What's the best tool to resize Win7 X64 partitions?

[tony22]

I have to increase the size of my C: drive partition. I could use Acronis True Image Home to image the drive and then reapply the image into new partition sizes, but I was hoping for a tool that could do this well - and safely! - while running. In particular I'd one that will allow me to "move" one partition so I can create unallocated space immediately behind the partition I wish to extend. What would be the best tool for this?

Of course I will image my drive before attempting this with whatever tool can do it.

 

[ecurrey]

I have used MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition on 32 and 64 bit installations. The best part is that it is free.

Best Free Partition Manager Freeware and free partition magic for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista and Windows XP 32 bit & 64 bit. MiniTool Free Partition Manager Software Home Edition.

 

[Golden]

Tony.

Since you want to resize C: eventually, you need to use the bootable version of Partition Wizard. You can also try EaseUS Partition Master, which will resize C: when you are booted into Windows, although a reboot is required for EaseUS to complete the partition manipulation.

 

[tony22]

I have used MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition on 32 and 64 bit installations. The best part is that it is free.

Best Free Partition Manager Freeware and free partition magic for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista and Windows XP 32 bit & 64 bit. MiniTool Free Partition Manager Software Home Edition.

Will this tool work for my C: drive? It seems from what Golden says I will need a bootable version of whatever I use to eventually do my C: drive.

 

[ecurrey]

If you are doing C: it will reboot to take care of the partition.

 

[tony22]

Tony.

Since you want to resize C: eventually, you need to use the bootable version of Partition Wizard. You can also try EaseUS Partition Master, which will resize C: when you are booted into Windows, although a reboot is required for EaseUS to complete the partition manipulation.

Golden, the EaseUS free version seems to have a lot of users unhappy with the way it installs a lot of bloatware, some accusing it of being malware. A number of reviewers indicated that a careful unchecking of these options during installation will cause them not to be installed, but others suggest stuff gets installed anyway. Is it possible to do a clean install of EaseUS free edition without any of this extra stuff getting installed?

 

[sammyone]

I have been using Easeus Partition manager for some years now and can confirm that they give you the option to do an express install which installs the bloatware... or Custom Install where you get the chance to untick the stuff you do not want.

BUT I can now recommend Minitool Partition Wizard Home... FREE...
as it also supplies an ISO version to burn to Disk or USB stick so you can deal with your disks without popping into and out of Windows during Drive manipulations.

 

[whs]

Partition Wizard bootable CD is required for resizing C. Here is the link - last box (Home) on the webpage. Download this ISO and burn it to CD. Then boot the CD with that CD.

Free download Magic Partition Manager Software, partition magic alternative, free partition magic, partition magic Windows 7 and server partition software - Partition Wizard Online

And here is a PW video tutorial how to use it for extending a partition.

http://www.partitionwizard.com/video-help/extend_partition/extend_partition.html

You do, of course, need unallocated space on the disk in order to extend a partition. That unallocated space can come from shrinking any partition on the disk. Shrinking can be done with Disk Management.

 

[tony22]

I decided to do it using the tool I've been using - Acronis True Image Home. Probably took longer that it would have using one of these other tools, but it seemed to have worked (took about 5 hours). I first made an exact clone of my disk to my backup, then checked it by booting off of that one. Then I used that as the source to clone back to my original disk, but this time using the partition resizer and mover in True Image to get the sizes changed. After it was done I rebooted and things loaded up okay. So the question now is: how do I check the integrity of the installation to make sure it's all good?

 

[gregrocker]

There is no reason to go to that kind of trouble to resize partitions, which is as easy as moving a slider around to borrow space from any other partition even if it's not adjacent, using the cool new feature to extend partition easily with Partition Wizard - video help.

It's always best to post back a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image so we can check it over and give you any pointers.

 

[tony22]

There is no reason to go to that kind of trouble to resize partitions, which is as easy as moving a slider around to borrow space from any other partition even if it's not adjacent, using the cool new feature to extend partition easily with Partition Wizard - video help.

It's always best to post back a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image so we can check it over and give you any pointers.

I may use Partition Wizard in the future, but given that the work has now already been done I'd still like to know if there's a way to check the integrity of outcome. I'm not worried so much about surface scan issues - I can see the status of that kind of thing using SMART data. I'm more interested in knowing if there's a way to validate the integrity of the files after the transfer to a new partition arrangement. I did a test by starting up applications that are "complex" - Photoshop, Sony Vegas, music server software - all of that stuff started up and ran as usual. There were no oddities when Win7 initialized. Is that enough to give me confidence that everything got remapped without issue?

Can't post any screen shots right now as I am not at the computer where the work was done.

 

[whs]

I'd still like to know if there's a way to check the integrity of outcome.

There is no easy way to check the integrity of the system after a restore from an image. From what you have done it looks like things are OK.

And Greg is right. You went through an awful lot of trouble for a very simple operation.

 

[tony22]

I'd still like to know if there's a way to check the integrity of outcome.

There is no easy way to check the integrity of the system after a restore from an image. From what you have done it looks like things are OK.

And Greg is right. You went through an awful lot of trouble for a very simple operation.

Maybe, but seeing as how I had to clone the disk anyway as a safety backup before doing the work, it seemed easier to use a tool I already had on hand.

 

[AddRAM]

I also recommend Partition Wizard`s boot cd, it has always worked flawlessly for me, and it`s so easy to use

http://www.partitionwizard.com/partition-wizard-bootable-cd.html