Shrink volume & create new partition using disk management console

[rak]

Vista Home Premium, x86, SP2, 160GB HDD, HP6375US laptop

I downloaded Windows 7 RC1 with the intent of adding a partition to my HDD
and dual booting. My understanding is that I would need a 16GB partition.
My Disk Management Console tells me I have two existing primary partitions
(expected). D (the recovery partition) is 6.62GB. The other (C) makes up
the difference (~142GB) and has 47.1GB free space.

When I begin the "shrink volume" process, it says that only 3MB is available
to shrink C. I checked the page file and it has less than 3GB allocated to
it. So, I have two questions. First, why isn't more shrinkage ;>) space
available? Two, assuming that with your help I can find more space, if I
try to create a 16GB partition from C will I significantly affect computer
performance?

 

[Steve McGarrett]

Vista Home Premium, x86, SP2, 160GB HDD, HP6375US laptop

I downloaded Windows 7 RC1 with the intent of adding a partition to my HDD
and dual booting. My understanding is that I would need a 16GB partition.
My Disk Management Console tells me I have two existing primary partitions
(expected). D (the recovery partition) is 6.62GB. The other (C) makes up
the difference (~142GB) and has 47.1GB free space.

When I begin the "shrink volume" process, it says that only 3MB is available
to shrink C. I checked the page file and it has less than 3GB allocated to
it. So, I have two questions. First, why isn't more shrinkage ;>) space
available? Two, assuming that with your help I can find more space, if I
try to create a 16GB partition from C will I significantly affect computer
performance?

You will no doubt need a third-party partition manager. Vista's disk
manager will only let you shrink until it runs into a file on your
drive that it can't move.

Try EASEUS partition manger. It's free.

Google it.

 

[Tae Song]

Vista Home Premium, x86, SP2, 160GB HDD, HP6375US laptop

I downloaded Windows 7 RC1 with the intent of adding a partition to my HDD
and dual booting. My understanding is that I would need a 16GB partition.
My Disk Management Console tells me I have two existing primary partitions
(expected). D (the recovery partition) is 6.62GB. The other (C) makes up
the difference (~142GB) and has 47.1GB free space.

When I begin the "shrink volume" process, it says that only 3MB is
available to shrink C. I checked the page file and it has less than 3GB
allocated to it. So, I have two questions. First, why isn't more
shrinkage ;>) space available? Two, assuming that with your help I can
find more space, if I try to create a 16GB partition from C will I
significantly affect computer performance?

This might not be a good idea...

System recovery is where many brand name manufactures (including HP) store
data to restore Windows Vista to factory condition.

 

[rak]

Thanks for the ideas. I already have Paragon. I'll defrag and give it a
try.

 

[rak]

Not sure I understand your concern. I'm working with C, not D. Do you mean
there is system recovery info on C I should protect? If so, can you tell me
where?

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

Installing Win7 will overwrite the proprietary boot sector and you will
likely lose access to the recovery partition should you ever need it.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Rick Rogers]

Defrag won't help unless it's a third party tool capable of moving the
locked files near the end of the volume. Most times these turn out to be
parts of the MFT, so you'll need a product that can deal with it.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[rak]

Got it. Thanks. I'll consider the best course - perhaps put it on my older
MCE machine.

 

[rak]

Thx. I may not have to do any heavy duty defrag. While exploring C with
paragon, I found an error requiring use of chkdsk to fix. I plan to recheck
shrink space again asap.