Shrinking a partition

My C: drive is 136gb total size and has 33gb free. I want to shrink the
partition by half the free space and create a new partition that is approx
16gb.. When I go in to Computer Management -> Disk Management, right click
on the drive and select "Shrink Partition", the most it will allow me to
shrink by is 1.6gb (1674mb). Why won't it let me shrink the size more than
that? I have significantly more that that free.

Any suggestions or pointers appreciated.

thnx,
Christoph

Hi Christoph,

It occurs because there is a locked immovable file at that point in the disk
structure. Until it is moved, you won't be able to shrink beyond that point.
This generally needs to be done with a third party partitioning product, as
the file cannot be moved while Windows is running.

I would caution against reducing space on that volume any further, as
Vista's defrag routine has a free space requirement of about 15%, and you
may also run into issues of the virtual memory if it is not able to resize
itself sufficiently. You'd be better off adding an additional drive to the
system.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Christoph Boget" <> wrote in message
news:3AFFF4B2-F00A-4001-99A1-...
> My C: drive is 136gb total size and has 33gb free. I want to shrink the
> partition by half the free space and create a new partition that is approx
> 16gb.. When I go in to Computer Management -> Disk Management, right
> click on the drive and select "Shrink Partition", the most it will allow
> me to shrink by is 1.6gb (1674mb). Why won't it let me shrink the size
> more than that? I have significantly more that that free.
>
> Any suggestions or pointers appreciated.
>
> thnx,
> Christoph

> It occurs because there is a locked immovable file at that point in the
> disk structure. Until it is moved, you won't be able to shrink beyond that
> point. This generally needs to be done with a third party partitioning
> product, as the file cannot be moved while Windows is running.

So it wouldn't matter if I had 125gb free, if there is an unmovable file at
that point in the disk, I'd still only be able to shrink by 1.6gb?

> I would caution against reducing space on that volume any further, as
> Vista's defrag routine has a free space requirement of about 15%, and you
> may also run into issues of the virtual memory if it is not able to resize
> itself sufficiently. You'd be better off adding an additional drive to the
> system.

Well, I can free up another 27gb (to a total of approx 60gb free) by
ditching a lot of mp3s I don't really need. But if I'm still only going to
be able to shrink only 1.6gb, it probably won't be worth it. As for adding
a new drive, that's easier said than done -- this machine is a laptop. I'm
trying to create a partition big enough to install Ubuntu for dual boot.

thnx,
Christoph

Try running Disk Cleanup, and removing your restore points, then
defragmenting the drive before you attempt to shrink it.

You could use Wubi http://wubi-installer.org/ to install Ubuntu within
Windows as if it were an application.



"Christoph Boget" <> wrote in message
news:C6AA3995-FD0A-47EE-AD24-...
>> It occurs because there is a locked immovable file at that point in the
>> disk structure. Until it is moved, you won't be able to shrink beyond
>> that point. This generally needs to be done with a third party
>> partitioning product, as the file cannot be moved while Windows is
>> running.
>
> So it wouldn't matter if I had 125gb free, if there is an unmovable file
> at that point in the disk, I'd still only be able to shrink by 1.6gb?
>
>> I would caution against reducing space on that volume any further, as
>> Vista's defrag routine has a free space requirement of about 15%, and you
>> may also run into issues of the virtual memory if it is not able to
>> resize itself sufficiently. You'd be better off adding an additional
>> drive to the system.
>
> Well, I can free up another 27gb (to a total of approx 60gb free) by
> ditching a lot of mp3s I don't really need. But if I'm still only going
> to be able to shrink only 1.6gb, it probably won't be worth it. As for
> adding a new drive, that's easier said than done -- this machine is a
> laptop. I'm trying to create a partition big enough to install Ubuntu for
> dual boot.
>
> thnx,
> Christoph

> Try running Disk Cleanup, and removing your restore points, then
> defragmenting the drive before you attempt to shrink it.

Ok, I ran the Disk Cleanup utility and was able to clean 2.5gb worth of
junk. That, along with deleting all my mp3s, I now have 68.5gb used and
67.9gb free on my disk. I also went to the "More Options" tab in the
utility and clicked the "Clean up..." button in the "System Restore and
Shadow Copies" section. I clicked the "Delete" button so that it would
remove all but the most recent restore point. I then defragged my drive
using AusLogics disk defrag utility.

However, even after doing all of that, when I go into Disk Management and
tell it that I want to shrink my partition, it's still showing that it can
only shrink it by 1.67gb. That's just insane. Is there anything else I can
do to get Vista to allow me to shrink it by approx 30gb? Or am I going to
have to go with a 3rd party app?

> You could use Wubi http://wubi-installer.org/ to install Ubuntu within
> Windows as if it were an application.

I'd rather set it up for dual boot.

thnx,
Christoph

Christoph Boget wrote:
>> Try running Disk Cleanup, and removing your restore points, then
>> defragmenting the drive before you attempt to shrink it.
>
> Ok, I ran the Disk Cleanup utility and was able to clean 2.5gb worth of
> junk. That, along with deleting all my mp3s, I now have 68.5gb used and
> 67.9gb free on my disk. I also went to the "More Options" tab in the
> utility and clicked the "Clean up..." button in the "System Restore and
> Shadow Copies" section. I clicked the "Delete" button so that it would
> remove all but the most recent restore point. I then defragged my drive
> using AusLogics disk defrag utility.
>
> However, even after doing all of that, when I go into Disk Management
> and tell it that I want to shrink my partition, it's still showing that
> it can only shrink it by 1.67gb. That's just insane. Is there anything
> else I can do to get Vista to allow me to shrink it by approx 30gb? Or
> am I going to have to go with a 3rd party app?
>
>> You could use Wubi http://wubi-installer.org/ to install Ubuntu within
>> Windows as if it were an application.
>
> I'd rather set it up for dual boot.
>
> thnx,
> Christoph

You can use the Ubuntu Live CD to do your partitioning.

Alias

"Alias" <> wrote in message
news:gi0gok$r0$...
> Christoph Boget wrote:
>>> Try running Disk Cleanup, and removing your restore points, then
>>> defragmenting the drive before you attempt to shrink it.
>>
>> Ok, I ran the Disk Cleanup utility and was able to clean 2.5gb worth of
>> junk. That, along with deleting all my mp3s, I now have 68.5gb used and
>> 67.9gb free on my disk. I also went to the "More Options" tab in the
>> utility and clicked the "Clean up..." button in the "System Restore and
>> Shadow Copies" section. I clicked the "Delete" button so that it would
>> remove all but the most recent restore point. I then defragged my drive
>> using AusLogics disk defrag utility.
>>
>> However, even after doing all of that, when I go into Disk Management and
>> tell it that I want to shrink my partition, it's still showing that it
>> can only shrink it by 1.67gb. That's just insane. Is there anything
>> else I can do to get Vista to allow me to shrink it by approx 30gb? Or
>> am I going to have to go with a 3rd party app?
>>
>>> You could use Wubi http://wubi-installer.org/ to install Ubuntu within
>>> Windows as if it were an application.
>>
>> I'd rather set it up for dual boot.
>>
>> thnx,
>> Christoph
>
> You can use the Ubuntu Live CD to do your partitioning.
>
> Alias

You don't need to use Ubuntu anything. Vista is great except I don't
understand how to use it.

Alias <> wrote in
news:gi0gok$r0$:

> Christoph Boget wrote:
>>> Try running Disk Cleanup, and removing your restore points, then
>>> defragmenting the drive before you attempt to shrink it.
>>
>> Ok, I ran the Disk Cleanup utility and was able to clean 2.5gb
>> worth of junk. That, along with deleting all my mp3s, I now have
>> 68.5gb used and 67.9gb free on my disk. I also went to the "More
>> Options" tab in the utility and clicked the "Clean up..." button
>> in the "System Restore and Shadow Copies" section. I clicked the
>> "Delete" button so that it would remove all but the most recent
>> restore point. I then defragged my drive using AusLogics disk
>> defrag utility.
>>
>> However, even after doing all of that, when I go into Disk
>> Management and tell it that I want to shrink my partition, it's
>> still showing that it can only shrink it by 1.67gb. That's just
>> insane. Is there anything else I can do to get Vista to allow me
>> to shrink it by approx 30gb? Or am I going to have to go with a
>> 3rd party app?
>>
>>> You could use Wubi http://wubi-installer.org/ to install Ubuntu
>>> within Windows as if it were an application.
>>
>> I'd rather set it up for dual boot.
>>
>> thnx,
>> Christoph
>
> You can use the Ubuntu Live CD to do your partitioning.
>
> Alias
>

Second time in a week I have to add you to my kill file and you say
your hardly ever change your stats!

Your proving my point about you being annoying.

"Dave Cox" <> wrote in message
news:Xns9B7344C85F1B2dcoxgmailcom@207.46.248.16...
> Alias <> wrote in
> news:gi0gok$r0$:
>
>> Christoph Boget wrote:
>>>> Try running Disk Cleanup, and removing your restore points, then
>>>> defragmenting the drive before you attempt to shrink it.
>>>
>>> Ok, I ran the Disk Cleanup utility and was able to clean 2.5gb
>>> worth of junk. That, along with deleting all my mp3s, I now have
>>> 68.5gb used and 67.9gb free on my disk. I also went to the "More
>>> Options" tab in the utility and clicked the "Clean up..." button
>>> in the "System Restore and Shadow Copies" section. I clicked the
>>> "Delete" button so that it would remove all but the most recent
>>> restore point. I then defragged my drive using AusLogics disk
>>> defrag utility.
>>>
>>> However, even after doing all of that, when I go into Disk
>>> Management and tell it that I want to shrink my partition, it's
>>> still showing that it can only shrink it by 1.67gb. That's just
>>> insane. Is there anything else I can do to get Vista to allow me
>>> to shrink it by approx 30gb? Or am I going to have to go with a
>>> 3rd party app?
>>>
>>>> You could use Wubi http://wubi-installer.org/ to install Ubuntu
>>>> within Windows as if it were an application.
>>>
>>> I'd rather set it up for dual boot.
>>>
>>> thnx,
>>> Christoph
>>
>> You can use the Ubuntu Live CD to do your partitioning.
>>
>> Alias
>>
>
> Second time in a week I have to add you to my kill file and you say
> your hardly ever change your stats!
>
> Your proving my point about you being annoying.

It took two tries to put Alias into your kill file? Maybe it's too
complicated. Better ignore messages instead. Just FYI.

"Christoph Boget" <> wrote in message
news:3BFF94D0-DE74-48F7-A7FE-...
>> Try running Disk Cleanup, and removing your restore points, then
>> defragmenting the drive before you attempt to shrink it.
>
> Ok, I ran the Disk Cleanup utility and was able to clean 2.5gb worth of
> junk. That, along with deleting all my mp3s, I now have 68.5gb used and
> 67.9gb free on my disk. I also went to the "More Options" tab in the
> utility and clicked the "Clean up..." button in the "System Restore and
> Shadow Copies" section. I clicked the "Delete" button so that it would
> remove all but the most recent restore point. I then defragged my drive
> using AusLogics disk defrag utility.
>
> However, even after doing all of that, when I go into Disk Management and
> tell it that I want to shrink my partition, it's still showing that it can
> only shrink it by 1.67gb. That's just insane. Is there anything else I
> can do to get Vista to allow me to shrink it by approx 30gb? Or am I
> going to have to go with a 3rd party app?
>
>> You could use Wubi http://wubi-installer.org/ to install Ubuntu within
>> Windows as if it were an application.
>
> I'd rather set it up for dual boot.
>
> thnx,
> Christoph


For an easy to use partition manager, Acronis Disk Director is the best
currently available..


--
Mike Hall - MVP
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