why cant I shrink this partition farther?

[jorpe]

I'm trying to shrink the C drive to whatever is on there now and leave a few extra GB then clone the drive. It's only allowing me to shrink it to 490gb but only 120 of the 900 gb are being used rightnow.

 

[whs]

This is normal. Halfway between byte 0 and byte n on the disk/partition, the system parks the MFT (master file table). And you cannot go beyond that. There are programs that move the MFT, but I am not sure how safe they are. I once screwed up my system with one of those wonder programs. But maybe someone else has a different experience.
Here is some more on the subject - but that does not mean that I subscribe to their suggestions.

 

[tapuz]

did it with "raxco perfect disc 10", it des it on the next reboot, choosing the option of system filies.
i would suggest backing up your system, just in case. but i never had a problem.

the above program cost is not free, but you can download and install the complete version for 20 or 30 days.

 

[KremmenUK]

I used the free 'Partition Wizard', worked like a dream

 

[jorpe]

I used the free 'Partition Wizard', worked like a dream

Just downloaded acronis true image WD edition... worked amazing but thanks for all the suggestions.