Problems with Disk Management tool

[Galapas]

I recently purchased a new computer (AMD quad core 64 bit) with Vista Home Premium installed. The included hard drive was a 650 gig unit.
After about 2 months of use I discovered the Disk Management tool, I proceeded to break the drive up into smaller partitions. The reported free space on the drive was over 500 gig. It would only allow me to shrink about 30 gig of that to a partition. I assumed it was due to my pagefile location (custom sized). after shrinking and setting up the 30 gig part. I moved my pagefile to this drive, deleted the old one and tried to shrink the original some more. The free space reported was still over 500 gig but when trying to shrink, it reports 0 space.

Anyone know how I can resolve this. I assume there are still system files that cannot be shrunken that are causing the problems but being new to Vista, I do not know where to look for them.

No noobie here, over 25 years computing/programming experience

thanx for any replies
Bill

On Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:25:06 +0100, Galapas
<Galapas.3z6942@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com> wrote:

>
> I recently purchased a new computer (AMD quad core 64 bit) with Vista
> Home Premium installed. The included hard drive was a 650 gig unit.
> After about 2 months of use I discovered the Disk Management tool, I
> proceeded to break the drive up into smaller partitions. The reported
> free space on the drive was over 500 gig. It would only allow me to
> shrink about 30 gig of that to a partition. I assumed it was due to my
> pagefile location (custom sized). after shrinking and setting up the 30
> gig part. I moved my pagefile to this drive, deleted the old one and
> tried to shrink the original some more. The free space reported was
> still over 500 gig but when trying to shrink, it reports 0 space.
>
> Anyone know how I can resolve this. I assume there are still system
> files that cannot be shrunken that are causing the problems but being
> new to Vista, I do not know where to look for them.


Vista's ability to change the partition structure of the drive is very
limited. You would do much better with a third-party partitioning
program. Partition Magic is the best-known such program, but there are
other freeware/shareware alternatives.

You say you want "smaller partitions"--plural. How many do you want?
Why?

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

I would only add that , as I recall, Partition Magic is no longer under
active development or maintenance. I would not recommend its use on any
system after Windows XP. I think the latest version is 8.05.
Acronis Disk Director is a good choice, in my view. As Ken noted, "there are
other freeware/shareware alternatives."

Good luck.
Tom

"Galapas" <Galapas.3z6942@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com> wrote in message
news:Galapas.3z6942@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com...
>
> I recently purchased a new computer (AMD quad core 64 bit) with Vista
> Home Premium installed. The included hard drive was a 650 gig unit.
> After about 2 months of use I discovered the Disk Management tool, I
> proceeded to break the drive up into smaller partitions. The reported
> free space on the drive was over 500 gig. It would only allow me to
> shrink about 30 gig of that to a partition. I assumed it was due to my
> pagefile location (custom sized). after shrinking and setting up the 30
> gig part. I moved my pagefile to this drive, deleted the old one and
> tried to shrink the original some more. The free space reported was
> still over 500 gig but when trying to shrink, it reports 0 space.
>
> Anyone know how I can resolve this. I assume there are still system
> files that cannot be shrunken that are causing the problems but being
> new to Vista, I do not know where to look for them.
>
> No noobie here, over 25 years computing/programming experience
>
> thanx for any replies
> Bill
>
>
> --
> Galapas
> Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com
>

Hi, Bill.

Maybe the problem is not the size of the page file, but its location. Or
the location in the partition of some other "unmovable file". Disk
defraggers used to show us the locations of unmovable files, but nowadays we
are usually left in the dark about such details. If you can determine the
name of the unmovable file, you might be able to delete it - or copy it
elsewhere long enough to let Shrink Volume do its job.

Have you tried the DiskPart.exe shell from an elevated Command Prompt?
While I like the Disk Management UI, it can do only most of what DiskPart
can do. The command-line interface is not for newbies, but it should not be
a problem with your experience. Check especially DiskPart's SHRINK QUERYMAX
command. I've not used this myself, but HELP SHRINK suggests that it might
tell you some useful information.

Partition Magic WAS one of my favorite utilities a decade ago, but I've not
used it since Disk Management appeared in Win2K. And I don't know what has
happened to PM since it was bought by Symantec.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64

"Galapas" <Galapas.3z6942@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com> wrote in message
news:Galapas.3z6942@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com...
>
> I recently purchased a new computer (AMD quad core 64 bit) with Vista
> Home Premium installed. The included hard drive was a 650 gig unit.
> After about 2 months of use I discovered the Disk Management tool, I
> proceeded to break the drive up into smaller partitions. The reported
> free space on the drive was over 500 gig. It would only allow me to
> shrink about 30 gig of that to a partition. I assumed it was due to my
> pagefile location (custom sized). after shrinking and setting up the 30
> gig part. I moved my pagefile to this drive, deleted the old one and
> tried to shrink the original some more. The free space reported was
> still over 500 gig but when trying to shrink, it reports 0 space.
>
> Anyone know how I can resolve this. I assume there are still system
> files that cannot be shrunken that are causing the problems but being
> new to Vista, I do not know where to look for them.
>
> No noobie here, over 25 years computing/programming experience
>
> thanx for any replies
> Bill