partitioning problem

[Day24]

Hey everyone, I'm hoping for some help here.

My husband's computer was set up at the release of Vista, so that's a while ago. At that time, he decided that a windows partition of 30 GB would be adequate. His computer has 2 physical disks. The second physical disk is set up just the way he likes it.

The disk with the windows partition on it is set up as follows. 30 GB for the windows partition, 15 GB for his documents (seperate partition) and the rest is also a seperate partition. The swap file is located on the second physical disk. I've recently found out that there is 9,7 GB of unallocated space on the windows physical disk which can't seem to be either added to another of the partitions OR allocated as a seperate partition (no clue why).
The problem is that windows doesn't seem to be satisfied with the 30GB anymore, not with installed programs and stuff.

We've already moved all the my documents folder, the music folder, etc, to other partitions or the other physical disk. We regularly perform maintenance such as clean disk, defrag, remove restore points. In fact, I've set the computer up so that it only takes at most 2 GB for restore points.

Ideally, what I would want to do is to resize the partitions so that the windows partition is 45 GB. However, in Vista, it won't let me do it (in the native partitioning program in disk management). It will not let me resize anything.

Even though my husband knows that I know what I'm doing, he is hesitant to let me touch the partitions, because his computer now works the way he wants it to (mostly)... he doesn't want to run the risk of losing data, or even ruining the vista install. Which is understandable. I was hoping that someone knows of a way to resize the partitions safely...and I was hoping someone could point me to a program to do so safely, with a tutorial on how to do it. (and it doesn't matter if I have to pay for the program, cos it's worth it).

My husband is already saying that he doesn't mind waiting for Win7 until this matter is solved.... but somehow, I'm doubting it will be here in time before he throws out his computer in frustration. So I would like to have a solution for him....
If anyone can help me I will be forever grateful.

 

[Dwarf]

Hi Day24,

Have a look at the following Tutorial (and its related links): http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/95418-disk-management-delete-extend.html. Take careful note of the warnings therein.

 

[Day24]

Thank you ever so much! I will check it out straight away, and see if that will convince him to do as I say.....(always a problem)

 

[echrada]

Hi Day, I have also found that the Vista Partition manager cannot always do what I want it to do.

The program i use is Paragon Partition Manager. It is very easy to use and does everything I want it to do.

It is however, a program that will cost you some money.

Paragon Partition Manager - hard disk partitioning software.

 

[Day24]

thank you, I will look into it!

I have now found out that the 9,7 GB of unallocated space is at the beginning of an extended partition on which the other two logical disks are located (the non windows partitions on that physical disk). I am guessing that that's the reason I can't allocate it.
Don't know what caused that though. Must have happened during the original install....

 

[echrada]

Yes very difficult to move or delete, but a cinch with Paragon.

 

[LeeTutor]

If you want to just use Vista's built-in partitioning tool, you might be able to get it to work better by considering what is written on this web page:

Working Around Windows Vista's "Shrink Volume" Inadequacy Problems :: the How-To Geek

I myself used a shareware tool called Boot-It NG to do my partitioning when I found Vista's tool inadequate.
Boot-It NG is a shareware partition management utility that can be used to manage the shrinking and extending of partitions better than Vista's built-in tool. It has an old DOS style interface, but it works well. You can download a fully functional trial version here:
Boot Manager, Partition Manager, and Drive Image Utility - BootIt Next Generation
I downloaded the free trial version and burned it to a CD with the included program MakeDisk.exe in order to be able to move some unallocated space immediately behind one of my four partitions that I wanted to extend. I just booted from the CD, clicked Cancel when it asked whether I wanted to install the program on the hard drive, then clicked on the menu choice for "Partition Work", and then used the "partition slide" concept to move the unallocated space. The TerabyteUnlimited site has a good deal of documentation, tutorials, answers to FAQs, videos, etc. for how to use the program:
TeraByte Unlimited :: Support :: BootIt Next Generation

 

[echrada]

Thanks Lee.:D

 

[Day24]

thanks everyone! Am looking into solutions now!

 

[YoVincenzo]

I've found that when someone really doesn't want you to mess with their machine, it is better not to. But if you do, be sure to back up all data and image all partitions first.

But why not try just moving some data of the overloaded partition. You can often free up a lot of space by moving Outlook or Windows Mail folders to another drive.
Or try running CCleaner.
WinDirStat is a great tool to see what is filling up the space too.

 

[Day24]

Well, in the end, we've decided to move a lot of stuff. My husband didn't care that I messed with his machine (especially because I discovered 3 other little problems which were slowing down the machine tremendously), but he was scared of not having a bootable machine if I messed with partitions. So in the end I didn't

And I did use windirstat actually, that's a good tip, though I knew of it before you mentioned it. I got rid of the uninstall option for SP1, got rid of a lot of old programs he wasn't using and moved his "documents" folder to a different drive. Now he has about 7 GB free, where he had 700 mb free before. It should do until win7 comes out, I guess.

I also limited the space restore can use, defragged and did some regular maintenance... so now his machine is purring along nicely again.... it's not complaining anymore! And neither is he! Again, thanks everyone!