BetaTester]

So I'm guessing that you have important information on there? Do you also
have the Windows Vista CD or a definite source of your Windows Vista
installation?

 

[Chad Harris]

As Mark points out, the Diskmanagement Utility in Vista will resize
partitions with fault tolerance or without losing information which is an
innovation as far as the Windows OS goes--it's the first time DM would do
this and retain your data, etc.

Also if you're doing a dual boot from XP, you can download and use
www.ranish.com to do this for free and it does a stellar job. Ranish has
also worked on Vista since early builds, something that is unique in a world
where most 3rd party software makers and hardware driver makers are waiting
with characteristic lazy non-response until RTM or well after RTM to begin
thinking about making applications Vista compatible and drivers for Vista.

Will it slow sales? You betcha. Has MSFT done much about it? Hardly.
Usually the stock response on a chat is a very defensive "we have no control
over drivers"--not accurate because they are a potent lobby and do have
driver interaction with hdw manufacturers and have a driver certification
program.

You'll see that stock answer from any of thousands connected with a Vista
beta team. Technet presenters have begun to be a lot more honest and frank
on record in the archives now as saying there is no excuse for this ostrich
like response as to drivers and applications compatible with Vista.

A glaring example is a company called Microsoft who with about 28 days to
Vista RTM cannot even get their own Antivirus program Windows One Care Live
compatible with Vista and has been next to silent on whether it will be
compatible come Oct 25 RTM.

I'm betting that on Nov 1 when Vista ships keys to enterprises, that
Windows One Care will not be Vista compatible. That's not "Eat your own dog
food"--that's "we can't eat the dog food because we would choak on it and
can't seem to make it edible for Vista."

CH

 

[John Barnes]

Numerous previous posts here have said you cannot resize the system or boot
partition using Vista Disk Management. Has this changed?

 

[Brian Wescombe]

Numerous previous posts here have said you cannot resize the system or
boot partition using Vista Disk Management. Has this changed?

I resized my both my Vista boot partition and my XP partition using the
Vista Disk Management with no problems at all, using Beta 2 build 5384. Not
had to do it since so I assume it still works

 

[John Barnes]

Good to hear. As far as I can remember it was the beta2 that was being
referred to a couple of months ago. There were a half dozen or more posts
that stated the same and linked elsewhere. I haven't used the feature.
Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Roberto Baggio]

The ability to do it has been there for some time.

For example, if your drive was one partition, and you decided you wanted
two, you could boot to console and use dskpart to shrink the partition and
create a new one.

 

[Chad Harris]

What hasn't been there all along is the ability to do it without losing
information. Fault tolerance in this context is new in Vista.

CH

 

[Telstar]

Good to hear. As far as I can remember it was the beta2 that was being
referred to a couple of months ago. There were a half dozen or more posts
that stated the same and linked elsewhere. I haven't used the feature.

I couldnt resize my boot partition with vista RC1 build 5600. Weird,
very weird, since i wanted to EXTEND it, not shrink it.

Also, the shrink i could do on another parition was a funnily small %
of the drive size. Basically, Vista DM is crap.

 

[John Barnes]

I was able to add a very small unpartitioned space onto my system/boot drive
with Vista DM using EXTEND. If I ever receive the RC1 DVD's I will be doing
more partitioning and will see if that was a fluke. So far so good for me.

 

[cbhacking]

Extending your boot partition requires that there be unallocated cylinders
(physical disk space that is notpart of any partition) following adjacent to
the boot partition. A "simple volume" (such as a boot partition) can not
span multiple groups of cylinders. I believe a dynamic volume can do this,
but you can't make your boot partition dynamic.

The shrink space is limited because of Volume Shadow Copies ("Previous
version" of files/folders). Space used by VSC appears to be unused, but is
in fact kept track of. Deleting System Restore Points can help, and there's
probably some way to reduce the number of VSCs as well. Using a tool like
NTFSresize will totally hose your Previous Versions functionality though,
and I wouldn't be surprised if Partition Magic (unless designed to work with
Server 2003) will exhibit the same issue.

 

[Telstar]

Extending your boot partition requires that there be unallocated cylinders
(physical disk space that is notpart of any partition) following adjacent to
the boot partition. A "simple volume" (such as a boot partition) can not
span multiple groups of cylinders. I believe a dynamic volume can do this,
but you can't make your boot partition dynamic.

The shrink space is limited because of Volume Shadow Copies ("Previous
version" of files/folders). Space used by VSC appears to be unused, but is
in fact kept track of. Deleting System Restore Points can help, and there's
probably some way to reduce the number of VSCs as well. Using a tool like
NTFSresize will totally hose your Previous Versions functionality though,
and I wouldn't be surprised if Partition Magic (unless designed to work with
Server 2003) will exhibit the same issue.

I removed the pagefile I had on that unit, the partition was not
indexed, I'm not sure how to disable VSS only on that drive, but the
most Vista could shrink it was 330mb which is ridicolous.

I can understand It couldnt expand the system drive because it had not
much free space, but THATS the reason why I was doing it. Funny.

Lastly, Partition magic never worked on 2003 server, on that OS you
can use Acronis or (better) Paragon Partition manager.

 

[Mike]

Pardon my ignorance, but do you run Ranish in XP or Vista ?
I need to expand the Vista partition into spare space before not after.
Either that or move the Vista partition up so diskpart will work

Mike