HDD Partition Problem

[BIG RED]

hey everyone! so ive been having some problem with partitioning my hdd. the reason why i was hoping to do this was because i also have linux ubuntu installed on my pc through dual bootup (not virtualization) and was hoping to free up more space for ubuntu. although this may seem to deal more with a different os, it's actually more of a problem with windows 7. ive tried partitioning the hdd through both ubuntu and windows 7 and neither method worked out. i have defragmented my hdd through windows. when i run the partitioner in ubuntu, im given the message that i need to run check disk in windows before it can partition the hdd. when i try to run check disk in windows however, it tells me it will do the operation on the next start-up. however, it never actually initializes the check disk. ive tried both rebooting my pc and shutting it down and ive also run the check disk as an administrator. any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[WindowsStar]

Boot up on your Ubuntu CD in Live mode and make the changes. Since the OS's are using the drive they cannot make the changes.

 

[BIG RED]

i just tried the live disk and. . . it still gave me the same message. it allows me to resize the hdd where windows 7 is installed but only by .0001 of a mb (or something along those lines). ive attached an image file to what i see on my screen and it again tells me to run chk dsk /F on windows. also, the partition that i have highlighted on the left hand side of the screen is the drive i need to partition, and the message on the right is what i see when i click on the exclamation point to the left of that partition.

 

[wee]

With the live Ubuntu cd you have to turn the swap off to adjust partitions at times. I have heard that repartitioning W7 is better done from the MS side though.

 

[WindowsStar]

So let me get this right you want to reduce /dev/sda3 and then give the freed space to the Ubuntu partitions?

 

[BIG RED]

So let me get this right you want to reduce /dev/sda3 and then give the freed space to the Ubuntu partitions?

yes thats exactly what i was hoping to do!

 

[WindowsStar]

When you try to Shrink the volume in Windows 7 in Computer Manager > Disk Management it will not let you? Or does it give you an error?

 

[FuturDreamz]

have you tried defragmenting the drive from within windows first?
then use disk management like WindowsStar says
(Start -> right-click on computer -> manage -> disk management)
Try booting from your windows install disk (if you have one) and run the repair disk thing

 

[BIG RED]

When you try to Shrink the volume in Windows 7 in Computer Manager > Disk Management it will not let you? Or does it give you an error?

hey everyone, sorry for the delay in the responses. windows in fact DOES allow me to shrink the volume (its not grayed out), but i cant give it an amount to shrink the volume by. all that i have is a zero in the space where i can put in the value for how much to shrink it by, but the arrows to increase/decrease are grayed out. ive attached an image as to what i see on my screen to make this more clear. also, in response to the defragmenting option, i had forgotten to mention that i had already done that before i tried shrinking the volume.

 

[Frostmourne]

I would clean install 7, and then virtualize Ubuntu.

 

[BIG RED]

I would clean install 7, and then virtualize Ubuntu.

although that is one way of doing it, i would prefer to have ubuntu installed, not virtualized. nothing against the idea, its just a nit-picky preference of mine.

 

[FuturDreamz]

try a wubi install. it installs ubuntu as a folder on your windows 7 partition iirc.

 

[BIG RED]

to be honest, i still think that the problem has something to do with the chk dsk not initializing. if thats not working the way its supposed to and it's what ubuntu tells me to run in windows in order to get the partition manager to work correctly, then something must be wrong on the windows part of the deal.

 

[seekermeister]

Have you tried Partition Wizard, or Paragon Partition Manager?

 

[BIG RED]

Have you tried Partition Wizard, or Paragon Partition Manager?

would you suggest one more over the other? paragon seems to only offer a demo version whereas partition wizard is for free.

 

[seekermeister]

Paragon does have a free version:

Free Partition Manager Express - Leading partitioning software! | PARAGON Software Group - free partition software, resize partition

As far as which to use...it's a matter of preference. Paragon is an installable program, thus accessible at desktop, whereas Partition Wizard is an ISO, which needs to be burned to a disk, and used at boot. Sometimes, it is necessary to reboot to perform a partitioning function, sometimes not. Toss a coin, or do as I do, and get both.

 

[BIG RED]

Paragon does have a free version:

Free Partition Manager Express - Leading partitioning software! | PARAGON Software Group - free partition software, resize partition

As far as which to use...it's a matter of preference. Paragon is an installable program, thus accessible at desktop, whereas Partition Wizard is an ISO, which needs to be burned to a disk, and used at boot. Sometimes, it is necessary to reboot to perform a partitioning function, sometimes not. Toss a coin, or do as I do, and get both.

okay is there anything i should be aware of before i do this partition? the only reason why im asking is because now im going to be doing a hdd partition using third party software. . . which makes me skeptical. i figured it was a pretty safe bet to do a hdd partition through windows'/linux's own partition manager, since they would handle their own file systems in their own way. hdd partitioning can be a really scary thing if its done wrong where it can possibly go to the extreme of wiping out your entire hard drive. obviously, im going to be backing up all of my data onto an external hdd before ill be going through with this nonetheless.

 

[seekermeister]

The number one cause of problems is operator error, either in the installation or use of a program, but that doesn't mean that it isn't possible for something to go awry, no matter how careful that you may be. Thus, the idea of making a backup is the best defense to take.

If I recall, the original goal was to resize a partition? Before doing so, it is a good idea to defrag the drive first. To best accomplish that, disabling hibernation, disabling the pagefile and disabling Shadow Copy will unlock the files on the harddrive, permiting the defragger to better consolidate the files leaving a greater amount of free space for the purpose of resizing.

EDIT: Another step that might be useful, especially if you haven't done it before, is to delete trash in the Recycle Bin, empty temp folders, etc. A program useful in facilitating this is CCleaner.

 

[Barman58]

For any work on a system volume I would always advise the use of a boot disk based partition manager - Mine of choice at the moment is the partition wizard one - it's not let me down yet , is free and fits on a CD

Partition Magic Alternative - Partition Wizard is a magic partition software for Winidows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008 Server and Windows 7.

 

[BIG RED]

alright sooo i believe ive gotten myself into some serious trouble now with this one. i went with trying to resize the windows partition with partition wizard. once it had finished and i rebooted the computer, something bad happened. when i was about to get to the screen for me to select which operating system i wanted to run, i was given the following message:
GRUB Loading stage 1.5.
GRUB loading, please wait...
Error 17
i googled it and it seems that it seems to be an issue with linux ubuntu since the GRUB (w/e it is, i wasnt quite sure to begin with) is linux based. therefore, i decided to rerun partition wizard and it turns out that the partition that held all of my data for ubuntu was completely wiped out. the actual partition itself wasnt removed, but there isnt anything in the partition (it has 0Mb used). therefore, since that particular partition doesnt have anything in it and the GRUB interface is linux based in the first place, am i best off wiping that parition using partition wizard? if i wipe that partition, would that space that it had previously occupied be considered free space afterwards? also, if i am to wipe that partition, which method is best for this case? i am given the following options in partition wizard:
-fill sectors with zero
-fill sectors with one
-fill sectors with zero and one
-DoD 5220.22-M (3-passes)
-DoD 5220.28-STD (7-passes)
before i go through with this, is this the best method to take? my windows partition has been apparently unaffected by this (it has the same amount of data in it before i resized it). however, either way, i am unable to run windows because of the error in GRUB. any help would be greatly appreciated!!