Windows 7: Trouble shrinking volume.

I have just set up an HTPC and would like to partition the drive so that I have a small drive of, say 32gb for OS and the rest for storage.



According to the system (after fist shrink) the c drive is 204gb free of 295gb, but I can't shrink it further. I've done a disc clean up and emptied the recycle bin.

What can I do to shrink this to a minimum?

I recommend using Partition Wizard, as this tutorial explains.

Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

You've come up against one of the limitations of Disk Management in that it will only let you shrink a partition once.

Download the Partition Wizard file and create a boot disc with it, then boot into it to carry out your partitioning exercise, and then boot back into Windows when you're done.

As for Windows, I'd recommend 40GB for the 64-bit version, more if you are installing applications as well.

First , look at Partition or Volume - Shrink

If you cannot do it, Try the OPTION THREE of the tutorial Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD . As it is told in the heading as left side, you can use it to shrink to either side.

If, by any chance, windows fail to boot up after the shrinking, run Startup Repair .

Good advice chaps. What would be the minimum partition size for 7 ultimate x64?

To jump in here, I recommend around 60gigs as you can install many programs on your other hard disks. This gives you room for data that some programs insist on installing on your C drive.

Rich

Depends on the apps you add to your HTPC.

As seavixen32 mentioned 40Gb is the minimum I would go, if you're planning on keeping it lean.

Sorry. Missed that. I'll go for 64gb. It's arbitrary, but somehow sounds right :-)

I'm using Partition Wizard now. How simple is that?

Didn't even need to boot from CD. Just made the adjustments in the wizard and the changes are applied during reboot.

Congrats, if it was successful you can mark the thread 'Solved'.

Partition Wizard is an excellent program, lot's of members here use it.

Can't see how to do that with the iPad app.