Shrinking C:\ drive on Vista RC1?

[Kjell R. Christensen]

Hi,
I have just freed-up a lot of diskspace and have 2/3 of my C:\ free
(41.2GB)! My purpose is to free som disk space so I can allocate it on the
scond partition D:\.
In Disk Management I can enter the shrink option, but it shows "Size of
available shrink space in MB" is 0 ????

Rgs,
/Kjell

 

[Sascha Benjamin Jazbec]

it depends on some factors that this is working. ( and yes, it is working, I
have done it several times )

Is this a primary disk and you have also XP on it ?
how many other partitions exist and are they primary or logicals ?
Are you the Local Admin ( normal user via runas admin ) or the System-Admin
( Administrator-Account ) ?
have you used partitionmagic or such tools before to edit the sizes ? etc
etc..

tell a bit more please

SBJ

 

[Kjell R. Christensen]

Hi,

Yes, disk D:\ is primary partition and holds XP!
There is four partitions:
86 MB Healty (EISA Configuration)

58,55 GB C: NTFS Healty (System, Boot, Page File, Active,
Crash Dump, Primary Partition)
-If I look in the Explorer: used space is 17,3 and free
space is 44,22.
-I'm not able to shrink volume any more?
-Vista RC1 is installed on this

14,98 GB Unallocated
-This is what I managed to free from C:, but not any
more?

19,54 GB D: NTFS (Primary Partition)
-Not able to allocate, even the 14,98 Unallocated space
-XP Prof SP2 is installed on this
I have used partition magic, but just to look at the disks! It could only
se the physical disk, not any of the volumes! This is the reason for posting
this Q!
Regard being Admin, I'm not certain, but I'm prompted everytime I move into
Disk Manager!

Rgs,
/Kjell

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

You can only shrink as far as the last unmovable system file. If there is
such a file at the end of the partition then you cannot shrink it. Use
defrag to analyse the drive and check for such an obstacle. Defrag is what
Disk Mananger will use in making this determination as well.

 

[Kjell R. Christensen]

Hi Colin,

The "green" unmovable file is positioned, the distance, 3/5 from the
start/left! So, there should be 15-20 GB to shrink, but it still gives me
the option of 0? After defrag there is no other files to the right of
this/these unmovable files!

Defrag in Vista RC1 gives me no graphical output? Had to go back to XP to
see the files layout!

Rgs,
/Kjell

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I just reread the help files on this in Vista and tried Diskpart from the
command line. According to the docs, we cannot shrink or expand any
partition marked as system or boot. That means that it is not possible to
shrink a boot or system partition from within Vista.

 

[Kjell R. Christensen]

Hi,

I don't think this is the full picture! I have allready managed to shrink my
C:\ drive with 14,5 GB, but that's it?
I think the only aproach now to get passed this problem is to make a full
backup and reinstall!

Rgs,
/Kjell