Solved Why is my Windows 7 partition so big?

[MSUManiac13]

I'm trying to dual boot Ubuntu & in the process I went to reduce the size of the Windows 7 partition. There I found it would only let it reduce to 285.79 GB!!! Out of the 285.79 GB, it shows 223.15 GB as being free space. The laptop came with Vista pre-installed & I have since upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium. Why is my partition so big and why can't I reduce it further?

 

[seth500]

Well since it was preinstalled, they are the ones why the partition is so big and because it won't let you shrink the volume further, is because of meta-data files are preventing you from doing so. You can reduce it further with other software I have done it, but it is done in dos mode because you can't move meta-data files when the operating system is running. Acronis disk director suite is a good one to use to shrink volumes also partition table master and others for that matter.....

Edit: On a clean install I have a 500 GB Sata that I reduce at the windows partitioning advanced screen to 160 GB and leave the rest unallocated cause for the operating system you only need very little I would say 60gb would be plenty for W7, but that's what I do when I install fresh...Store bought machines don't give you many options except I my opion wipe the drive and do it right I don't trust anyone else....

 

[MSUManiac13]

Vista was pre-installed, then I upgraded to Windows 7.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Use another application, such as Partition Wizard.

 

[gregrocker]

If you'll post back a screenshot of your full Disk Management drive map, using SNipping Tool, we can look over your config and give you suggestions.

Did you clean install or do an in-place Upgrade from Vista? Did you make your Recovery DIsks before doing so, as your Recovery Partition likely lost it's link to Windows and may not boot to run if it no longer has it's Factory Recovery options on the F8 Advanced Boot Tools>Repair My Computer menu. So you can consider recovering its space along with any utilities/tools partition if you no longer have them installed or don't' use them anyway.

 

[MSUManiac13]

I used Partition Wizard and it worked perfectly. Thank you all for the help!

 

[pparks1]

I'd highly recommend if you are new to Linux that you install Linux in a VIRTUAL MACHINE and learn a little about it before you install a dual boot system. Reason being: Many people soon discover that Linux isn't for them, but then struggle to get rid of GRUB (which is Linux bootloader) when they later decide they don't want it anymore. And they have to screw around trying to get the Windows boot loader reinstalled to the hard drive to get booted back into Windows.

 

[MSUManiac13]

I'd highly recommend if you are new to Linux that you install Linux in a VIRTUAL MACHINE and learn a little about it before you install a dual boot system. Reason being: Many people soon discover that Linux isn't for them, but then struggle to get rid of GRUB (which is Linux bootloader) when they later decide they don't want it anymore. And they have to screw around trying to get the Windows boot loader reinstalled to the hard drive to get booted back into Windows.

I'm currently a student at Michigan State majoring in computer engineering so I know I need to get extremely comfortable with Linux. I've used it in classes before & I just figured it was about time I put it on my own laptop. Honestly, I don't use this machine enough to get sick of the bootloader. Most of the time I will just use machines in the Engineering Building for programming or use my Cr-48 Chrome OS notebook when I'm just browsing the web.

PS- Chrome OS is pretty awesome. There are still some bugs (namely with flash) but by the time it's finally released it's going to be awesome. You have no idea how nice it is to just open the cover and it is ready to go.