Resizing two partitions on one disk-what program to use ?

2pods · 01 Dec 2011

My laptop's disk is divided into two partitions. One for the usual office stuff etc, and the other for digital audio. Both selected at boot via Boot Magic.

However, when I set it it up, I should have made the music partition much bigger than the office, as some drum sample libraries are pretty huge.

Is there a recommended program for resizing partitions "on the fly" without losing data like my old Partition Magic used to do.

I normally back up using Acronis TI 2010.

TIA

2pods · 01 Dec 2011

Used Partition Wizard. Shrunk C:, Moved D to front of new space, then extended it. Job Done

seavixen32 · 01 Dec 2011

Many of us use Partition Wizard: Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

You get better results if you download the ISO and create a bootable disc by burning the ISO to it.

Once you've done that, just boot into Partition Wizard and partition your drive then click Apply, wait for the process to finish then boot back into Windows.

There's no reason why you should lose any data, but backing up anything important first is always advisable.

Mark Phelps · 01 Dec 2011

Actually, a little known fact is that, using the Win7 Disk Management utility, you can actually resize the Win7 OS partition. It reboots to do that, but it does actually work -- as I have used it.

So, if these partitions are both NTFS, you can use the Win7 Disk Management utility to resize them.

Corazon · 02 Dec 2011

I believe you can extend the OS partition from within Windows, but not shrink it. (I may be wrong.)

Also, Disk Management provides no capability for moving partitions or resizing them from their left end, only the right one.

rraod · 02 Dec 2011

Corazon, You can shrink and extend the OS volumes from within window's disk management. You are right about the second line.

Corazon · 02 Dec 2011

Ah, thanks for the correction rraod :)

seavixen32 · 02 Dec 2011

Just a small point. After you have shrunk a partition in Disk Management, it won't let you shrink the same partition again, which is another reason for using a third-party utility like Partition Wizard instead. :)

rraod · 02 Dec 2011

Andrew, that is not true. I have tried this on a VM and as long as there is space in the C: drive, disk management will allow you to shrink, extend and shrink the partition again and again.

Only after you shrink it to a minimum value, disk managment will not allow you to shrink again. Here the third party tools come in to play. They will reorganise the file structure and MFT, create space on the drive and shrink again.

Disk Management does not have this capability to reorganize the files and MFT to make space for shrink again.

seavixen32 · 02 Dec 2011

I think we may be at cross purposes as I probably didn't word my initial comment very well.

What I was trying to say was that if you use Disk Management to shrink a partition, and then try and shrink the reduced-size partition again it won't succeed.

I've never used a VM so I can't comment on that, but when I tried to further shrink a partition I had already shrunk then I couldn't do it using Windows Disk Management.

As for shrinking a partition then extending it before shrinking it again, it is something I've never tried, so in that scenario I can't argue with you. :)